Blood & Biohazard Cleanup Near Layton Folkston, GA

Folkston is a city in and the county seat of Charlton County, Georgia, just two miles north of the Florida state line, and its motto is "Gateway to the Okefenokee."

Folkston was founded on August 19, 1911, when it was incorporated as a city, and it was named in honor of William Brandon Folks, a prominent local physician and surgeon.

Folkston took the county seat from Trader's Hill in 1901 after the railroad bypassed the old river landing, and Charlton County itself — Georgia's southernmost county — had been created from Camden County in 1854 and named for U.S. Senator Robert M. Charlton.

The 2020 census counted 4,464 people in Folkston, in a county of 12,518 residents spread over more than 770 square miles of pine flatwoods and swamp.

Railfans nationwide know Folkston for the "Folkston Funnel," where the CSX Nahunta and Jesup subdivisions merge into a single double-track corridor that funnels nearly all rail traffic entering and leaving Florida — dozens of trains a day — past a dedicated public viewing platform downtown.

Amtrak passenger trains pass through the Folkston Funnel without stopping, and the city hosts Railwatch gatherings for train watchers each April and December.

The eastern entrance to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge lies 11 miles southwest of Folkston; the refuge, established in 1937, protects the largest blackwater swamp in North America.

Folkston celebrates the Okefenokee Festival, with a parade and live music, each October.

Charlton County High School, Folkston Elementary School, and Bethune Middle School — named for educator Mary McLeod Bethune — serve Folkston's students in the Charlton County School District.

According to Wikipedia, Folkston's largest employer is a GEO Group-operated ICE detention center with 3,000 beds.