Louisville is a small city in east central Georgia and the seat of Jefferson County, situated on the Ogeechee River roughly 30 miles southwest of Augusta and about 140 miles southeast of Atlanta. Despite its modest size — the 2020 census recorded 2,381 residents — Louisville holds an outsized place in Georgia history. It was the third capital of the state, serving in that role from 1796 to 1806, and was named for King Louis XVI of France, who had supported the American colonists during the Revolutionary War. Locally, the name is pronounced "Lewis-ville." The city's history is visible throughout its center. The Old Market, an open-sided market house built in the 1790s while Louisville was the capital, still stands in the middle of town and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; it was the hub around which the early capital's commerce and transportation routes revolved. The Jefferson County courthouse, built in 1904, occupies the site of Georgia's first permanent capitol building, linking the town's present civic life to its political past. Today Louisville functions as a classic county seat, anchoring government, schools, and commerce for Jefferson County's smaller towns and rural areas. The Jefferson County School District is headquartered in the city. Recreation centers on the Ogeechee River, where Ogeechee Crossing Park offers hiking, fishing, kayaking, disc golf, and camping. Life is quiet and community-oriented, with Augusta's employment, medical, and retail offerings a short drive to the northeast. The town's enduring identity is that of a historic, unhurried Southern county seat with deep roots in the founding era of the state.