Clayton is the county seat of Rabun County, located in the northeastern corner of the State, bordering both South Carolina and North Carolina. Water Resources have been one of Clayton's and Rabun County's greatest assets since it's earliest days. In his journal entry of May 1775, William Bartram describes his 2 day journey through the Cherokee Nation that would become Clayton and Rabun County. Apparently, Bartram crossed the Chattooga River near the confluence of Warwoman Creek. In this same Area, there was a meeting of three important Indian trails. This juncture came known as Dividings.

Going north from the Dividings, Bartram traveled to an area known as Passover. Seeing there waters of a creek which flowed north, he realizes that he had crossed the Eastern Continental Divide, where the Little Tennessee river Flows North to the Mississippi River System. Just to the south, the waters flow to the Savannah River, then to the Atlantic Ocean.

Following the Revolutionary War through a treaty with the Cherokees, Rabun County was created from the Indian lands in 1819. Thorough a series of lottery drawings, the area began to settle shortly there after. Clayton was incorporated in 1823, and a site for the County Courthouse with surrounding streets and blocks was laid out in 1824 on some 67 acres of land. This land was purchased from Solomon beck for $150. The City of Clayton encompassed the area Dividings and the Indian trails became US Highway 441 and Highway 76.