Dooly County, the 48th county formed in Georgia, was created in 1821. It was one of the original landlot counties and was later divided to make Crisp and parts of Macon, Pulaski, Turner, Wilcox, and Worth counties.

The county was named for Colonel John Dooly, a revolutionary war hero who helped prosecute Tories in 1779 and was murdered by them the following year. Vienna (pronounced vye’-enna locally), the county seat, was named after the capital of Austria.