Guernsey county, created in 1810 from parts of Belmont and Muskingham counties, is located in eastern Ohio with Cambridge serving as the county seat. The county population on July 1, 1999, was 40,955, an increase of 1,931 over the 1990 census.
The county takes its name from the Island of Guernsey in the English Channel from which many early settlers came. Cambridge was laid out in 1806 and when the National Road reached it in 1828, the city grew and was known for its glass industry. It is an important dairy, livestock and shopping center. Today, the county's principle industries are machinery, stone-clay-glass, rubber, wall tile, vanadium steel alloys, fractional horsepower motors, communications equipment, stainless steel utensils and spark plug insulators.
The county is blessed with a number of recreational hotspots including Salt Fork Lake and Salt Fork State Park in the northern part of the county just east of I-77 and the north portion of Senacaville Lake in the south-county area.