County Collecting 2021 – the Year in Review

Considering that my travel year didn’t begin until May, the past twelve months of county collecting turned out reasonably well. I visited 113 new county seats across 10 states and have now visited every county in Washington and New Mexico, the 25th and 26th states completed. In case you missed the details, here are links to the 6 county collecting trips this year.

On the Road Again...Finally
Oklahoma is OK
Oregon Again
Smoke from a not-so-distant fire
Up, Up and Away
Who in the heck is Johnny Kaw?

As usual in my year end summary, here are the maps from the beginning and end of 2021.


For readers unfamiliar with the color scheme on my maps, blue indicates counties where I’ve visited the county seat(s) and collected a postcard documenting my visit. Green is for counties where I’ve been to the county seat but don’t have the postcard proving I was there. Two of those, the one in NY state and the other in Oregon (both surrounded by blue counties) are the fault of the United States Postal Service. I mailed postcards that never arrived. At some point I’ll have to go back and try again. All of the other green counties represent places I visited prior to beginning this project over ten years ago. The light blue (cyan) counties are ones I’ve been in or through, but did not include a stop in the county seat. Many of those also predate my county collecting quest.

As noted earlier, the number of county seats from which I’ve documented my visits increased by 113, from 2,615 to 2,728. At the end of last year, I stated my ‘new normal’ goal is to collect about 100 each year, so I’m pleased to be have been able to reach that number. In years past it wasn’t too difficult to exceed 200 per year, but as I get closer to the finish line, it becomes more challenging. As of now there are only 421 cities/towns left to visit.

It’s hard to believe that at the end of 2011 my collection of postcards documenting my travels stood at just 201. Over the course of the last ten years, that number has grown significantly and now includes all 50 states. Twenty six states are complete; several others at or near 90% done. Overall, my current tally means I’ve been to 86.6% of all the county seats in the country.

Looking ahead to 2022, I haven’t given a lot of thought to which parts of the country to tackle. At the moment, I’m planning on finishing the last bit of Georgia, most likely in mid-January. After that, who knows? Wherever my travels take me (at least when they include adding additional counties) you can read it about it here.

Until then…
Happy Travels
Brian