Berrien County was created in 1856 from portions of Coffee, Irwin and Lowndes counties by an act of the Georgia General Assembly.  It was named for John McPherson Berrien, a U.S. Senator and Andrew Jackson's Attorney General.

Berrien County is predominantly agricultural and is known as the "Bell Pepper Capital of the World".  In 1823 the Coffee Road was opened to get settlers' crops to Florida.  It was one of the state's earliest post roads.