Seneca County is located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,814. The primary county seat is Waterloo, moved there from the original county seat of Ovid in 1819. It became a two-shire county in 1822, which currently remains in effect and uses both locations as county seats although the majority of Seneca County administrative offices are located in Waterloo. Therefore, most political sources list only Waterloo as the county seat. The county's name comes from the Seneca Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), who occupied part of the region. The county is part of the Finger Lakes region of the state.
Historic Seneca County Courthouse Complex at Ovid
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equivalent term, shire town, is used in the U.S. state of Vermont and in several other English-speaking jurisdictions. County towns usually serve a similar function in Ireland, Jamaica, and the United Kingdom.
The old courthouse in Centreville, Maryland, the county seat of Queen Anne's County, Maryland, U.S.
Miaoli, the county seat of Miaoli County in Taiwan
Allentown, Pennsylvania, the third-largest city in Pennsylvania and county seat of Lehigh County
Many county seats in the United States feature a historic courthouse, such as this one in Renville County, Minnesota.