Capitalization of the word "county"

Which is correct when listing counties:

  • Harding, Platt, and Garner Counties
  • Harding, Platt, and Garner counties

Solution 1:

I would be inclined to go with the second option (not capitalized), or paraphrasing to "the counties of Harding, Platt and Garner".

Solution 2:

I would think it would be lower-case in this case:

Harding, Platt, and Garner counties

But upper-case when written like this:

Harding, Platt, and Garner County