The county is named for William E. Woodruff, founder of the state's first newspaper, the Arkansas Gazette.

Historically covered in forest, bayous and swamps, the area was cleared for agriculture by early settlers.

Prior to settlement, Woodruff County was densely forested, with bayous, sloughs, and swamps crossing the land.

Seeking to take advantage of the area's fertile soils, settlers cleared the land to better suit row crops.

Although some swampland has been preserved in the Cache River NWR and some former farmland has undergone reforestation, the majority (56 percent) of the county remains in cultivation.

[Note 1] Another large land use in Woodruff County is the Cache River NWR, owned by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Stretching approximately 90 miles (140 km) across adjacent counties, the NWR is listed as a Ramsar wetlands of international importance, and serves as a key wintering area for ducks and the largest contiguous tract of bottomland hardwood forest in North America.

Woodruff County experiences all four seasons, although summers can be extremely hot and humid and winters are mild with little snow.

Cotton Plant and Hunter are both located in the southern part of Woodruff County, with 2020 populations of 529 and 103, respectively.

Other communities are simply a few dwellings at a crossroads that have adopted a common place name over time.

Each township includes unincorporated areas; some may have incorporated cities or towns within part of their boundaries.

However, the United States census does list Arkansas population based on townships (sometimes referred to as "county subdivisions" or "minor civil divisions").

Each town or city is within one or more townships in an Arkansas county based on census maps and publications.

The quorum court is the legislative branch of the county government and controls all spending and revenue collection.

Representatives are called justices of the peace and are elected from county districts every even-numbered year.

[26] The Arkansas Department of Health is responsible for the regulation and oversight of public water systems throughout the state.

Within the county, Augusta Waterworks has the largest retail population (2,284), followed by McCrory (1,647), and Breckenridge UWA (1,267).