Georgia Salt Marsh. The salt marsh, such as that found on Georgia’s coast, is the most valuable land in the world for the common good of man. Georgia and South Carolina together have about 50 percent of the salt marsh on the east coast. This Do-It-Yourself Tour gives you an up-close look at this amazing resoruce.

Seemingly barren expanses of grass and mud, at first glance salt marshes appear like wastelands. Look again. The grass fields like those along the Georgia Coast give untold benefits to nature and man. Each acre can produce 20 tons of plant matter annually, far more prolific than any agricultural rival. This biological factory feeds and shelters young shrimp, mollusks, crustaceans and fish; 75 percent of commercial seafood species spend part of their lives in the marshes. Marshes do much for humans, purifying sewage better and cheaper than any man-made facility and generating 20 percent of the world’s oxygen. Read the rest of this entry »

The American Revolution in Georgia spring vividly to life on this do-it-yourself tour of Liberty County. See the Revolutionary War-era Fort Morris and Midway Museum and Historic District, as well as the environmental richness and African-American heritage of the region.

For centuries, Liberty County has held a mystical power over explorers. The Historic Liberty Trail is a unique driving tour offering a diverse experience integrating history, culture and ecology. It covers 10 stops including: Midway Museum and Historic District, Cay Creek Wetlands, Geechee Kunda Cultural Arts Center, LeConte-Woodmanston Botanical Gardens, Dorchester Academy and Museum, Fort Stewart Museum, Melon Bluff Nature and Heritage Preserve, Seabrook Village, Fort Morris State Historic Site and Sunbury Cemetery.

Begin the Historic Liberty Trail Driving Tour
Begin your tour at Exit 76 off I-95, where an information kiosk gives a glimpse of The Historic Liberty Trail. Visitors traveling the trail explore Liberty County, home of Dr. Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett, signers of the Declaration of Independence. Your first stop is the Midway National Historic District. Leaving the kiosk, turn right (west) on US 84. Drive 2.2 miles, turn right on Martin Road. Drive 1.3 miles to arrive at the Midway National Historic District. The cemetery is straight ahead, the church and museum are on the right. For a map showing all of the points on the tour, click here.

Midway National Historic District
Midway Museum, honors the community famed as Georgia’s Cradle of Liberty. Browse through the museum, built in the raised cottage-style architecture, typical of 18th Century plantation houses. Exhibits, documents and furnishings used in coastal Georgia homes from colonial days until the Civil War reanimate the love of Liberty. Tour the grounds which include a detached kitchen, salt vat and extensive nature trail. One of the best sources in the area for genealogical research. Also on the property is the Midway Church, built in 1756, was burned during the American Revolution and rebuilt in 1792. In this white-frame, New England-style church, Sherman’s cavalry set up foraging headquarters during the Civil War. Today, giant live oaks draped with Spanish moss shade about 1,200 graves in the cemetery, among them two generals of the American Revolution and Governor Nathan Brownson. During the Civil War, Sherman’s cavalry plundered county plantations and corralled animals in the walled, two-acre cemetery.

Days and Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 10am-4pm, Sunday: 2pm-4pm
Facilities: Small gift shop with a good selection of books on local history.
Restrooms available.
Fees: Small fee required. Group rates available.
For More Information: (912) 884-5837

Cay Creek Wetlands
DIRECTIONS: Leaving Midway Museum, turn left on US 17. Drive 0.5 miles, at the traffic light turn left on US 84. Drive 2.4 miles until you reach Charlie Butler Road. Turn right on Charlie Butler Road. Travel approximately 0.2 miles until you see the Cay Creek Wetlands sign on your right. Get a map.

As an excellent example of tidal, freshwater wetlands, Cay Creek Wetlands provide a unique opportunity for education and appreciation. The area is rich in diversity. Bay, Cypress and Oak trees are abundant, as are Palms, Palmettos and Magnolias. The area provides habitats for numerous species of animals, including birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects. The site is several different ecosystems. Each has specific traits that give it character, but the distinctions may be overlooked by the casual observer. Look closely and you may notice the differences in plant and animal life in those areas that are permanently wet when compared with areas that are intermittently wet and dry. The site has its history, too. Look for the low earthen berms that cross the landscape. In some instances, they may be the high ground on which you stand. These are the remains of dikes that were used for growing rice. Rice production was common to the area in the 19th Century. Cay Creek Wetlands has seen exciting activity recently with the completion of a boardwalk, allowing visitors to easily access the wetlands in both wet and dry seasons. An interpretive center building, designed to house exhibits and information, will soon follow.

Days and Hours: Monday-Friday: 8am-4pm
Facilities: None.
Fees: Free.
For More Information: (912) 884-3344

Geechee Kunda Cultural Arts Center
DIRECTIONS: Take a right onto Charlie Butler Road out of the drive and travel 0.7 miles, turn right onto Historic Cay Creek Road, a well-maintained, unpaved road. Only 3.8 miles from US 17. Enjoy the canopy of moss-draped oaks and the incredible marsh vistas as well as vibrant flowers and coastal wildlife on this scenic road. Once you’ve reached US 17 take a left and travel through the quaint town of Riceboro. Travel approximately 4.6 miles and turn left onto Ways Temple Road, Geechee Kunda is on the right 0.2 miles. Note: Nice picnic facilities at US 17 junction. Get a map.

Geechee Kunda (a Sarakole’ word meaning compound) is indicative of the culture of Gullah Geechees. Geechee Kunda is reflective of the family compounds that exist throughout the Gullah Geechee areas of the Carolinas, Georgia and Northern Florida as well as Africa. It is a living institution dedicated to preserving the culture of a living people. Its museum is filled with African art, textiles, painting, tools, utensils, implements, craftworks and essentials used by Gullah Geechees from the 1700’s to the 1900’s. The museum houses artifacts from the period of slavery and it’s an educational facility for lectures, workshops, classes, seminars, weddings and more.

Days and Hours: Group tours and classes available, call for an appointment.
Facilities: Gift shop, meeting and classroom space.
Fees: Call for further information.
For More Information: (912) 884-4440

LeConte-Woodmanston Botanical Gardens
DIRECTIONS: Leaving Ways Temple Road turn right onto US 17 toward Riceboro. Travel approximately 0.7 miles and turn left onto Sandy Run Road. Travel 4.3 miles then turn left at stop sign onto Barrington Ferry Road. Barrington Ferry Road is unpaved, but well-maintained. Look for wood storks, ospreys, egrets and herons that feed in the wetlands. Almost one mile south of the intersection you will find a historic marker for the Bartram Trail on the left. The sign marks the entrance to LeConte-Woodmanston. Get a map.

LeConte-Woodmanston, formerly the home of Dr. Louis LeConte, flourished as one of Georgia’s earliest inland swamp rice plantations and is now a nature preserve. Dr. LeConte achieved international fame in scientific circles as did his sons, John and Joseph. John was the first president of the University of California at Berkeley. Joseph and his friend, John Muir, co-founded the Sierra Club. Today, Louis LeConte’s world-famous 18th Century botanical gardens are being recreated with a myriad of antique plants. Visit the cypress forest and walk the interpretative trail along the earthen rice dikes leading through the Bulltown Swamp black-water eco-system. Take a stroll along the Avenue of Oaks or bask in an 18th Century nature experience. They are all part of the Historic Bartram Trail.

Days and Hours: Typically open Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday: 10am-3pm or by appointment. Call to verify times before visiting.
Facilities: A small fee required.
Fees: Restrooms.
For More Information: (912) 884-6500

Dorchester Academy and Museum
DIRECTIONS: Leaving LeConte-Woodmanston, follow drive back to Barrington Ferry Road. Turn right and follow road until it dead ends into US 17, approximately 5 miles. Turn left and travel another 2.1 miles to the intersection of US 17 and US 84, turn left on US 84 and drive 2 miles. Dorchester Academy is on the left. Get a map.

The Academy, today an active community center and museum, was founded after the Civil War as a school for freed slaves. By 1917, the fully-accredited high school had eight frame buildings and 300 students. In the 1940s, its academic program ended when a consolidated school for black youth was built in nearby Riceboro. The brick school building, an example of Georgian Revival style architecture is where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. prepared for the 1963 Birmingham campaign, one of the first major victories of the Civil Rights Movement.

Days and Hours: Tuesday-Friday: 11am-2pm, Saturday: 2pm-4pm
Facilities: Free.
Fees: Pavilion with barbecue pit and restrooms.
For More Information: (912) 884-2347

Fort Stewart Museum
DIRECTIONS: Leaving Dorchester Academy, turn left (west) on US 84. Travel approximately 10 miles to General Stewart Way and take right fork. Travel 0.8 miles and turn left onto North Main Street. Travel 0.6 miles through historic Hinesville, where you will enjoy specialty shopping and excellent restaurants. Traveling another 0.9 miles take the right fork and drive 0.1 miles to General Screven Way. Take a right onto General Screven Way and drive 0.9 miles to the main entrance of Fort Stewart. Continue straight on GA 119 for 0.3 miles. From GA 119 turn left onto Bunker Road (the first left). Follow Bunker Road to a stop sign. At the stop sign make a left onto Frank Cochran Drive. The museum is on the immediate left. Get a map.

Fort Stewart, the largest military post east of the Mississippi, is home to the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division (Mech) and is the summer training grounds for the National Guard. At the museum, Liberty County’s military heritage is showcased in ever-changing exhibits featuring objects from World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Desert Storm and present-day military activities.

Days and Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 10am-4pm Closed Mondays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day and Federal Holidays.
Facilities: Gift shop, snack machine, restrooms and picnic area.
Fees: Free. Group tours upon request.
For More Information: (912) 767-7885

Please Note: Due to heightened security, Fort Stewart is now a closed post and requires all visitors to stop at the main gate. At the gate visitors must provide proof of registration, insurance and drivers license to receive a visitor’s pass.

Melon Bluff Nature and Heritage Preserve
DIRECTIONS: Leaving Fort Stewart drive straight on GA 119 until it dead ends into US 84 turn left, approximately 0.5 miles. Travel approximately 15 miles to I-95, as you cross I-95 travel another 2.9 miles and you will see Melon Bluff on your right. Get a map.

Nestled amongst 3,000 unspoiled acres on Georgia’s coast, Melon Bluff is set amid gorgeous, moss-hung oaks at the river’s edge. Melon Bluff offers 25 miles of grassy, forest trails for hiking, biking, picnics and riding. Birding is the prime attraction, offering 309 species, many uncommon and endangered. Visitors can find overnight accommodations ranging from a restored barn to a plantation cottage. On site, there is a delightful gift shop, a screened pool and a facility for small conferences.

Days and Hours: Saturdays: 9am-4pm from September 15th through May 15th. Public events are scheduled throughout the year.
Facilities: Overnight accommodations, full gourmet meal service, scheduled wagon rides, kayak expeditions, gift shop, pool and facility for small conferences.
Fees: Prices vary - Call for further information.

Seabrook Village
DIRECTIONS: From Melon Bluff, turn right onto Islands Highway. Travel 0.7 miles until you come to Trade Hill Road (Seabrook Village signs will be on your left). Turn left on to Trade Hill and drive 0.6 miles. Seabrook Village office will be on your left. Get a map.

An award-winning living history museum, Seabrook Village features eight turn-of-the-century buildings on a developing 104-acre site. Visit the one-room Seabrook School where “reading, writing and ‘rithmetic were taught to the tune of a hick’ry stick.” Or try your hand at grinding corn into meal and grits or washing clothes on a scrub board. Planned group visits are fully interactive as costumed interpreters engage visitors in all aspects of old time village life. On-going exhibits include the grave art of Cyrus Bowens, featured in Drums and Shadows, and the Willis Hakim J. Hones Material Culture Collection of hand-made items from a peanut roaster to twig furniture.

Days and Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 10am-4pm. Interactive tours available for groups of 15 or more. Special educational and Girl Scout programs available.
Facilities: Seabrook Village Museum Shop and Craft Gallery, meal service (by reservation), restrooms.
Fees: Small fee required.
Group Tours: Call for rates, brochure and availability.
For More Information: (912) 884-7008

Fort Morris State Historic Site
DIRECTIONS: Leaving Seabrook, turn left on Trade Hill Road. Drive 0.2 miles to the intersection of Fort Morris Road. Turn left, drive 2 miles. The entrance to Fort Morris is on the right. Get a map.

Fort Morris was built to defend the former town of Sunbury, once a bustling seaport second in Georgia only to Savannah. Fort Morris was used as a coastal fortification during the Revolutionary War. The earthen works were reconstructed during the War of 1812 and were later used as a Civil War Encampment. The site’s museum features displays of civilian and military life during Georgia’s Colonial, Revolutionary and Antebellum past. During periodic special events, reenactments bring Fort Morris alive with roaring cannons and the measured tread of marching soldiers. Listen! You can almost hear the fife and drums.

Days and Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 9am-5pm, Sunday: 2:00pm-5:30pm. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day, and Mondays, except some legal holidays.
Facilities: Museum, gift shop, pioneer camping, picnic area, restrooms and nature trail.
Fees: Small fee required.
For More Information: (912) 884-5999

Sunbury Cemetery
DIRECTIONS: Leaving Fort Morris, turn right onto Fort Morris Road. Travel 0.7 miles past Sunbury Village and turn left onto Sunbury Road (dirt). Drive 0.1 miles to Dutchman Cove Road. Drive 0.1 miles to the end of the road, it will dead end into the cemetery. Get a map.

From the beginning of the town’s history, public burials were performed at a community cemetery located at the southeast corner of Church Square. Sunbury Cemetery housed the remains of members from the Midway Congregational Church, Sunbury Baptist Church and others. A sense of integrity remains even though no complete interment records are known to exist for the cemetery. Most of the markers were gone by the 1870’s. Of the thirty-four remaining, the oldest is dated 1788 and the most recent, 1911. Two iron fenced family enclosures are carefully arrayed with neatly lined markers for the Dunham and Fleming-Law families. The most famous tombstone is a full-length marker for Reverend William McWhir. The graves of Josiah Powell and Samuel Law, notables of the town of Sunbury, are also marked.

The cemetery is open year-round and is free to the public.

Folk Pottery Driving Tour. This driving tour, beginning either at the Folk Pottery Museum near Helen, or at the Northeast Georgia History Center in Gainesville, winds along the backroads of northeast Georgia to potters, retail outlets and museums. View map.  Photo: Matthew Hewell in his workshop at the Hewell Pottery in Gillsville.

The Folk Potters Trail of Northeast Georgia is a do-it-yourself driving and shopping tour put together by the Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia in Sautee-Nacoochee and the Northeast Georgia History Center in Gainesville. It leads to men and women recognized as linked to a 200-year tradition of crafting pottery once essential for household use and now valued and collected as distinctive folk art. It takes you through rural landscapes, along creeks and rivers, and includes homesteads that have been handed down for many generations.

Meeting these potters and viewing and collecting their work will connect you to a unique heritage of American and Southern folk art. Read the rest of this entry »

Adventures along Lookout Mountain await explorers along this 93-mile driving tour through three states. The spectacular Little River Canyon, DeSoto State Park in Alabama (above), Sequoyah Caverns, and the rugged hiking trails of Cloudland Canyon State Park in Georgia are among the many natural pleasures included on the tour.

This 93-mile driving tour follows Lookout Mountain from south to north through three states, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. Depending on how frequently you stop and how many of the appealing activities along the way you engage in, it can be done in one day, or pleasurably extended over a weekend, or even a long weekend. It is filled with experiences in the region’s remarkable natural environment, hiking, cave exploring, and thrilling photographable views of rivers and waterfalls. There are plenty of dining and lodging accommodations choices along the way to appeal to every taste and budget. Look especially at Mentone, Alabama, and the state parks, including Desoto State Park in Alabama and Cloudland Canyon State Park in Georgia. Chattanooga, the Tennessee city that you have a spectacular view of from Point Park, the northern most point on the tour, has a wide range of hotels and motels. Read the rest of this entry »

American settlers founded the community of the Plains of Dura in Sumter County in the mid-1830s on the Americus-Preston Road. The name of the town was a biblical reference from Daniel 3:1 where Nebuchadnezzer set up a golden idol that the Israelites refused to worship, and according to biblical tradition, were cast into a burning furnace from which they emerged alive and unhurt as a sign of God’s favor. From the Arabic dhurah, the name is probably related to the Latin duras, meaning to endure. In 1884, the Americus, Lumpkin and Preston Railroad established a line south of the Plains of Dura. The town fathers moved the town to the track the next year, abandoning the original settlement site and shortening the name of the town to Plains by the late 1880s. With hopes of recovering from the Civil War’s devastation, businessmen constructed a row of wood frame structures on the south side of the track and a depot. Agriculture dominated the town. Cotton remained the cash crop, but a change in the agricultural profile of the region was beginning to take place. Read the rest of this entry »

By Sherri Smith Brown

When I was twelve, my Aunt Madeleine gave me a copy of Gone With the Wind for Christmas. I had seen the movie the previous summer, and when she told me that there was a book—that I could actually curl up in my own room and read to my heart’s content about Scarlett, Rhett, the Civil War and Tara—I was beside myself with amazement and anticipation. And then I got it and saw that there were hundreds of pages that I could pour over—passages describing the red clay countryside, the march from Resaca to Atlanta, Rhett and Scarlett fleeing Atlanta’s flames and the billowy, green-flowered muslin dress Scarlett wore to the barbeque.

During all my teenage summers, my family headed out of Indiana for Daytona Beach, Florida, each time passing through Atlanta, where I would peer from the car window at the skyline, dominated by the blue Hyatt dome, as we maneuvered our way through the construction and detours of the new interstate highway. Was there a trace of the railroad depot or Aunt Pittypat’s house? Would I catch a glimpse of a sign with an arrow pointing to Tara? Read the rest of this entry »

Thirty points of interest on a self-guided map

By James Edgar Coleman

Fort Gaines, Georgia, sits on the southern end of Lake Walter F. George, high on a bluff overlooking the Chattahoochee River. This prominent position on the river has contributed to the interesting history of the town.

Artifacts place a large prehistoric Indian village on the site between 900 and 1400 AD, and more than two centuries ago the Creek Indians had a town of some size here. After the first Creek War in 1814, General Edmund Pendleton Gaines established a frontier fort on the site. Gaines was later noted for arguing against Indian removal. Built in 1816, the 100-square-foot fort was enclosed by a stockade eight feet high and garrisoned by Federal troops under General John Dill, who would later build a large home in the town. In 1836 a second fort was constructed to provide settlers with protection from Indian attacks. (A third fort, built in 1863, was intended to keep Union troops from going upriver to Columbus, an important city to the Confederacy for its shipbuilding, iron works and textile plants).

In the 1830s, Fort Gaines was chartered as a town and its real heyday began. One historical marker calls the town “Queen City of the Chattahoochee.” And so it was. A shipping point for cotton planters for many miles on both sides of the river, it was one of the most important points between Apalachicola and Columbus until the railroads arrived in 1858. Huge warehouses along the river held thousands of bales of cotton for shipping on large steamboats. Traces of the old cotton slide, leading down to the river warehouses still can be seen down the bluff. Boom times came again after the Civil War, as merchants came from Alabama and all around to sell their cotton. The town boasted several hotels, two newspapers and saloons everywhere. The decline set in with the ominous boll weevil depression of the 1910s.

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The Euharlee or Lowery Bridge spanning Euharlee Creek in Bartow County was built in 1886 and named after Daniel Lowery, a prominent miller in the area. An earlier bridge, built on the same spot was swept downstream during a flood. Lowery helped the community rebuild the bridge by quarrying the fieldstone for the piers from his farmlands. Until the bridge was completed, he operated a ferry across the stream for travelers and farmers who needed the services of his corn mill and cotton gin on the creek bank.

The style of the bridge is Town Lattice, a design patented in 1820 by Ithiel Town of Connecticut. Town promoted his design throughout the Carolinas, and soon after that, Georgia bridge builders began using it. Because of its simplicity and strength, a Town Lattice Bridge could be “built by the mile and cut off by the yard.”

Deep-set stone piers and concrete abutments, added later yield the first clue to the bridge’s rugged, well-planned design. Measuring from pier to pier, the bridge is one span of 116 feet. Sides are roughly weatherboarded. The lower curtain extends below the roadbed level. Tin sheeting has replaced the original wood shingles on the gable roof. Read the rest of this entry »

Quiet country roads, earthy farm smells, abandoned peanut mills and rusting old-fashioned hay balers are all part of this leisurely drive that offers a scenic history of Georgia agriculture. Roadside signs mark the entire Andersonville Trail, which runs 75 miles from Byron to Cordele, primarily on GA 49. It can be accessed in several locations, but to drive the entire length from north to south, access from I-75’s Exit 46 (GA 49) at Byron, in Peach County, where a giant peach looms on the east side of the highway.

Byron, in Peach County, was originally a whistle stop known as Number One and One Half Station. To reach the old railroad depot, turn right off of GA 49 onto GA 42 and go 0.25 mile to the railroad tracks. Built in 1870, the Byron Depot is located in the exact center of town. According to local reports, more peaches were shipped from here each day in the 1920s and 30s than from anywhere else in the world. Along with a caboose parked to the side, the restored depot serves as a museum with pictures and displays that chronicle the town’s past.

From Byron, GA 49 begins winding through countless pecan and peach orchards as it makes its way south. Roadside stands selling in-season fruits and vegetables reflect the county’s agricultural base—617,000 peach trees, 73,000 pecan trees and annual harvests of over 1 million pounds of peanuts. The Andersonville Trail intersects with the Peach Blossom Trail in Fort Valley. On the left, heading south Read the rest of this entry »

Most people do not know the name of Mose Coleman, but a historical marker (1) bearing his name sits on his property in Toombs County. Here is where Mose planted onions in 1931. But oddly, they turned out sweet, not hot like he had predicted. Nevertheless, the Toombs County farmer got a decent price for his novelty onions at the market. He managed to sell each 50-pound bag for $3.50. Over the years other farmers in the region tried their luck with the onions, which sold well in the Toombs County seat of Vidalia. Motorists traveling on nearby US 280 and Route 1 who tried the onions liked their sweet, mild taste. They bought them by the bagload and referred to them by the name of the town. Soon Vidalia onions appeared on the shelves of Piggly Wiggly and A&P grocery stores all over the East.
Today, the Vidalia onion industry is worth an estimated $30 million. Each autumn and winter more than 200 farmers plant the sweet onions on about 14,000 acres. When harvested in the spring and early summer, each acre produces up to 70,000 plants.
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