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 Compared
to the rest of GEORGIA , the largest of the Southern states, the bright
lights of its capital Atlanta are a wild aberration. Apart from some
beaches and towns on the highly indented coastline, this overwhelmingly
rural state is composed of slow, easygoing settlements where the best,
and sometimes the only, way to enjoy your time is to sip iced tea and
have a chat on the porch.
Settlement in Georgia, the thirteenth British colony (named after King
George II), started in 1733 at Savannah, intended as a haven of
Christian principles for poor Britons, with both alcohol and slavery
banned. However, under pressure from planters, slavery was introduced in
1752, and by the time of the Civil War almost half the population were
black slaves. Little fighting took place on Georgian soil until
Sherman's troops marched in from Tennessee, burned Atlanta to the ground
and laid waste to all property on the way to the coast. The economy
successfully re-established itself after the war, attracting substantial
investment in the latter years of the nineteenth century.
Today, bustling Atlanta stands as the unofficial capital of the South.
The city where Dr Martin Luther King Jr was born, preached and is buried
bears little relation to Gone with the Wind stereotypes, and its forward-looking
energy is upheld as a role model for other cities with large black
populations - though it does still suffer high levels of urban poverty
and violent crime.
Atlanta's main rival as a tourist destination is the Georgia coast ,
stretching south from beautiful old Savannah via the sea islands to the
semitropical Okefenokee Swamp , inland near Florida. In the northeast ,
the Appalachian foothills are particularly fetching in fall, while
Athens has a reputation for producing offbeat rock groups such as REM
and the B-52's. Further south , the agricultural heartlands are rich in
musical history, but only Macon and ancient Ocmulgee provide reasons to
stop.
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Athens |
Atlanta |
Brunswick |
Dahlonega |
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| The small and very likeable city of ATHENS , almost seventy miles
northeast of Atlanta, is home to the 30,000-plus students of the
University of Georgia, More Information.... |
ATLANTA is a relatively young city: only incorporated in 1847, it
was little more than a minor transportation center until the Civil War,
when its accessibility
More Information.... |
BRUNSWICK , the one sizeable settlement south of Savannah, is a hop-off
point for the offshore sea islands . It's not in itself very exciting
More Information.... |
The attractive small town of DAHLONEGA , in the Appalachian
foothills fifty miles northeast of Atlanta on US-19, owes its origins to
the first-ever Gold Rush in the US. More
Information.... |
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| Macon |
Savannah |
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MACON , eighty miles southeast of Atlanta on I-75, where I-16
branches off to the coast, makes an attractive stop en route to Savannah,
More Information.... |
American towns don't come much nicer than SAVANNAH , seventeen miles
up the Savannah River from the ocean, on the border with South Carolina
More Information.... |
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