Georgia

Header image from National Park Service.gov, Augusta Canal National Heritage Area, Georgia

Georgia became the fourth state on Jan 2, 1788

Bird: Brown thrasher – Same family as the mockingbird. Has over 1000 song types and the largest song repertoire of birds.

Flower:Cherokee rose – White, fragrant, climbing rose. The flower is commonly associated with the Trail of Tears, the forced relocation of Native Americans in the southeastern United States. Its white petals are said to represent the tears the Cherokee women shed during the period of great hardship and grief throughout US government-forced march from the Cherokees’ home to U.S. forts, such as Gilmer. The flower’s gold center is said to symbolize the gold taken from the Cherokee tribe.

Tree: Live Oak – Live oak wood is hard, heavy, and difficult to work with, but very strong. In the days of wooden ships, live oaks were the preferred source of the framework timbers of the ship, using the natural trunk and branch angles for their strength. The frame of USS Constitution was constructed from southern live oak wood harvested from St. Simons Island, Georgia, and the density of the wood grain allowed it to survive cannonade, thus earning her the nickname “Old Ironsides”. Even today, the U.S. Navy continues to own extensive live oak tracts

State Quarter

From theus50.com

The Georgia quarter is a real peach. The selected design incorporates several symbols associated with this traditional, yet very diverse southern state.

Just from studying the Georgia quarter design, one can learn a lot about the fourth state of the Union. The selected design prominently features the peach – a symbol long associated with the state – within the confines of a silhouetted outline of the state. Live Oak sprigs border the central design paying homage to the official state tree, the Live Oak. And if you ever need to know the Georgia state motto, simply look across the top of the design, where the words “Wisdom, Justice, Moderation,” grace a hanging banner.

Capital: Atlanta

Nickname: Peach State/Empire State of the South

Motto: Wisdom, justice, and moderation

Other State Symbols:

Amphibian: American Green Tree Frog
Butterfly: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Dance: Square dance
Fish: Largemouth bass
Food: Grits, Peach, Vidalia onion
Fossil: Shark tooth
Gem: Quartz
Insect: European honey bee
Mammal: Right whale; aka Black whale
Mineral: Staurolite
Reptile: Gopher tortoise
Rock: Granite
Shell: Knobbed Whelk
Soil: Tifton
Song: “Georgia on My Mind”

Georgia Facts and Trivia

In the early 18th century, the British Parliament assigned a committee to investigate the conditions of the country’s debtor prisons and didn’t like what they found. A group of philanthropists concerned with the plight of debtors proposed the creation of a colony in North America where the “worthy poor” could get back on their feet and be productive citizens again. Their plan ultimately didn’t pan out as the colony wasn’t settled by debtors, but the trustees of the colony still wanted to thank King George II for granting their charter, so they named the place after him.

Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe on Feb 12, 1733. It was the thirteenth of the original 13 colonies.

Savannah was the landing site for Oglethorpe. By the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Savannah had become the southernmost commercial port of the Thirteen Colonies.

Georgia has had 5 capitals:

Savannah 1777-1785
Augusta 1786-1789
Louisville 1789-1807
Milledgeville 1807-1867
Atlanta 1868 – present

Georgia has the second most counties in the United States with 159. (Texas has the most with 254.)

Georgia is the 24th largest state (land area) in the United States, the 8th most populous state (as of 2016) and the largest state east of the Mississippi River.

After the Civil War ended in 1865, Atlanta was gradually rebuilt. Due to the city’s superior rail transportation network, the state capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta in 1868.

Okefenokee Swamp encompasses over 400,000 acres of canals; moss draped cypress trees, and lily pad prairies providing sanctuaries for hundreds of species of birds and wildlife including several endangered species. The name is derived from an Indian word meaning “the trembling earth”.

Historic Saint Marys, Georgia is the second oldest city in the nation.

The pirate Edward “Blackbeard” Teach made a home on Blackbeard Island. The United States Congress designated the Blackbeard Island Wilderness Area in 1975.

Stone Mountain near Atlanta is one of the largest single masses of exposed granite in the world. Carved on the face of Stone Mountain are the figures of Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis, and Robert E. Lee, the world’s largest sculpture. Additionally Robert E. Lee’s horse, Traveler, is also carved at the same place.

Georgia is the nation’s number one producer of the three Ps–peanuts, pecans, and peaches.

Each year Georgia serves as a host to the International Poultry Trade Show, the largest poultry convention in the world.

Known as the sweetest onion in the world, the Vidalia onion can only be grown in the fields around Vidalia and Glennville.

Cordele claims to be the watermelon capital of the world.

Providence Canyon, Warm Springs, Okefenokee Swamp, Tallulah Gorge, Amicalola Falls, Stone Mountain, and Radium Springs are the seven natural wonders of Georgia.

Coca-Cola was invented in May 1886 by Dr. John S. Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia. The name “Coca-Cola” was suggested by Dr. Pemberton’s bookkeeper, Frank Robinson. He penned the name Coca-Cola in the flowing script that is famous today. Coca-Cola was first sold at a soda fountain in Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta by Willis Venable.

The Little White House in Warm Springs was the personal retreat of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He died there on April 12, 1945.

Atlanta, Georgia has numerous places named “Peachtree” without a single tree with peaches around. There are over 55 streets with the name. It is said that these places were originally named after the Native American village of “Standing Pitch Tree, ” but the pronunciation was corrupted over the years.

The popular theme park – Six Flags Over Georgia, was actually named for six flags that flew over Georgia: England, Spain, France, Confederate States of America, the Georgia state flag and the United States.

Strange laws:
All sex toys are banned.
You cannot live on a boat for more than 30 days during the calendar year, even if just passing through the state
It is illegal to use profanity in front of a dead body which lies in a funeral home or in a coroners office.
Members of the state assembly cannot be ticketed for speeding while the state assembly is in session.
Donkeys may not be kept in bathtubs.
Signs are required to be written in English.
No one may carry an ice cream cone in their back pocket if it is Sunday.
In Gainesville, the Chicken Capital of the World, it is illegal to eat chicken with a fork.

People: