I like to think this water tower, and its slogan “Welcome to Beautiful Butts County”, [with Beautiful Butts in a noticeably larger font], is a cheeky response to Don Earnhart’s doomed appeal to give the county a more forward-facing name. In 2003, Earnhart, owner of local radio station WJGA, used his daily call-in show to suggest what proved unthinkable to most.

At the time, he told the Associated Press: “We catch so much flak, and it’s holding us back. You hear the name Butts County, Ga., and it conjures up an image of a doublewide with a car up on blocks in the front yard. Let’s say I’m a manufacturer trying to get my shareholders to invest in a plant. And the plant’s in someplace called Podunk, Mississippi. You see what I’m saying?” The story got lots of national attention but ultimately, nothing happened, other than a renewed sense of pride in the name.

And though community sentiment was overwhelmingly against the change, it should be pointed out that the name wasn’t even used on the county’s courthouse, nor the high school, which is named for the county seat of Jackson. Not a single business in the county used Butts in its name, either.

As to the source of the name, it was Captain Samuel Butts, a Virginia native who died in the Battle of Calabee (Alabama) during the Creek Indian War of 1811-1815. It was created from Henry and Monroe County in 1825. Scores of locations were honoring “Indian Wars” heroes at this time, so that probably explains “Why Butts?”

Ultimately, Butts is Beautiful, and a bit of a rural refuge wedged between Macon and Atlanta. I’m glad they have fun with the name.