The Cherokee of Georgia are descendants of the Cherokee who avoided being rounded up by the government during the forced migration known as the Trail of Tears in the 1830s and are therefore recognized by the state as a tribe but not by the federal government. Their ancestors were able to survive through assimilation.
They host Pow Wows here at least twice a year.
Georgia’s southernmost town, St. George, is located within the “Georgia Bend” of the St. Marys River. This historic postcard, mailed from St. George, illustrates a picnic held along the river in February 1909. It must have been a really mild winter, though, as a few of the boys are standing in the river.
I was curious as to why anyone would be in the river in the winter, but William Thompson makes a good point, writing: I was baptized in that same spot many years ago. See the woman in the water right above the “ic” part of picnic? She is rising up from being dunked.
Located near the banks of the St. Marys River, St. George is the southernmost town in Georgia, and being 24 miles south of Folkston, it remains quite isolated. It is sometimes spelled Saint George.
Established in 1904 as a “colony city” by P.H. Fitzgerald [who nine years earlier colonized the city of Fitzgerald] and his son John P. Fitzgerald, St. George was laid out near the forgotten village of Cutler. Some of the streets in the town today bear the same names as streets in Fitzgerald, notably those named for Civil War generals like Grant and Bragg. When St. George was not incorporated nor any improvements made, as Mr. Fitzgerald had promised, some of the colonists filed a lawsuit which led to the founder’s indictment.
This congregation was established in 1909 and the church built soon thereafter.
Though it’s likely had numerous owners over the years, and has been modified by the addition of the dormer, this central hallway cottage is one of the older houses in St. George. Kathy Miley Beverly writes: …My sister Marilyn said that our Aunt Sarah & Uncle Bill Norman lived in this house back in the 1940’s — Don’t know the exact dates–Bill Norman’s family ran the General Store in St. George back then...
This is Georgia’s southernmost post office.
Built to replace the original St. George School [1910] which was destroyed by fire, St. George Elementary is the southernmost school in Georgia.
Originating in the Okefenokee Swamp, the St. Marys River forms the boundary of Georgia and Florida from Charlton County to the Atlantic Ocean. It’s also the southernmost point of Georgia.
When “discovered” by Jean Ribault in 1562, it was first called the Seine River. It was later changed to St. Marys in honor of a nearby mission. The name given it by Native Americans was Thlathlothlaguphka, meaning rotten fish.
It’s a typical “blackwater” river, common throughout South Georgia and North Florida, and it bears close monitoring as the human population in its watershed expands exponentially.
Though pollution is an increasing problem [so bad that it’s advised to only eat one Largemouth Bass per month and only one Redbreast per week] I saw two fisherman testing their luck yesterday. Just seeing bank-fishing is getting to be a rare thing these days.
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 