Historic Markers in Georgia

Cobb County, GA

On June 22, 1864, as the Union right threatened to outflank the Confederate line, Gen. Joseph Johnston sent Hood's corps to his far left near Kolb's farm to stop the advance. Hood ordered Stevenson's four brigades against the 20th and 23rd Corps posted astride the Powder Springs Road, but this and later attempts failed to check the Federal push southward.

Cobb County, GA

On June 22, 1864, the 14th Kentucky and 123rd New York were posted as skirmishers east of the Kolb farmstead during the Battle of Kolb's Farm. Their stubborn resistance, together with Federal artillery fire, disrupted and delayed Stevenson's Confederate assault on the main Union line along the Powder Springs Road, helping to halt the attack short of its objective.

Paulding County, GA

On May 27, 1864, following the fighting at New Hope Church, Union Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard pushed over 18,000 men toward the Confederate right, hoping to find and turn its flank. Instead, three Federal brigades blundered into a deep, wooded ravine and were cut down one after another by Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne's Confederates firing from three directions, handing the South a clear victory in a five-hour battle.

Paulding County, GA

After the defense at New Hope Church in late May 1864, Confederate Gen. Johnston extended his right to counter Sherman's flanking moves. At Pickett's Mill, more than 18,000 Union troops under Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard sought the Confederate flank, but their brigades were funneled into a deep ravine and defeated in detail by Patrick Cleburne's men, who held the field after a fierce five-hour fight.

Gordon County, GA

On May 13, 1864, Union Gen. McPherson's corps emerged from Snake Creek Gap to open the Battle of Resaca, with Judson Kilpatrick's cavalry leading the advance until he was wounded by Confederate skirmishers. Over the next day Federal forces deployed along ridges overlooking Camp Creek as the battle opened in earnest against Hood's and Hardee's lines.

Resaca, GA

On May 16, 1864, Gen. Johnston's Confederate army slipped across the Oostanaula River on pontoon and railroad bridges, ending the Battle of Resaca. Union forces rebuilt the burned bridges and pursued southward while other columns fanned out toward Rome and the Coosawattee crossings, and the Army of the Tennessee forded the river downstream at Lay's Ferry.

Gordon County, GA

During the Battle of Resaca on May 13–14, 1864, Union corps deployed along ridges west of Camp Creek opposite Leonidas Polk's Confederate corps. On May 14 the Federals drove Polk's men across the creek and, by evening, carried and held his new position on the hills beyond, forcing Polk to fall back toward the Dalton–Resaca road.

Mableton, GA

On July 4, 1864, Union Brig. Gen. John Fuller's brigade probed east from Nickajack Creek to test the strength of the Confederate position near Ruff's Mill. Finding it strongly held, Fuller returned, then advanced again with support and after a bitter struggle seized the first line of Confederate works. The action, paired with fighting at Smyrna, was part of pressuring Johnston's retreat from Kennesaw toward the Chattahoochee.

Ball Ground, GA

About 1755, near the confluence of Long-Swamp Creek and the Etowah River, the great Cherokee war-chief Oconostota led some 500 warriors to a decisive victory over a larger Creek force in the Battle of Taliwa. The defeat was so complete that the Creeks withdrew south of the Chattahoochee River, ceding to the Cherokee the region that would later become the heart of the Cherokee Nation.

Clayton County, GA

The deep gully south of this marker — the bed of a small stream running to the Flint River — was one of the few natural landmarks of the fighting here on August 31, 1864. Along and north of it, Union divisions of the 15th and 16th Corps formed a refused line bent back to the river. When Hardee's Confederate divisions attacked from south of the gully, the ravine became a fatal obstacle, breaking up their assault against the entrenched Federal infantry and artillery near Jonesboro.

Atlanta, GA

When Lt. Gen. John B. Hood took command of the Army of Tennessee on July 18, 1864, he moved quickly to strike the Federal armies closing on Atlanta. His first blow fell on July 20 against Thomas's Army of the Cumberland as it crossed Peachtree Creek, but a delay in Confederate deployment let the Federals secure ground south of the stream. The battle spread west across fields bisected by Collier Road, from Clear Creek to Howell Mill Road.

Whitfield County, GA

In 1864 the rail towns of northwest Georgia became a battleground during Sherman's drive on Atlanta. This spot saw a May delaying action as Confederates withdrew toward Resaca, and an October assault in which part of French's Division shelled a blockhouse held by some 300 men of the 17th Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry, forcing their surrender after a fight of several hours.

Warren County, GA

Beall Springs has flowed with iron-rich chalybeate water for centuries, first sought by Native people for its curative reputation and ceded to Georgia in 1773. Acquired afterward by the Beall family, who kept it open to the public, it became one of the popular 19th-century "watering places" where Georgians escaped the fever-prone lowlands, drawing notables including Confederate figures Alexander Stephens and Robert Toombs.

Lumpkin, GA

Built in 1836 by Dr. Bryan N. Bedingfield as a family home and stagecoach stop, this inn stood a day's travel from Columbus, Americus, Fort Gaines, and Eufaula, making it a hub of commerce and community life. Known over the years by several family names, it served as a hotel or boarding house into the 1930s before being restored as an 1840s house museum.

LaGrange, GA

Bellevue, completed in 1855, was the Greek Revival home of U.S. Senator Benjamin Harvey Hill, a leading orator who hosted Jefferson Davis and other Confederate figures. Hill became a fierce champion of the South during Reconstruction, and it was partly at his urging that President Hayes withdrew federal occupation troops. The LaGrange Woman's Club has maintained the house since 1942.

LaGrange, GA

Benjamin Harvey Hill rose from a Troup County farm to become one of Georgia's foremost orators — a Whig legislator who opposed secession yet became a staunch defender of the Confederacy in its Senate. After the war he vigorously fought the Reconstruction Acts and, with Senator John B. Gordon, pressed President Hayes to remove federal troops from the South, later serving in the U.S. Senate until his death in 1882. His home, Bellevue, was built in 1854–55.

Bellville, GA

Bellville was founded in 1890 on land platted beside the newly laid tracks of the Savannah & Western Railroad and named for pioneer Frances Bell Smith. Its depot quickly became the town's commercial and social center, and Bellville grew into a regional shipping point for cotton, naval stores, and lumber, home as well to the Bellville Academy.

Fitzgerald, GA

Ben Hill County was carved from Irwin and Wilcox Counties in 1906 and named for Benjamin Harvey Hill, the celebrated orator who backed the Confederacy in its Senate and later served in the U.S. House and Senate. Its first officers were commissioned in January 1907.

Athens, GA

A self-taught mechanic and inventor, Ben T. Epps designed, built, and flew the first airplane in Georgia in 1907 — just four years after the Wright brothers. From his Athens shop he built a series of ever-lighter monoplanes, including a 1924 model weighing just 350 pounds and powered by a motorcycle engine, and he opened an airfield here in 1917. He died in 1937 from a crash on takeoff at this very field.

Franklin, GA

Benjamin Hawkins, appointed U.S. Indian agent by President Washington, was so trusted by the Creeks that they called him "the Beloved Man of the Four Nations." A soldier, congressman, and senator, he ran his agency on the Flint River and sought — with a mix of firmness and kindness — to reshape Native life along Euro-American lines. His careful journals, measured by elapsed time on horseback, left the first written record of travel through this region.

Macon, GA

This Blue Star Memorial Highway marker near Macon honors the U.S. Armed Forces and singles out Colonel Benjamin H. Purcell for recognition. Placed by the Meadowbrook Garden Club with the Garden Club of Georgia, it joins a national network of blue-star tributes to those who have defended the country. The dedication personalizes the memorial by naming a local officer's service.

Atlanta, GA

On July 22, 1864, during the Battle of Atlanta, Benton's Mississippi and Coltart's Alabama brigades of Cheatham's corps struck the Federal line east of here, dislodging Union brigades and briefly seizing ground astride the Georgia Railroad before reinforced counterattacks recovered it. Colonel Samuel Benton was mortally wounded in the fighting and died days later at a hospital in Griffin.

Nashville, GA

Berrien County was created in 1856 and named for John MacPherson Berrien, "the American Cicero," a judge, U.S. senator, and attorney general. Its county seat, Nashville, honors General Francis Nash of North Carolina, a Revolutionary War soldier. The first county officers were commissioned that April.

Lexington, GA

Beth-Salem Presbyterian Church was organized in 1785 in the wilderness west of here under the licentiate John Newton, becoming the first in a chain of Presbyterian churches planted across North Georgia by the Presbytery of South Carolina. Newton served until his death in 1797; the congregation later relocated to this site and was chartered by the legislature in 1827.

Bethlehem, GA

Organized in the 1780s, Bethlehem United Methodist Church is the oldest Methodist congregation in Barrow County, its earliest services held in a nearby log house. The present site began as a camp-meeting ground of arbors, tents, and cottages, and its arbor served as a mobilization center during the Civil War. The congregation has rebuilt on the spot several times, most recently in 1949.

Fulton County, GA

Bethsaida Baptist Church was formed in 1829 and served for decades under Pastor John S. Dodd, who led it for 50 years. In 1864 Union forces occupied the original wooden church as a headquarters, reportedly using its pews as horse troughs. The sanctuary later burned, the congregation merged with another to form United Baptist Church, and the Bethsaida site eventually closed, leaving behind a cemetery with graves dating to the 1800s.

Macon, GA

Bibb County was created in 1822 from parts of four neighboring counties and named for Dr. William Wyatt Bibb, a physician and legislator who became the first governor of Alabama. Its first officers were commissioned in 1823, and the county would grow around Macon at the center of Georgia.

Gainesville, GA

This plaza honors John William Morrow, Jr., a Hall County native and World War II veteran who returned home to a lifetime of civic, religious, and governmental service. A founder of the Men's Progressive Club and one of the first minority members of the Gainesville school board, he was elected the city's first Black council member in 1978 and its first Black mayor in 1985, serving until his death in 1996.

Cedartown, GA

Asa Prior, a Virginia-born pioneer, settled this valley and in 1834 bought a tract that included this spring, deeding the spring and ten acres to Cedartown in 1852. Nearby stood Walthall's Indian trading post, where Cherokees gathered and their young people danced the corn dance beneath the cedars. The park was later beautified by a garden club and made the site of a memorial shrine to Senator William Julius Harris.

Savannah, GA

Bilbo Mound is an ancient earthwork on the marshy edge of the Savannah River, part of the long story of Native American peoples who shaped this coast centuries before European arrival. Earth and shell mounds like this represent some of the earliest large-scale engineered constructions on the continent, raised by Indigenous communities over generations. The site is a reminder of how deeply, and how early, human hands worked this landscape.

Coweta County, GA

William Thomas Overby, born on this site in the 1840s, enlisted in the 7th Georgia Infantry in 1861 and later rode with Mosby's Rangers, the daring Confederate cavalry command that harassed Union forces in Virginia. Captured near Front Royal in September 1864, he was offered his freedom in exchange for revealing the Rangers' hiding place; he refused, and was hanged without trial.

Jasper County, GA

A mile from this spot in 1823, Jasper County produced Benjamin Harvey Hill, a lawyer whose silver tongue would carry him into the U.S. Senate and the front rank of Confederate politics. Though he had argued against secession, Hill became one of Jefferson Davis's ablest defenders, and after the war he pressed for the withdrawal of Federal troops from the South. He is remembered as an early voice for a "New South" built on industry rather than cotton alone.

Lawrenceville, GA

Charles Henry Smith was born in Lawrenceville in 1826, but Georgia came to know him by his pen name, "Bill Arp." A lawyer and Confederate major, he first used the humorous persona in 1861 and spent more than forty years as one of the South's most beloved newspaper humorists and gentle philosophers. His column ran until his death in 1903, softening hard times with wit.

Atlanta, GA

On this Atlanta corner in May 1886, Jacobs' Pharmacy poured the first five-cent glass of Coca-Cola, a syrup concocted by local pharmacist John Pemberton. Businessman Asa Candler bought the rights and incorporated The Coca-Cola Company in 1892, turning a soda-fountain novelty into a national brand. Under later leaders like Robert Woodruff, it grew into one of the most recognized products on earth.

Augusta, GA

Joseph Wheeler was born near Augusta in 1836 and, after West Point, resigned his U.S. commission to ride for the Confederacy, rising within two years to command all the cavalry of the Army of Tennessee. "Fighting Joe" harried Union forces from Kentucky to the Carolinas and was wounded three times. In a rare second act, he returned to U.S. uniform as a general in the Spanish-American War, fighting at San Juan Hill before his burial at Arlington.

Columbus, GA

Robert Winship Woodruff was born in Columbus in 1889, the son of Coca-Cola financier Ernest Woodruff. For more than half of the twentieth century he led the company, transforming a Southern beverage into a worldwide symbol of American refreshment. He became one of Georgia's most influential industrialists and philanthropists.

Macon, GA

In a modest Macon cottage in 1842, Sidney Lanier was born—a poet, musician, linguist, and lawyer of astonishing range. He served in the Confederate Army and was captured while running a blockade, an ordeal that ruined his health. Later, lecturing at Johns Hopkins while he wrote, he produced enduring works such as "The Marshes of Glynn" and "Song of the Chattahoochee" before dying young in 1881.

Taliaferro County, GA

In a Taliaferro County log cabin in 1812, a poor farm family welcomed Alexander Hamilton Stephens—"Little Alec"—orphaned young and educated by an uncle before rising to the bar and a long career in Congress. He became Vice-President of the Confederacy, and after the war served again in Congress and finally as Governor of Georgia, dying in office in 1883.

Greensboro, GA

George Foster Pierce, born near Greensboro in 1811, followed his father into the Methodist ministry and became one of the South's most celebrated pulpit orators—by tradition preaching some ten thousand times. He served as the first president of Wesleyan College and later president of Emory, and in 1845 he helped organize the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, after the denomination split over slavery. Elected bishop in 1854, he shared his people's Civil War hardships until his death in 1884.

Cochran, GA

Bleckley County was carved out by the Georgia Legislature in 1912 and named for Logan E. Bleckley, remembered as one of the state's greatest jurists. Born in Rabun County in 1827, Bleckley served as a Confederate soldier, then rose through the Georgia Supreme Court to become Chief Justice. The marker also records the county's first slate of local officers as it began its work.

Union County, GA

Rising 4,458 feet in the Chattahoochee National Forest, Blood Mountain held deep meaning in Cherokee tradition as a home of the Nunnehi, the immortal "People Who Live Anywhere" who sheltered lost travelers in their highland townhouses. Cherokee lore also recalls a fierce battle between Creeks and Cherokees in nearby Slaughter Gap, said to have stained the ground before European settlers arrived.

Jones County, GA

In November 1864, Blountsville lay in the path of Sherman's March to the Sea. Blair's 17th Corps, part of the army's right wing, crossed the Ocmulgee at Seven Islands and marched through Monticello and Blountsville toward Gordon, camping here on the night of the 20th. The move kept pace with the 15th Corps and Kilpatrick's cavalry along Georgia's crowded backroads.

Jones County, GA

Near here once stood Blountsville, a bustling stagecoach station and post office and home to many prominent Georgia families. It boasted Blountsville Academy, chartered in 1834, and a strong Baptist congregation, but the town suffered badly during the Civil War and eventually vanished from the map. Named for the pioneer Blount family, it survives now only in memory and this marker.

Douglas County, GA

The Blue Star Memorial program began in 1945 when the National Garden Clubs set markers to honor the armed forces, their emblem taken from the blue-star service flags of the World War II home front. This Douglas County marker was sponsored by the Garden Club of Georgia with the Dogwood Garden Club of Waycross. It honors all who have defended the United States.

Decatur, GA

Blue Star Memorials date to 1945, when New Jersey garden clubs lined a road with blue-star dogwoods to honor World War II service members; the idea spread nationwide as a tribute to all who have served. This Decatur marker was sponsored by the DeKalb County Federation of Garden Clubs' Redbud District with the Garden Club of Georgia. The blue star echoes the service banners families once displayed for relatives in uniform.

Lamar County, GA

The Blue Star Memorial program began in 1945 as a highway planting honoring World War II service members and expanded into a nationwide tribute to all branches of the armed forces. In Lamar County, the Redbud District and the Johnstonville Garden Club joined the Garden Club of Georgia and the county to raise this marker. Its blue star echoes the emblem of the service flags hung in wartime homes.

Camilla, GA

The Blue Star Memorial began in 1945 as a New Jersey highway planting honoring World War II service members and grew into a national tribute to all who have served in the armed forces. In Camilla, the Garden Club of Georgia joined its Magnolia District and the Camilla Garden Club to dedicate this marker. Its blue star borrows the emblem of the wartime service flag.

Ellaville, GA

The Blue Star Memorial program began in 1945, when New Jersey garden clubs lined a highway with flowering dogwoods to honor service members — the blue star echoing the small banners families hung in their windows during World War II. The National Garden Clubs carried the idea across the country, and this marker in Ellaville, placed by the Rainbow Garden Club of the Magnolia District with American Legion Auxiliary Unit 191, extends that living tribute to all who have served in the U.S. armed forces.

Toccoa, GA

Blue Star Memorials trace to 1945, when garden clubs in New Jersey planted dogwoods along a highway to honor the armed forces, borrowing the blue star of the wartime service flags families displayed at home. The National Garden Clubs spread the program nationwide, and this Toccoa marker, sponsored by the Horti-Floral Garden Club, joins that chain of roadside tributes to everyone who has served the United States.

Crawfordville, GA

The Blue Star Memorial idea was born in 1945 from New Jersey garden clubs who honored service members by planting flowering trees along a highway, the blue star recalling the banners families hung in their windows during World War II. Adopted by the National Garden Clubs, the program reached small towns like Crawfordville, where the Sharon-Raytown Garden Club and American Legion Roy Dozier Post 8 placed this tribute to all who have defended the nation.

Glennville, GA

Blue Star Memorials began in 1945 as a garden-club tribute to service members, with the blue star drawn from the service flags that hung in American windows through World War II. Carried nationwide by the National Garden Clubs, the program left markers like this one in Glennville, placed by the Glennville Garden Club and the Oleander District, honoring all who have served in the armed forces.

Tifton, GA

The Blue Star Memorial program grew from a 1945 garden-club effort in New Jersey to honor the armed forces with flowering highways, its emblem taken from the blue-star service flags of World War II. The National Garden Clubs spread it across the country, and in Tifton the Council of Garden Clubs and the Camellia District set this marker as a lasting tribute to all who have defended the United States.

Hiawassee, GA

Blue Star Memorials date to 1945, when garden clubs honored service members with roadside plantings whose blue star came from the wartime service flags families displayed at home. In the north Georgia mountains at Hiawassee, the Laurel District's Hiawassee Garden Club and VFW Post 7807 raised this marker as a tribute to all who have defended the country.

Thomaston, GA

The Blue Star Memorial program began in 1945 as a garden-club tribute to the armed forces, its emblem drawn from the blue-star service flags of World War II and carried nationwide by the National Garden Clubs. In Thomaston, the Green Thumb Garden Club placed this marker to honor all who have served in defense of the United States.

Jesup, GA

Blue Star Memorials began in 1945, when garden clubs honored service members with flowering highways, the blue star recalling the banners hung in American windows during World War II. In Jesup, the Garden Club of Georgia with the Oleander District and the Dogwood, Jesup, and Ruby Riggins garden clubs placed this marker as a tribute to all who have defended the nation.

Helen, GA

The Blue Star Memorial program grew from a 1945 garden-club tribute to the armed forces, its blue star taken from the service flags of World War II and spread nationwide by the National Garden Clubs. In the alpine-themed town of Helen, the Soque Garden Club and the City of Helen placed this marker to honor all who have served in defense of the United States.

Macon, GA

This is a Blue Star Memorial, part of a nationwide program begun by the National Garden Clubs in 1945 to honor the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces. What started as a highway beautification effort planted with dogwoods after World War II grew into thousands of these markers along roads, in parks, and at veterans' sites across the country. The blue star itself echoes the service flags that families hung in their windows for loved ones in uniform.

Houston County, GA

Since 1945 garden clubs have raised Blue Star Memorials—named for the service flags of World War II—to honor the nation's armed forces along its roads and public places. This Houston County marker, sponsored by the Camellia District of The Garden Club of Georgia, stands with the Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base. Together they honor those who have defended the United States.

Sandersville, GA

Blue Star Memorial markers trace to 1945, when New Jersey garden clubs lined a highway with blue-star dogwoods to honor service members of World War II; the program soon grew into a nationwide network of roadside tributes to all who have served. This marker in Sandersville was placed by the Town and Country Garden Club with the Garden Club of Georgia and the state Department of Transportation, continuing a tradition that ties quiet local landscaping to a national gesture of gratitude. The blue star itself echoes the service flags families hung in their windows for loved ones in uniform.

Metter, GA

The Blue Star Memorial program began in 1945 as a living tribute—rows of flowering dogwoods honoring World War II troops—and expanded to salute members of all the armed forces. Sponsored here by the Metter Garden Club with the Garden Club of Georgia's Oleander District and Candler County, this marker carries a national tradition into a small Georgia community. The blue star recalls the service banners that once hung in the windows of homes with family in uniform.