Unusual Facts on Georgia from a Lil Ol Georgia Peach…

I don’t live in Georgia anymore but it will always be home.  I do live just one state away and find the ties still strong and the memories still vivid.  When I visit even the air smells different and I notice it as soon as I cross the state line.  Our family tree is mired in Georgia history going back far beyond the War Between the States with almost no one moving out of state until the 1970’s. Now we’re scattered throughout the world but Georgia will always be home.  Everyone has memories of their childhoods and those memories should never be discounted.  Celebrate them!  They are part of who you are today.   

I rarely need a map to move around the state and can’t drive more than 10 miles without seeing something that brings memories back; a pecan grove, a peach orchard, the counties named after someone on my family tree, a favorite restaurant… something always centers me. There is so much to revere about Georgia, it was hard growing up to realize that others felt the same way about their homes.

Six Fun Little Known Facts about Georgia

1. Coca Cola – The feud between the Pembertons and the Candlers lives on today. John Pemberton was a pharmacist and invented a “remedy” that was well liked but he didn’t know how to market it or what to do in the long run. Asa Candler bought the remedy, added “fizz water” and Coca Cola was born. Both families claim to be the inventors of Coca Cola and from first hand accounts, both still well up with anger when anything is said about the other’s claims.
2. The University of Georgia was actually the first land grant university – they received their land grant in 1785, a full 70 years before the official land grant was issued by the Morrill Acts. Today we would probably call their grant part of a “pilot program”.
3. The Georgia/Florida football game – It’s often touted as the largest cocktail party in the United States and is usually played in Jacksonville, Florida. They started playing in Jacksonville because the road conditions between Athens and Gainesville were horrible and neither team could easily get to the other except over very muddy and rut filled roads.
4. The Varsity – a mecca for anyone who lives in or around Atlanta was built in revenge. The originator, Frank Gordy was mad he had flunked out (or been denied entry - there seems to be some question as to which) of Georgia Tech and vowed to elicit revenge. He built a drive-in hamburger joint right next to the campus and called it “The Varsity”. Students came from everywhere and today they actually have six locations but Atlanta’s downtown, modernized, two story location will always be home. Just hearing the orders put in is an experience but I defy you to find a better chocolate milk anywhere in the country.
5. Georgia is known as the peach state and I’ve picked a many of them straight from the trees but in actual fact, Georgia leads the country in the production of pecans and peanuts with cotton coming in a close second. Other top crops include egg and broiler production, soybeans and corn. But yes, peaches, watermelons, grains, sweet potatoes, etc are all important to this agricultural state.
6. Georgia has more counties than almost any other state in the union. There is an old law on the books that requires the county seat not to be further than a day’s travel from the county line and was put in place back during the horse and buggy days. This required counties to be smaller than found in other states thus today there is approximately 160 counties in the state of Georgia.

Georgia has everything to offer in the way of amenities, it’s just a little more spread out than many other states.  You can visit the mountains, the ocean, antebellum homes or modern art works.  They have everything from Hollywood studios to cotton mills.  The air is thick with agricultural smells and the people are wonderful if you don’t attack them first.  They say “y’all” and mean it – “You all come over for a visit”.  They still sit on porches and still know their neighbors.  I’m proud to be from Georgia and for all of those of you with stereotypes in mind – there’s not a redneck anywhere in my family.

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