When you are driving around the roads of Georgia, you probably don’t stop to think that there could be some odd and fun facts about your home state that you never knew. Here are just a few of them.
- Georgia has an official state fish. (Who’d have thought it?). It is the largemouth bass.
- In Gainesville, which is the chicken capital of the world, it is actually illegal to use a fork to eat chicken.
- Georgia is the largest producer in the US of the “three P’s” – pecans, peaches, and peanuts.
- In 1776, the total population of Georgia was only about 40,000 people.
- The first ever gold rush in America was at Auraria, near Dahlongea, in 1828.
- Coca-Cola was invented in Georgia. Dr John S. Pemberton of Atlanta invented it in May 1886, and the name was suggested by his book-keeper, Frank Robinson. The first Coca-Cola to be sold was in Atlanta at Jacobs Pharmacy soda fountain, owned by Willis Venable.
- Georgia has an official bird, the brown thrasher. It also has an official tree, the live oak, and the Cherokee rose is the official state flower.
- Highway 27 (perhaps you are driving on it now), runs the full length of the state, and is called Martha Berry Highway after an early educator.
- Marshall Forest in Rome is the only forest in the US that is inside a city limits.
- Effigies of Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis on Stone Mountain comprise the largest sculpture in the world. In addition, there is a carving of Lee’s horse, Traveler, at the same place.
- The first university to be chartered and supported by state funds is at Athens, GA. People outside of Georgia often know this town because of the amazing band REM.
- Thomasville is called the City of Roses.
- The watermelon capital of the world is Cordele.
- The Masters golf tournament is played at Augusta National on the first week of April every year.
- Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi.
- The sweetest onion in the world is the Vidalia onion, and can only be called that if it is grown in the fields around Vidalia and Glennville.
- The largest poultry trade show in the world is held in Georgia every year.
- Blackbeard Island was the home of the pirate Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach.
- The state was named for King George II of England.
- Okefenokee Swamp covers over 400,000 acres. The cypress trees and lily pad prairies give homes to hundreds of different species of birds and other wildlife, many of them endangered species.
- Okefenokee is native Indian for “trembling earth”.
- The first ever steamship to cross the Atlantic, the City of Savanna, sailed from Georgia.
So there you have it. Fun facts about our beloved state. Now that you’ve read these fun facts, it’s time to get back to studying for that all-important student driver learners permit, so you can get out there on the open Georgia roads!
