The Nifty Fifty: Georgia

Georgia is a state in the southern region of the United States with the abbreviation of GA. It became the 4th state on January 2, 1788, which makes Georgia 235 years old, as of January 2023. The colony of Georgia was named after King George II of Great Britain when the king granted the Georgia Charter to General James Oglethorpe in 1732. The state of Georgia, like most of the former colonies, kept its name after declaring independence from Great Britain.

Georgia is the 24th largest state and the 8th most populous; the capital of Georgia is Atlanta. Georgia is one of the thirteen original states. Georgia’s demonym is Georgian; the state is bordered by Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the Atlantic Ocean.

The motto of the state of Georgia is Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation.

Georgia’s official nickname is the Peach State, since Georgia’s peaches are known for their superior flavor, texture, and appearance; the peach is also Georgia’s official state fruit and is featured on the Georgia state quarter. Georgia is sometimes called the Empire State of the South and the Goober State; goober is an old word for peanut, which is the state crop of Georgia.

Georgia’s land is covered in millions of acres of prime farmland. The state has many lakes, freshwater wetlands, and countless streams and rivers. More than half of Georgia’s land is covered in pine forests.

Georgia is known for its peanut production, subtropical climate, sweet tea, and pecans. Georgia is also known for inventing and producing one of America’s oldest soft drinks: Coca-Cola. The land of Georgia possess minerals such as staurolite, marble, calcite, barite, beryl, tourmaline, quartz, gold, and garnet.

John B. Gordon was born in Upson County, Georgia, in 1832. Gordon served as a Major General in the Confederate States Army from the years 1861 to 1865; some of the major conflicts that Gordon served during were the Maryland Campaign, Gettysburg Campaign, Overland Campaign, Valley Campaigns of 1864, Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign. After the Civil War, Gorgon served as a United States Senator from Georgia and then the 53rd Governor of Georgia.

A man named Herman Lay began his career by selling potato chips out of his car. Lay then became a salesman at Barrett Food Products Company in Atlanta, Georgia. Lay eventually purchased the company for a distributing plant for his chips; Lay’s potato chips became one of America’s most popular chips shortly after he started distributing them.

On July 22, 1864, the battle of Atlanta occurred during the Civil War in Fulton County, Georgia. The battle was the largest of the Atlanta Campaign and it led to Union troops capturing Atlanta, one of the Confederate State’s most vital cities. The battle resulted in a Union victory, which paved the way for Union General William T. Sherman’s famous March to the Sea and then the capture of Savannah.

An interesting fact about Georgia is that marble from the state has been used to build the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, and even the Capitol of Georgia and many other states.

A strange fact about Georgia is that many of its largest lakes were not formed naturally, but made by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

What fact about most interests you?