| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — Abraham Baldwin — Founder of the University of Georgia |
| | Born in North Gilbert, Connecticut, November 2, 1754; graduate of Yale, 1772; licensed to preach by the New Haven Association of Ministers, 1775; Tutor in Yale, 1775 – 1779, Chaplain in the Continental Army, 1779 – 1783; Admitted to the Bar 1783; Moved to Georgia the same year; Member of the Georgia Legislature and of the Continental Congress, 1785 – 1788; Member of the Federal Constitutional Convention, 1787, saving that body from disruption; Wrote the Charter of the . . . — Map (db m20891) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 029-16 — Ben T. Epps — Georgia's Pioneer Aviator — 1888-1937 |
| | Ben T. Epps - Georgia's First in Flight -- designed, built and in 1907 flew the first airplane in the State of Georgia. He was born in Oconee County, educated in Clarke County, and attended Georgia Tech. A self-taught aviator, aircraft designer, and builder, Epps built the 1907 Monoplane in his shop on Washington Street in Athens and designed and flew new airplanes in 1909, 1911, 1916, 1924, and 1930. The 1924 Epps Monoplane weighed only 350 pounds, had a wingspan of 25 feet, and was powered by . . . — Map (db m11754) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 029-10 — Camak House: — Landmark in Georgia Railroading |
| | On March 10, 1834, a group of Athens men met in this house, then the home of Mr. James Camak, to accept the charter of the Georgia Railroad Company and to organize the corporation. At this meeting Mr. Camak was elected its president, and he soon began a tour of the State building up interest in the railroad and explaining its purpose. Camak served as president for two years and played an important part in blazing the way for the future success of the company.
The Georgia Railroad Company . . . — Map (db m9128) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 029-2 — Cook & Brother Confederate Armory |
| | To this building in 1862 was brought the machinery of the armory established in New Orleans at the outbreak of the War by Ferdinand W.C. and Francis L. Cook, recent English immigrants, the former a skilled engineer for the manufacture of Enfield rifles, bayonets and cavalry horse shoes. Said to be the largest and most efficient private armory in the Confederacy. It produced a rifle declared by an ordnance officer to be "superior to any that I have seen of Southern manufacture." Under contract . . . — Map (db m11288) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 029-14 — Dr. William Lorenzo Moss Birthplace |
| | William Lorenzo Moss, medical researcher and physician, was born in this house at 479 Cobb Street in Cobbham on August 23, 1876. Crawford W. Long was the attending physician. Dr. Moss received his B.S. degree from the University of Georgia in 1897 and
the M.D. degree from the Johns Hopkins University in 1905. He taught at the latter school, at Yale, and at Harvard. In 1926 Dr. Moss was Acting Dean at Harvard's School of Public Health Medicine. In 1931 he was named Dean of the Medical . . . — Map (db m11872) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 29-5 — First Flight in Georgia — Site of Ben Epps' Garage |
| | Georgia’s pioneer aviator, Benjamin Thomas Epps, was born in Oconee County in 1888. He opened Athens’ first automobile repair garage at this location on East Washington Street in 1907. That same year, nineteen-year-old Epps designed and built his first airplane here – a monoplane with an upright buggy seat, bicycle wheels, and a 35-foot wingspan powered by a fifteen-horsepower French Anzani engine. Its successful flight earned him recognition as the father of Georgia aviation. Epps tested . . . — Map (db m11755) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 29-6 — Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery |
| | The Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery was founded in 1882 by the Gospel Pilgrim Society, a fraternal organization, to furnish respectable funerals and burial places for Athens-area African Americans. Popular in the nineteenth century, such societies offset funeral costs and ensured a funeral procession and proper
burial for members. The cemetery illustrates a Reconstruction-era departure in the black community from burial sites associated with specific churches.
Gospel Pilgrim also contains fine . . . — Map (db m14500) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 029-17 — Herty Field |
| | This marker overlooks the site of the first intercollegiate football game played in the state of Georgia and one of the first to be played in the deep south. On January 30, 1892 Georgia defeated Mercer College 50 to 0 on the stubbly grounds that served as an athletic field. Several hundred spectators watched from the sidelines, some of them spilling out on the playing ground. Students living in New College close by the field had a splendid view of the action from their dormitory windows. . . . — Map (db m11709) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — Hodgson-Dodd Park |
| | In their Springdale houses they shared the joys of music and the visual arts with friends, family, students and faculty. HUGH HODGSON
1893 - 1969
570 SPRINGDALE was designed by architect Ed Wade and built in 1941 by Sam Wright for musician HUGH HODGSON and his wife JESSIE. Here colleagues and visiting
celebrities rehearsed the weekly lecture-concert Music Appreciation evenings beloved by town and gown alike. From 1928 to 1960, HODGSON -- pianist,
conductor, composer, educator . . . — Map (db m14191) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — Holmes/Hunter Academic Building |
| | On Jan. 6, 1961, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter became the first two African American students to enroll at the University of Georgia when they walked past the historic Arch and into this building to register for classes. On this day, January 9, 2001, as part of the 40th Anniversary celebration of the desegregation of the University, we salute the courage and fortitude displayed by these students and their families in paving the way for others to follow. — Map (db m11699) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 29-3 — Louis H. Persley — (1888-1932) |
| | Originally from Macon, Georgia, African-American architect Louis H. Persley attended Lincoln University, and graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1914. Persley then joined the faculty of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama . One of his few projects in Georgia, Persley designed a new building for the First African Methodist Episcopal Church on this site in 1916. First AME began as Pierce’s Chapel in 1866, believed to be the first congregation in Athens established by African . . . — Map (db m11753) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — Old Athens Cemetery |
| | This site is the original burial ground for Athens and contains the remains of its earliest citizens. It is a part of the original tract of land purchased for The University of Georgia by Governor John Milledge in 1801. All people in Athens were allowed to bury their dead here free of charge. Some markers are uninscribed local field stones, others are of imported marble. Two Revolutionary soldiers are known to be buried here as well as Dr. Moses Waddell, president of the University 1819-1829. . . . — Map (db m19707) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 29-4 — Old College |
| | Built in 1806 by Jett Thomas to the specifications of college president Josiah Meigs, Old College was the first permanent building on the University of Georgia campus. Originally named Franklin College in honor of Benjamin Franklin, the building served as housing, dining, and classroom facilities for the fledgling University. As the campus grew the building came to be known as Old College. Condemned as structurally unsound by 1906, the building was largely rebuilt and rededicated in 1908 at the . . . — Map (db m19515) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — Olympic Games in Athens |
| | In summer 1996, Athens, Georgia, shone as the largest Olympic venue site outside Atlanta, as the state hosted the Centennial Olympic Games July 19 - August 4. Some 650,000 visitors bought tickets to events at three University of Georgia venues: soccer in Sanford Stadium, and volleyball and rhythmic gymnastics in Stegeman Coliseum. Competition here was highlighted August 1 by the first gold medal match in women's soccer, won by the United States team before a crowd of 76,481, to that date the . . . — Map (db m11870) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 029-15 — Robert Toombs Oak |
| | A majestic oak tree once stood on this spot and one of the University's most endearing legends also flourished here. Robert Toombs (1810-1885) was young, and boisterous when he was dismissed from Franklin College in 1828. Five decades later it was said that Toombs returned on the next commencement day after he was expelled and spoke so eloquently under the tree that the entire audience left the chapel to hear him. Later, it was said, that the tree was struck by lightning on the day Toombs . . . — Map (db m11966) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 029-5 — The Athens Double-Barrelled Cannon |
| | This cannon, the only known one of its kind, was designed by Mr. John Gilleland, a private in the “Mitchell Thunderbolts,” an elite “home guard” unit of business and professional men ineligible because of age or disability for service in the Confederate army. Cast in the Athens foundry, it was intended to fire simultaneously two balls connected by a chain which would “mow down the enemy somewhat as a scythe cuts wheat.” It failed for lack of a means of firing . . . — Map (db m19549) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 029-18 — The Red and Black |
| | Student published the first issue of the University of Georgia's campus newspaper, The Red and Black, on Nov. 24, 1893, from offices in the Academic Building [now the Hunter-Holmes Academic Building]. The tabloid boosted school spirit, promoted athletic programs and reported on cultural activities for the University's 212 students. The weekly paper was the official organ of the Athletic Council from 1895 to 1928, when it became a laboratory for the School of Journalism in the . . . — Map (db m11289) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 029-6 — The Stoneman Raid |
| | Closing in on Atlanta in July, 1864, Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman found it "too strong to assault and too extensive to invest". To force its evacuation, he sent Maj. Gen. Geo. Stoneman’s cavalry [US] to cut the Macon railway by which Atlanta’s defenders were supplied. At the Battle of Sunshine Church (19 miles NE of Macon), Stoneman surrendered with 600 men to Brig. Gen. Alfred Iverson, Jr., [CS], after covering the escape of Adams’ and Capron’s brigades. Both retreated via Athens, intending to . . . — Map (db m19661) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 29-1 — United States Navy Pre-Flight School |
| | Between 1942 and 1945, the Navy operated a Pre-Flight School on the University of Georgia campus. As one of only five such schools in the nation, the program trained approximately 20,000 cadets in the skills needed as combat pilots in the Pacific theater of World War II. The Navy utilized most of the existing campus and built numerous buildings and athletic facilities used by the college in later years. Additional Athens-area sites were also utilized and improvements were made to local streets . . . — Map (db m21247) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — 029-1 — University of Georgia |
| | Endowed with 40,000 acres of land in 1784 and chartered in 1785, the charter was the first granted by a state for a government controlled university. After Louisville and then Greensboro were first selected, the current site was chosen.
The first president, and author of the school's charter, Abraham Baldwin, resigned when the doors opened, and was succeeded by Josiah Meigs. The University first began to thrive under Moses Waddel, who became president in 1819. Alonzo Church was president in . . . — Map (db m16062) |
| Georgia (Clarke County), Athens — William Bartram Trail — Traced 1773-1777 — Deep South Region |
| | Eminent artist -- naturalist.
Described numerous species of
flora including Franklinia.
Explored local area in 1773. — Map (db m9147) |
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