With the largest land area of any state east of the Mississippi River, Georgia extends 300 miles from top to bottom and nearly 250 miles at its greatest width. The Georgia landscape runs from the mountains in the north and northeast to the coastal plain in the southeast. The most southerly of the Blue Ridge mountains enter Georgia in the north and northeast. The central piedmont extends south and southeast from the mountains and levels to a coastal plain and coastal flatlands. Since most Georgians live close to the major cities, the wide open spaces between cities can lead you to believe that the population number is a misprint. These sparsely populated rural areas offer a tremendous variety of outdoor activities for sports enthusiasts, nature lovers and sun worshippers.
Georgia’s past seems to intersect with its present at every turn in the road. The profiles of Confederate leaders gaze stoically from Stone Mountain. Turn-of-the-century homes still gleam on the Golden Isles. Nearly every town between Atlanta and Savannah displays mementos of General Sherman’s invasion in 1864.
For travelers, Georgia’s historic awareness presents an opportunity to glimpse the culture of the Old South. You can tour vintage mansions and plantations, visit forts and museums and witness battle reenactments. The state is not trapped in its past witness the amenities of cosmopolitan Atlanta or the contemporary arts and music scene of Athens but the state’s reverence for earlier times is one of its most endearing qualities.
