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in georgia...
TRAVEL
By Carolyn Carter
Travel’s what’s happening
in Georgia....
State-wide there’s a “go”
feeling.. .an awareness of
Georgia’s infinite invitations
to recreation, cultural
enlightment, vacations.. .the
holiday mood is everywhere.
Much of this starts with
Georgians. Long before the
national government turned to
stressing travel at home,
Georgians were resolved to
“See Georgia First”.
More than 10 million
vacation trips were made to-or
in-Georgia last year. Of these,
49.7 percent were natives.
They, with out-of-state
visitors, swelled tourism to a
half-billion dollar industry ...
and growing. Support
accorded travel by the present
administration focuses on even
greater escalation of the
business of tourism in Georgia.
“There’re people right here
in Georgia who are just now
discovering the joy of sleeping
in a bed roll in the mountains
of our state”, says State Travel
Director Bill T. Hardman.
“They’re learning what our
cities have to offer; they’re
enjoying the vast facilities of
our 43 state parks; they’re
broadening their
understanding of Georgia
history. Golf is becoming a
state past-time. We have so
many excellent courses. And
our attractions all over the
state are bringing in many,
many visitors.”
The reasons are many.
Georgia’s climate is one.
Year-round vacations are the
pattern in Georgia. Golfing is
privileged with over 300
excellent play days each year.
For those who don't mind
dampness, this number could
climb to 350. In winter,
hunting attracts many from all
over the United States. In no
area are quail so plentiful, or
private preserves so accessible.
In addition, there’s deer, wild
turkey, dove, to name a few
Georgia fishing calls for
every tackle in the box. Trout
dance coyly in the cool
mountain streams; and the
gamest fish of all, the tarpon,
lunges merrily off the Georgia
coast.
If the fascination is for
blossoms, Georgia has a wealth
of bulbs, flowering shrubs,
magnificent trees, of which
dogwood is queen. In spring
(which lasts several months in
our state) Georgia is a
veritable fairyland of flowers.
Georgia has mountains, one
(Brasstown Bald) almost a
mile high. The mountain area
attracts increasing numbers of
tourists for camping, hiking
(The Appalachian Trail begins
in Georgia), to fall foliage
tours. The state has two
national forests — the
Chattahoochee and the
Oconee; one national military
park — Chickamauga; three
national monuments — Fort
Frederica, Fort Pulaski,
Ocmulgee Indian Mounds; 15
state museums and a system of
state parks and camp sites.
Historical attractions are
everywhere.
Atlanta, capital and
throbbing heart of Georgia, is
one of the nation’s newest
cities, founded in 1837, when
a railroad surveyor drove a
stake into the ground near
what is now known as Five
Points, center of the financial
district.
Cultural attractions
abound: the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra, the
Atlanta Art Association, an
All Star Concert series, several
local theatre and ballet groups
and top educational facilities
--- Georgia State College,
Emory University, Agnes
Scott College, Georgia
Institute of Technology,
Oglethorpe University, Atlanta
University, Clark College and
Morehouse College.
Atlanta is a big-league
sports town, home of the
Atlanta Braves, the Atlanta
Falcons and the Atlanta
Chiefs, all of whom play in the
city’s new S18 million
stadium.
Atlanta’s new convention
auditorium center which
opened this spring adds new
emphasis to the city’s already
soaring convention business.
The $10 million Civic Center
complex includes a 4,600 seat
auditorium and a 70,000
square foot exhibition hall
which can double as seating
area for 10,000 delegates. This
facility has a date-book of
prestigeous conventions
including: American Legion,
45,000, in 1969; Rotary
International, 20,000, in
1970; Kiwanis International in
1972 with 18,000.
The Cyclorama, giant
painting of the Battle of
Atlanta, executed in 1886 by
German artists. It measures
400 feet in circumference, 50
feet in height and weighs
18,000 pounds. It is open to
the public daily.
Six Flags Over Georgia,
sprawling family
recreation-amusement park
patterned after its older sister
in Dallas-Six Flags Over
Texas. It depicts, in a fun and
frolic way, Georgia’s past
under various flags.
Stone Mountain Park,
naturalistic family recreation
park built around the historic
--and world’s largest-grey
granite mountain. This
memorial to the War Between
the States provides
accommodations for all
budgets, from camp sites to a
plush hotel.
The Regency Hotel. A
modem facility which breaks
with tradition in a charming
and exciting way. The hotel
enjoys an unusually high
occupancy and in itself is a
tourist attraction with its
“outdoor” inside lobby,
seven-story fountain and
space-age elevators.
Savannah, Georgia’s second
ranked city, is naturally port
oriented, with recent emphasis
on chemicals and paper
products. This city where
Georgia colonists first settled
is a living museum. Many old
plantations and great houses
have yielded to state docks,
paper mills and sugar
refineries, but much of old
Savannah remains and its
citizens are restoring
monuments of the past. Along
the waterfront are the old
cotton warehouses, connected
with a network of footbridges
called Factors Walk. The
streets below are cobbled, lit
by gas lamps and torches.
Savannah is famous for its
colorful restaurants.
Savannah extends to the
beach and the start of the
graceful chain of islands that
enhance Georgia’s southern
area like a strand of pearls.
The seacoast has become a
playground for natives and
visitors from every state. The
Golden Isles (Jekyll, St.
Simons and Sea Island) are
separated from the mainland
at Brunswick by the Marshes
of Glynn, immortalized by
Sidney Lanier. Brunswick is a
manufacturing town and home
harbor for coastal fishing and
shrimping fleets.
Jekyll, a state-owned park,
once was home to 60 of
America’s wealthiest families.
It was acquired by the state in
1946 and has become a
convention and vacation
center. More than 600 motel
units, mostly ocean-fronting,
have opened in the last eight
years. An average of two
conventions a week are held in
the Aquarama, a circular
ballroom and convention hall
with t e e p e e - roo f ed,
glass-walled indoor swimming
pool, overlooking the Atlantic.
St. Simons combines
cultures of the five nations
whose flags it has flown: the
Spanish, French, British,
Confederate States of America
and the United States. John
and Charles Wesley preached
at Christ Church. Fort
Frederica National Monument
is located at the tip of the
island. Near the shopping
center is the St. Simons
Lighthouse.
Macon, geographical center
of the state, is a strategic
center of middle Georgia trade
and textile manufacturing.
Nearby are the Ocmulgee
Indian Mounds. Macon has a
public planetarium; Wesleyan
and Mercer Colleges; and an
Italian Renaissance mansion
now open to visitors.
Columbus, gateway to the
resourceful Chattahoochee
Valley in Western Georgia, is
home of Fort Benning where
paratroopers may be seen
jumping any day of the week.
Two Confederate gunboats,
brought from the depths of
the river a few years ago and
restored, are a part of the
state’s museum.
Nearby is the Pine
Mountain area of Georgia,
famed for the late President
Roosevelt’s home at Warm
Springs and the gardens
developed by the late Cason
Callaway. Opened in 1952,
Callaway Gardens emphasizes
recreation. There are 12 lakes,
15 miles of drives through
gardens and arboretums, 45
holes of golf, tennis courts,
and the “world’s largest
man-made beach”. Swimming,
boating, water skiing and
fishing are popular. Hunting is
outstanding.
Up the Savannah River,
Augusta is being described as
“Georgia’s hottest industrial
growth center”. In an
eight-year period, it added
about $180 million in
industrial and capital
investment. Its roster of plants
reads like a who’s who of the
chemical industry. Augusta is
the golfing capital of Georgia,
home of the Masters’
Tournament.
Among the medium-size
cities of Georgia, things to see
and do come naturally, also.
Albany is heart of the pine
forests and center of quail
hunting. It has Radium
Springs, a resort now being
restored ... Gainesville is the
nation’s poultry center.
(continued on page 13)
»■ • H *>
This is the year to Discover
Rock City-to view this
magnificent mountain-top
attraction with its hundreds
of different plants, strange
rock formations and cloud-
high scenic views.
Rock City is in Georgia,
easily reached from 1-75 and
1-24 near the Tennessee
border. Open every day of
the year from 8:00 a.m.
to sunset.
DISI0UER
ROCK CITY
atop
lookout mountain
near Chattanooga