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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Ann Gwinnett was from Staffordshire, England, and was the wife of Button Gwinnett, one of Georgia’s signers of the Declaration of Independence. This document is her will from 1780.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The Macon City Auditorium was opened in 1925 and is well known for its copper dome. As noted on this postcard, it was claimed to be the largest copper dome in the world. Over 100 years later, the Auditorium is still home to concerts and other major events.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Jimmy Carter is perhaps the most influential Georgian of the last 50 years. Born in Plains on October 1, 1924, he served as governor of our state from 1971 to 1975, before serving as president from 1977 to 1981. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 and passed away at age 100 in 2024.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Herschel Vespasian Johnson served as Georgia’s governor from 1853 to 1857 and was Stephen Douglas’ running mate in the 1860 election. Douglas and Johnson lost to Abraham Lincoln, and Johnson afterward supported secession.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Born in Charleston in 1730, Archibald Bulloch was the first provisional governor of Georgia. He died under mysterious circumstances in 1777, only eight months into office. One of his great-great-grandsons was President Theodore Roosevelt.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Starting today, I am taking a brief break from posting. New posts will resume on Sunday.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

One of the most infamous instances of racial violence in Georgia, the Atlanta Race Massacre, took place on September 22, 1906. Over 25 individuals were killed, a vast majority of whom were African American, and countless more individuals were injured.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This lithograph from around 1865 shows Atlanta’s public square. Atlanta’s only public park during this period was State Square, located close to the railroad depot at Wall, Pryor, Decatur, and Lloyd (now Shirley C. Franklin) streets.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Book Review: “Great Times Down South: Deep South Tourism Promotion in the Carter Era” by Giuliano Santangeli Valenzani This short and engaging book looks at how tourism evolved in the South during the Carter Era.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The Georgia State Capitol building was finished in 1889 and was designed by the firm of Edbrooke and Burnham. Because it is one of the state’s most recognizable buildings, it has been featured on countless postcards and souvenirs. This unique example is a postcard made of leather.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

On the right side of this picture is Walter F. George, who represented Georgia in the US Senate from 1922 to 1957. George was an important leader in the Senate during WWII and supported the United Nations, though near the end of his career, he was known for his pro-segregation actions in the Senate.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

In 1865, Steward Chapel AME Church was started in Macon at the start of Reconstruction. Their church is named after Theophilus Gould Steward, a member of the Buffalo Soldiers who was instrumental in the congregation’s early years. Their historic sanctuary is still standing on Macon’s Forsyth Street.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This newspaper was published on September 13, 1764, in Savannah, and offers a glimpse of life during that period of Georgia's history. The first page features news from other colonies, while the remaining pages include advertisements for land sales, freedom seekers, agricultural products, and more.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Colonial Park Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Savannah, with burials dating back to 1750. Many Revolutionary War-era leaders are buried here. Burials ceased in 1853, and it has served as a city park since then.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

One of the nation’s most distinctive 9/11 memorial events takes place every five years in Georgia. At Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, almost 3,000 flags are placed in the front field – one for every victim of 9/11.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Happy Star Trek Day! Actor DeForest Kelley, who played Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, was a native of Georgia. Born in Toccoa, he grew up in Conyers and Decatur. He moved to Hollywood in the late 1930s.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

William McKinley’s assassination took place exactly 125 years ago today. Georgia played an important role in his first presidential campaign. McKinley’s close advisor, Mark Hanna, owned a house in Thomasville that was used to meet with Southern Republican leaders.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Many vintage postcards of urban Georgia clearly show advertisements for long-forgotten businesses. These four postcards are all great examples. The postcards show Atlanta, Augusta, Macon, and Savannah, respectively.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

This 1941 panorama shows Fort Benning near Columbus. It was established in 1918 as Camp Benning and became a fort just after World War I.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Montezuma, in central Georgia, was founded by veterans of the Mexican American War in 1851. It was named after Montezuma, the Aztec emperor at the time of the Conquistadors. This map of the city was made in 1885.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Fort King George was located near the Altamaha River along the Atlantic Coast. It was built in 1721 to defend the Carolinas from the Spanish. After Georgia was established in the 1730s it was replaced by Fort Frederica and was demolished in 1738. The site is now a State Historic Site.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

The oldest congregation in Augusta is Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, dating back to 1750. It has been on the same site since 1820. The nineteenth century building was destroyed in the Great Fire of Augusta in 1916. The building shown here dates to 1920, and is still in use today.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

These two homes were both located in Irwin County in South Georgia. During the Great Depression, the United States Resettlement Administration offered loans to farmers to repair their homes and farm buildings.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

During the Spanish American War, the Chickamauga battlefield in North Georgia became Camp George H. Thomas, a massive training ground of soldiers. It was only open for a few short months, but the overcrowding at the camp led to an outbreak of disease that was seen as a national scandal.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

In 1740, George Whitefield founded the Bethesda Orphanage near Savannah. The name means “house of mercy.” The orphanage was destroyed by fire in 1773 and 1805 and rebuilt in 1855. It is still open today as a private school, over 275 years after its founding.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

The Hotel De Soto in Savannah was built in 1890, and the building was demolished in 1965 so a newer hotel could be built. These postcards show the original hotel’s grand exterior and elegant interiors. The postcards of the interior were published sometime around 1924.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The Georgia Railroad and Banking Company (often called just the Georgia Railroad) was one of the oldest in Georgia, being chartered in 1833. Passenger service ended in 1969.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Earlier this year, I posted today’s first two photos of the historic Floyd County Courthouse in Rome. In March, the courthouse was burned in a devastating fire, and I was able to visit Rome and photograph its remains yesterday.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

This map of Georgia is clearly labeled the “Western Territory” of Georgia, yet it looks nothing like modern West Georgia. The reason why is simple: from statehood until 1802, modern Alabama and Mississippi were part of the Peach State.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Located near FDR’s Little White House, F. D. Roosevelt State Park’s current visitor center on Pine Mountain was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. At the time, the park was called Pine Mountain State Park.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Georgia Power Company released broadside advertisements about Georgia. They were called “The Empire State,” and featured information about Georgia history, industry, and agriculture.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Fort Pulaski was built to guard the Savannah River, and it is named for Casimir Pulaski, who was killed at the Battle of Savannah during the American Revolution. Construction on the fort began in 1829.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Book review: “Restructured Resistance: The Sibley Commission and the Politics of Desegregation in Georgia” by Jeff Roche www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Following the final removal of the Creek tribe from Georgia in the 1820s, their land was divided up and given away in a land lottery. One parcel of land, around a site called Indian Springs, was set aside for the public and remained state-owned.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

This photograph from St. Patrick’s Day, 1904, shows the spring training of the Boston Americans in Macon, Georgia. The Boston Americans had only been founded the year before, but had already won a World Series. In 1908, they changed their name to the Boston Red Sox.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The Atlanta Daily Examiner is one of the earliest Atlanta newspapers. This 1854 front page is mostly advertisements and includes notices from a chair factory, several hotels, doctors, and booksellers.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

This 1794 map of the Georgia and South Carolina coast was used by navigators. The compass roses with the lines emanating from them are rhumb lines, designed to help keep a steady course. In the middle of the map are instructions for how to safely approach the important islands on the map.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

In 1925, John F. Archbold gave money in honor of his father to build a hospital in Thomasville. The original building was built in a Mediterranean style popular in the 1920s.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

In 1922, Bessie Kempton of Atlanta became one of the first two women elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. She was a journalist with the Atlanta Constitution, and while in office, supported the construction of Atlanta’s viaducts over the railroad.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Thomas Butler King was a planter from the Georgia coast who lived on St. Simons Island. He served in both Congress and the Georgia General Assembly and is remembered for his advocacy of transportation and the navy. He moved to California in the 1840s and died in Georgia in 1864.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

During the Siege of Savannah in 1779, the French Comte d’Estaing served alongside the American army in an effort to retake the city. The siege ultimately proved unsuccessful, and Savannah remained in British hands until the end of the war.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

This postcard spotlights the Jefferson Hotel, which was built in Atlanta just before the start of the Great Depression in 1929. It had 125 rooms. It replaced an earlier structure called the Temple Court Building, considered Atlanta’s first skyscraper.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

This photograph seems to show the Agricultural Train, an endeavor sponsored by the State College of Agriculture. The train traveled around the state educating farmers about improved farming methods, machinery, and livestock. Does anyone recognize the town where this photograph was made?

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Daniel Sturges was commissioned by the state government to create an accurate map of Georgia, and after fourteen years of work, his map was published in 1818. It is made up of many individual sheets and was designed as a wall map.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

One of Savannah’s hidden landmarks can be found just off of Reynolds Square. When James Oglethorpe died in 1785, he was buried in All Saints’ Church in Cranham, England. Georgia historians would not find the exact site of his tomb until the 1920s.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Elbert County is one of the oldest in the state, having been founded in 1790, and is known as a center of the granite industry. The county and its seat of Elberton are named for Samuel Elbert, a leader in the Georgia Militia and Georgia Navy during the American Revolution.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

During the Progressive Era, citizens from across the state began to push for better roads to accommodate the automobile. It was part of a nationwide effort called the Good Roads Movement.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

This map is described as a plan for a school on Georgia’s Oconee River, and is from the Bureau of Indian Affairs records. In the National Archives catalog, it is dated 1884, which is after Native Americans were removed from Georgia. Does anyone know which school this map depicts?

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Abraham Baldwin was born in Connecticut in 1754 and moved to Georgia after the Revolutionary War. He quickly became active in politics and was one of Georgia’s signers of the United States Constitution. He represented Georgia in both houses of Congress and died in 1807.

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Peach State Past @peachstatepast.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Artist Laura Pope Forester lived at this house in Cairo, Georgia. During her life, the Forester turned the house into a museum of her artwork. By the time of her death in 1953, she had created over 200 sculptures and murals, many of which focused on the contributions of women to American History.

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