New Georgia Encyclopedia : Cities and Counties Updates Copyright(c) 2004-2009 by the Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press. All rights reserved. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Categories.jsp?path=CitiesCounties Articles modified in the 'Cities and Counties' section of the New Georgia Encyclopedia within the last 30 days. en-us Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST 10080 New Georgia Encyclopedia 64 71 http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Categories.jsp?path=CitiesCounties http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/graphics/logo_circle.gif Fort Valley http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2251 Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:38:26 EDT <a href="http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2251"><img src="http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/media_content/m-1127_thumb.jpg" align="left" border="0" /> </a>The county seat of <a href="http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2376">Peach County</a>, Fort Valley was founded in the 1820s as a Native American trading post and incorporated in 1856. Its economy has long been based on <a href="http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2056">agriculture</a>. Located in central Georgia, Fort Valley is fifty-eight miles from the Alabama state line and ninety miles due south of <a href="http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2207">Atlanta</a>. It is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 341 and Georgia Highways 96 and 49, where two early <a href="http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-790">Indian trails</a> met. That crossing of trails made it a natural place for a North Carolinian named James Abbington Everett to set up a trading post in the 1820s. The origin of the town's name is unclear. One story claims that Everett named it "Fox Valley" but that his writing was misread by officials in Washington, D.C., as "Fort Valley." Another story claims that Everett named the town after his friend Arthur Fort, a <a href="http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2709">Revolutionary War</a> (1775-83) hero from nearby <a href="http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-769">Milledgeville</a>. In any case, it seems that there was never a military fort on the site. ...