Seven Natural Wonders

Original entry by

Paul Stephen Hudson, Georgia State University Perimeter College,

07/30/2013

Last edited by NGE Staff on 03/21/2019

In the early 1800s many American sought out "the sublime"—those natural attractions that provoked feelings of terror, awe, and beauty. Environmental tourism reemerged as an important industry in Georgia during the late nineteenth century. In 1926 state librarian Ella May Thornton first published in Atlanta Georgian magazine a list of Georgia's natural wonders, among them the Okefenokee Swamp, Providence Canyon, Warm Springs, and Tallulah Gorge.

Courtesy of Edwin L. Jackson

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Located in Dawson County, Amicalola Falls derives its name from the Native American word meaning "tumbling waters." Just one of many waterfalls in Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains, Amicalola Falls is the highest, with a drop of 729 feet.

Photograph by Ryan McKee

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Amicalola Falls in Dawson County is one of Georgia's most popular attractions.

Photograph by Darren Duke

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Alligators, which are native to Georgia, are among the hundreds of animal species to make their home in the Okefenokee Swamp.

Courtesy of Georgia Department of Economic Development

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A great egret perches on a branch in the Okefenokee Swamp.

Photograph by Siddharth Sharma

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The unconsolidated sandstone bluffs of Providence Canyon in Stewart County were formed during the Cretaceous Period and are among the oldest exposed Coastal Plains rock formations in the state.

Courtesy of Matthew M. Moye

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Providence Canyon, pictured in 1893, is a network of gorges created by soil erosion in Stewart County. Historical accounts indicate that the canyon began to form in the early 1800s as a result of poor farming practices.

Courtesy of Georgia Archives, Vanishing Georgia Collection

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Radium Springs, one of Georgia's Seven Natural Wonders, was the site of a casino that had its heyday during the 1920s. The casino was demolished in 2003.

Courtesy of Georgia Archives, Vanishing Georgia Collection

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The Memorial Lawn at Stone Mountain is used as a viewing area for the park's summer laser show. During the winter the park provides snow tubing for visitors on the lawn.

Photograph by Chris Yunker, Wikimedia

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The "Confederate Daisy," or "Stone Mountain Yellow Daisy," grows in the shallow soil on the granite outcrops of Stone Mountain. The flower is so named because it is found only within a sixty-mile radius of the mountain. The species was discovered in 1846.

Photograph by Lee Coursey

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The carving of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's head is unveiled at Stone Mountain on January 19, 1924. Some of Georgia's earliest tourist attractions were Civil War battle sites and memorials. Most sites dedicated to the conflict favored narratives of battlefield glory and commemoration of fallen soldiers, and downplayed the history of slavery and emancipation.

Courtesy of Gary Doster

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In 1992 the state, in partnership with Georgia Power, created Tallulah Gorge State Park, one of the most popular in Georgia's park system. Controlled releases from the dam allow visitors to hear the roar of the falls on selected weekends in the spring and autumn.

Photograph by Jeno

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Tallulah touted attractions that vacationers seeking a place for healthful respite desired—clean, cool air and water, a plethora of outdoor activities, and remarkable vistas. Tourists not only hiked to the falls, but swam in the river, lounged on rocks, and enjoyed horseback riding.

Dudley Mays Hughs Collection.

Courtesy of Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries

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Franklin D. Roosevelt eats a meal with seven other men beside the springs at Warm Springs, in Meriwether County. Considered one of Georgia's Seven Natural Wonders, the natural springs maintain a temperature of 88 degrees Fahrenheit.

Courtesy of Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

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In the 1930s polio sufferers flocked to Warm Springs, the site of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt's treatment center. Georgia Hall is pictured.

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Previous Section: Introduction

Previous Section: Amicalola Falls

Previous Section: Okefenokee Swamp

Previous Section: Providence Canyon

Previous Section: Radium Springs

Previous Section: Stone Mountain

Previous Section: Tallulah Gorge

Next Section: Amicalola Falls

Next Section: Okefenokee Swamp

Next Section: Providence Canyon

Next Section: Radium Springs

Next Section: Stone Mountain

Next Section: Tallulah Gorge

Next Section: Warm Springs

Introduction

The Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia are the most physically spectacular or unusual sites in the state. These landscape formations resulted from powerful forces of nature during geologic time—probably more than 60,000,000 years ago—and, with the exception of Providence Canyon, predate human activity in Georgia.

The first list of natural wonders was compiled by the state librarian, Ella May Thornton, in response to an inquiry by a journalist. Her list, which appeared in the Atlanta Georgian magazine on December 26, 1926, included Stone Mountain, Okefenokee Swamp, Amicalola Falls, Tallulah Gorge, Warm Springs, Jekyll Island Forest on Jekyll Island, and the marble vein in Longswamp Valley in Pickens County. Thornton acknowledged that some items on her list were arguable and "there are a number of others of equal rank." Two that she selected and that the Atlanta Georgian described—Jekyll Island Forest ("wild life flourishes there almost as it did before the white men came") and marble deposits in Pickens County ("the largest single vein of marble known to the world")—have not made recent lists.

Two later lists of Georgia's natural wonders appeared in Georgia Voyager magazine in 1997 and in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2001. This collection describes the generally recognized Seven Natural Wonders of the state.

Amicalola Falls

Amicalola Falls near Dawsonville are the highest waterfalls in Georgia, with a drop of 729 feet. Named by Cherokee Indians for "tumbling waters," the falls are now the site of one of Georgia's most popular state parks, which includes an overlook at the top of the falls. An eight-mile "approach trail" links the falls to the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.

Okefenokee Swamp

The Okefenokee Swamp is the most extensive of Georgia's natural wonders in terms of area. This wildlife refuge in southeastern Georgia covers about 700 square miles and makes up part of four counties. The Okefenokee (from the Seminole, meaning "land of trembling earth") includes a wide variety of ecological features, ranging from sandy ridges to wet, grassy savannahs and marshes to narrow water channels and small islands, all of which support a vast range of flora and fauna.

Providence Canyon

Providence Canyon, sometimes called "Georgia's Little Grand Canyon," is located near Lumpkin in the west central part of the state. The multicolored 1,109-acre network of gorges is more than 100 feet deep. Providence Canyon is unique as a natural wonder of Georgia in that it was caused by relatively recent erosion (from human activity) over the past 150 years.

Radium Springs

Radium Springs, on the southern outskirts of Albany, has waters that are consistently 68 degrees, rushing from the earth at 70,000 gallons per minute. These waters, which contain traces of radium, are the largest natural springs in Georgia. Overlooking Radium Springs is a park, featuring nature trails and an observation deck. The park is located on the site of a casino that had its heyday in the 1920s. The casino was demolished in 2003 after sustaining serious damage when the Flint River flooded in 1994 and 1998.

Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain in metropolitan Atlanta is perhaps the best known of Georgia's natural wonders. A granite dome rising 650 feet above the Piedmont plateau, Stone Mountain is about 2 miles long and 7 miles in circumference at its base. On the northeastern wall is a Confederate memorial conceived in 1914 and completed in 1970. As early as 1927, the DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce proclaimed Stone Mountain to be the "Eighth Wonder of the World," in reference to the original second-century B.C. list of "Seven Wonders of the World," comprising ancient architectural masterpieces.

Tallulah Gorge

The Tallulah Gorge in northeast Georgia is a canyon formation 3 miles long and 1,200 feet deep. It was created by a series of waterfalls that were dammed by the Georgia Power Company in 1912. Named after a Native American word for "terrible," Tallulah Gorge was traditionally feared as a home for evil spirits. It was among the most visited tourist destinations in the state in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Warm Springs

Located on the lower slopes of Pine Mountain in Meriwether County, Warm Springs has long been known for its healing waters. Native Americans used to bring their wounded warriors to the springs, which have a year-round temperature of 88 degrees. A natural trap, about 2,800 feet underground, heats the water. In the antebellum period a minor resort developed at the springs, later made world-famous by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt found relief there for his polio from the mid-1920s until his death at the Little White House, his home at Warm Springs, in 1945.