The New Georgia Encyclopedia is supported by funding from A More Perfect Union, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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, #
dgh004.
Radium Springs is a natural cold-water spring located in the eponymously named community of Radium Springs in Dougherty County. It is one of Georgia’s largest natural springs, pumping up to 70,000 gallons of water a minute in ideal conditions. Its waters stay at an average temperature of sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit year-round and contain naturally occurring trace amounts of radium
From U.S. Geological Survey
Georgia Southern University player Julius Jenkins is the basketball team's all-time top scorer, with 1,870 points during his college career.
Courtesy of Georgia Southern Athletic Media Relations
Georgia Southern basketball player Jeff Sanders (jersey number 42) is one of the university's best-known players. After excelling on the collegiate level during the late 1980s, Sanders went on to play for a few teams in the NBA, including the Atlanta Hawks.
Courtesy of Georgia Southern Athletic Media Relations
Johnny Mills holds the Georgia Southern University basketball records for best career average and best season average for points scored. He played for the Eagles in the early 1970s.
Courtesy of Georgia Southern Athletic Media Relations
Michael Curry played basketball for Georgia Southern University from 1986 to 1990. One of the Eagles' best-known players, Curry broke records for the school before going on to play for the NBA.
Courtesy of Georgia Southern Athletic Media Relations
Between 1911 and 1927 native Georgian Sherry Smith played for fourteen years in the major leagues. His team played in the World Series twice. Later in his career, Smith returned to Georgia to coach for the Macon Peaches in the Southeastern League.
Courtesy of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
Baseball player Willard Nixon is pictured in 1951 as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. He was especially effective pitching against the New York Yankees and earned the nickname "Yankee Killer."
Courtesy of Boston Red Sox
The Atlanta team of the Southern League is pictured circa 1890. The Southern League, founded in Atlanta by Henry W. Grady in 1885, was the first professional minor league baseball association. The league collapsed several times before disbanding for good in 1899.
Courtesy of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
The 1968 lineup for the Atlanta Chiefs of the North American Soccer League included, from front to back, Vic Crowe, Freddie Mwila, Gordon Ferry, Brian Hughes, Ray Bloomfield, Emment Kapengwe, Ron Newman, John Cocking, Graham Newton, Vic Rouse, and Peter McParland. The original team folded in 1972, but a second incarnation of the Chiefs competed in the NASL from 1979 to 1981.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Soccer star Pele in Atlanta for a match against the Atlanta Chiefs in1968. Pele scored three times in the game, and the Santos defeated the Atlanta Chiefs, six to two. Pele, who later played in the North American Soccer League for the New York Cosmos, is seen as integral to the growth of American soccer.
Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Georgia State University Library, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Photographic Archive.
Soccer in the Streets began in Atlanta in 1989 to bring soccer and other activities to disadvantaged youth in urban areas. The program exists in cities nationwide.
Photograph from the Atlanta Beltline
Professional golfer Larry Nelson has won ten PGA Tour events and nineteen Champions Tour events. In 2000 the Marietta resident was named Senior Player of the Year.
Courtesy of Georgia Golf Hall of Fame
Cloudland Canyon State Park is located in Dade County, near the northern end of Lookout Mountain, in the Appalachian Plateau.
Photograph by Jeff Gunn
High Falls State Park, near Jackson in Butts County, is a popular destination along the Towaliga River for camping and boating. The town of High Falls, established in the early 1800s, became a ghost town during the 1880s, when the railroads gained prominence over waterways for commercial transportation.
Courtesy of Georgia Department of Economic Development.
Black Rock Mountain State Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains is located in Rabun County along the Eastern Continental Divide. At an altitude of 3,640 feet, Black Rock Mountain is the highest state park in Georgia and offers numerous scenic overlooks and hiking trails.
Image from Bradley Huchteman
Indian Springs State Park, located in Butts County, is one of the first two state parks to be established in Georgia. In 1927 the state passed a resolution to preserve the Indian Springs Reserve, and in 1931 the park was founded as part of the newly created Georgia State Parks System.
Image by David Dugan
The F. D. Roosevelt State Park, located on Pine Mountain in Harris County, was named for U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, who maintained a home in nearby Warm Springs. The park was established under Roosevelt's New Deal policies in the mid-1930s.
Courtesy of Explore Georgia, Photograph by Ralph Daniel.
The Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park in Cordele County was established in honor of U.S. veterans. The park offers a museum featuring wartime memoribilia, as well as a lodge, conference center, and golf course.
Image from Courtney McGough
The fifty-six-room lodge at Amicalola Falls State Park in Dawson County was built during the 1980s. The park's primary attraction is the 729-foot Amicalola Falls, the highest waterfall in Georgia.
Image from J. Stephen Conn
Vogel State Park was established in 1931 as one of the first two state parks in Georgia. Located at the base of Blood Mountain in Union County, Vogel offers scenic mountain trails and close proximity to Brasstown Bald, the highest point in the state.
Courtesy of Explore Georgia, Photograph by Ralph Daniel.
A Vidalia native, Mel Blount played with the Pittsburgh Steelers throughout the 1970s and early 1980s as part of the team's famous "Steel Curtain" defense. Blount helped the Steelers win four Super Bowls.
Courtesy of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
In their first preseason game of 2006-7, the Thrashers beat the Florida Panthers six to three. In this photo, the Thrashers' Ilya Kovalchuk (right) scores his second goal of the night.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In their final home game of the 2005-6 season on April 15, the Thrashers beat the Boston Bruins four to three. This photo shows the Atlanta team celebrating its fourth and game-winning goal.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
State Farm Arena (formerly Philips Arena), in the heart of downtown Atlanta, was home to the National Hockey League's Atlanta Thrashers from 1999 to 2011. It has since served as a venue for many concerts and is the home of the Atlanta Hawks.
Photograph by Doug Waldron
The Atlanta Crackers (1901-1965) played at Ponce de Leon Ballpark in their hometown.
Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Georgia State University Library, Lane Brothers Commercial Photographers Photographic Collection, 1920-1976.
In 1954 Nat Peeples, a native of Memphis, Tennessee, played two games with the Atlanta Crackers, a minor league baseball team affiliated with the Southern Association. He was the first and only Black player to be recruited by a team in that organization.
Photograph from NBC
Marcus Stroud, a player for the University of Georgia Bulldogs, celebrates a missed field-goal attempt by the University of Virginia Cavaliers during the 1998 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Peach Bowl, renamed the Chick-fil-A Bowl in 2006, takes place each year in Atlanta. Established in 1968, the bowl draws the highest attendance of all the bowl games outside the Bowl Championship Series and offers the second-highest payout to participating teams.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Champ Bailey, a player for the University of Georgia Bulldogs, poses with the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl trophy in 1998. That year the Bulldogs defeated the University of Virginia Cavaliers in the bowl, which is held annually in Atlanta.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Members of the 1950 Atlanta Crackers team carry the Southern Association pennant into Ponce de Leon Ballpark. The Crackers, a minor league team, won seventeen league championships between the team's formation in 1901 and its final season in 1965.
Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Georgia State University Library, Tracy O'Neal Collection.
By 1960 the Atlanta Crackers, a minor league baseball team, had lost a number of fans to such new attractions as television. In 1962 the team won its final championship, the Junior World Series, before playing its final season in 1965.
The Atlanta Crackers, a minor league team in the Southern Association, formed in 1901 under the leadership of Charles Abner Powell. The origin of the team's name is unknown, although several theories exist.
Courtesy of Atlanta History Center, Atlanta History Photograph Collection, #
VIS 170.173.001.
The Atlanta Crackers club dominated the Southern Association until the league's demise in 1961. Ted Cieslak, at bat, played in the major leagues during World War II.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Atlanta Crackers, a minor league franchise, played at Ponce de Leon Ballpark from 1907 until 1965. Attendance at Crackers games broke Southern Association league records in 1946 and 1947, with counts of 395,699 and 404,584 respectively.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Turner Field, the home of the Atlanta Braves baseball team, was built as a track-and-field stadium for the 1996 Olympic Games. The first Braves game in the stadium, which was converted into a baseball-only facility after the Olympics, took place on April 4, 1997.
Image from Wally Gobetz
A bronze statue of Ty Cobb, created by Felix de Weldon in 1977, stands at the north entrance of Turner Field in Atlanta and depicts the baseball legend sliding into a base. Nicknamed the "Georgia Peach," Cobb, a native of Banks County, played for the Detroit Tigers from 1905 until 1926.
Image from David
The Georgia Dome in Atlanta was the home of the Atlanta Falcons football franchise for twenty-five years. Completed in 1992 and demolished in 2017, the dome held more than 71,000 seats and hosted a range of events, including basketball games, concerts, and religious conventions.
Image from Valerie
Fans gather for the Chick-fil-a Bowl football game inside the Georgia Dome, once the second-largest domed structure in the world. The facility was managed by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority.
Image from Gary Cope
The Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium hosts the opening night of the World Series in October 1995. The stadium, jointly designed by the architecture firms FABRAP and Heery and Heery, was completed in 1965 and attracted two professional teams, the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Falcons, to the city.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
An International League baseball game is played at the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1965, the same year in which the facility was completed. In addition to sporting events, the stadium was used for concerts and other large gatherings before it was destroyed in 1997 to make way for Turner Field (later Center Parc Stadium).
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Atlanta Braves player Hank Aaron celebrates at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium on April 8, 1974, after breaking Babe Ruth's home run record.
Photograph by Major League Baseball
Bryan "Bitsy" Grant, a native of Atlanta, was a champion tennis player during the 1930s. In both 1935 and 1936, he was ranked as the third best player in the world, and he won the U.S. Championships (later the U.S. Open) three times.
Courtesy of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
Glenn "Pop" Warner, shown here in Athens in 1895, coached the University of Georgia football team around the end of the nineteenth century. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.
Courtesy of Georgia Archives, Vanishing Georgia, #
clr093.
One of the most successful coaches in college football history, Glenn "Pop" Warner coached the University of Georgia football team to their first undefeated season in 1896.
Photograph by Wikimedia
Glenn "Pop" Warner coached football at the University of Georgia for two seasons, leading the team to its first undefeated season in 1896-97. Warner enjoyed a long collegiate coaching career after leaving Georgia in 1897, and in 1929 he founded the Pop Warner Youth Football League, which exists today as the Pop Warner Little Scholars Program.
Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
This 1997 postage stamp commemorates Glen "Pop" Warner's career. Warner coached for forty-four years at six different colleges.
Courtesy of Smithsonian National Postal Museum
A native of Clayton County, Cecil Travis earned honors as both a hitter and a fielder during his major league baseball career with the Washington Senators, from 1934 to 1941. In 1975 he was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
Photograph by the Boston Public Library
Nap Rucker, pitcher for the Brooklyn Superbas (later Brooklyn Dodgers) from 1907 to 1916, winds up a throw. Rucker, a Georgia native, is often credited with the invention of the knuckleball in 1905, along with Augusta native Eddie Cicotte.
Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Nap Rucker, a native of Crabapple, pitched for the Brooklyn Superbas (later the Brooklyn Dodgers) throughout his career in major league baseball, from 1907 to 1916. Rucker is pictured on a baseball card issued in 1911 by the American Tobacco Company.
Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Benjamin K. Edwards Collection, #LC-USZC2-1363.
The Georgia Southern Eagles football team celebrates its national championship win in 1989 after a 15-0 season.
Courtesy of Georgia Southern Athletic Media Relations
Defensive back David Young of Georgia Southern University tackles an opposing player from Furman University. The Georgia Southern Eagles won six national championships between 1985 and 2000, making the team the most successful in the NCAA I-AA division.
Courtesy of Georgia Southern Athletic Media Relations
Erskine "Erk" Russell coached the Georgia Southern Eagles to three national championships during his tenure as head coach from 1981 to 1989. Before coaching the Eagles, Russell was the UGA Bulldogs defensive coordinator for seventeen years.
Courtesy of Georgia Southern Athletic Media Relations
Tracy Ham, an All-American quarterback, led the Georgia Southern Eagles to national championships in 1985 and 1986.
Courtesy of Georgia Southern Athletic Media Relations
Defensive tackler Freddie Pesqueira (number 44) of Acworth helped Georgia Southern's Eagles win back-to-back national championships in 1999 and 2000.
Courtesy of Georgia Southern Athletic Media Relations
Chaz Williams, pictured circa 2003, broke records for touchdowns in the Southern Conference as a quarterback for the Georgia Southern Eagles.
Courtesy of Georgia Southern Athletic Media Relations
Young Stribling (left), a heavyweight boxer, trains in North Carolina with Jack Dempsey, circa 1930. Stribling was well known across his home state of Georgia for his civic involvement, which included service as a lieutenant in the Army Air Reserve Corps.
Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Georgia State University Library, Tracy O'Neal Photographic Collection.
Young Stribling, a native of Bainbridge, was a well-known professional boxer. His career began in 1920 with his first professional fight in Atlanta and continued until 1933, when he died in a motorcycle accident in Macon. Stribling fought in more than 285 professional fights, winning 221 of the bouts.
Photograph by Wikimedia
Young Stribling, a boxing champion during the 1920s and early 1930s, trains in North Carolina for a match against Paul Berlenbach. A Georgia native, Stribling was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1965.
Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Georgia State University Library, Tracy O'Neal Photographic Collection.
A promotional poster for the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York City features athlete Dan O'Brien performing the high jump over the Brooklyn Bridge. Established by Atlanta businessman Ted Turner, the games were held six times between 1986 and 2001.
Courtesy of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
Former Olympic speedskater Michael Plant, pictured in his Atlanta office in 1997, served as president of the Goodwill Games from 1995 until 2001.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Lou Hudson (left) of the Atlanta Hawks plays against the Buffalo Braves, circa 1970. Known by teammates as "Super Lou" or "Sweet Lou," Hudson is one of only three Hawks players to have his number, twenty-three, retired by the team.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Atlanta Hawks player Al Harrington (left) attempts a rebound during a game with the Phoenix Suns at Philips Arena (later State Farm Arena) in 2006. The Hawks franchise moved to Atlanta from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1968.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Dominique Wilkins of the Atlanta Hawks scores against the Indiana Pacers, circa 1985. Known as the "human highlight film," Wilkins joined the Hawks in 1982 and ten years later became the team's all-time leading scorer.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Jon Koncak (left) and Duane Ferrell (right) of the Atlanta Hawks attempt to block a shot made by Glen Rice of the Miami Heat in 1992.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Lon Kruger coaches during an Atlanta Hawks home game, played in October 2000 at Philips Arena (later State Farm Arena). Kruger served as the head coach for the Hawks from 2000 to 2002.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Two members of the dance squad for the Atlanta Hawks pose with the team mascot, Harry the Hawk. The twenty-member dance team performs at all the Hawks' home games, which are played in State Farm Arena.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Hubie Brown coaches the Atlanta Hawks on January 3, 1979. Brown served as head coach of the Hawks from 1976 until 1981, winning the NBA's coach of the year award in 1978.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Atlanta Falcons player Brian Finneran (left) fights for the ball with Buffalo Bills player Nate Clements in 2005. In 1965 the Falcons franchise came to Atlanta, where the team plays home games at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Tommy Nobis joined the Atlanta Falcons in 1965. A graduate of the University of Texas, Nobis won rookie-of-the-year honors after the team's inaugural season in Atlanta in 1966-67.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Steve Bartkowski practices under the guidance of head coach Leeman Bennett. Bennett joined the franchise in 1977 and led the team to three play-offs between 1978 and 1981.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Dan Reeves, head coach of the Atlanta Falcons from 1997 to 2003, observes warm-ups before a 1999 game in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1998 Reeves led the team to its first Super Bowl, which the Falcons lost to the Denver Broncos.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (left) stands with head coach Mike Smith. Both joined the Falcons in 2008 and led the franchise to a winning season and the NFC South division title. Smith left the Falcons in 2014.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A Columbia azalea blooms along a walking path in the Callaway Brothers Azalea Bowl at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain. Dedicated in 1999, the Azalea Bowl is the world's largest azalea garden.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In 1930 Cason and Virginia Callaway purchased 2,500 acres of land in Harris County upon which a number of indigenous flowering plants, including the plumleaf azalea, grew. The couple developed the land, and in 1952 they opened the Ida Cason Gardens (later Callaway Gardens) to the public.
Courtesy of Callaway Gardens
Japanese paperkites emerge from their cocoons in the conservatory of the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center at Callaway Gardens. The center is the largest enclosed tropical conservatory in North America and is home to more than 1,000 butterflies.
Courtesy of Callaway Gardens
Herschel Walker played for the University of Georgia Bulldogs from 1980 to 1982, before beginning his professional career. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1982.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Herschel Walker, considered to be one of the best college football players in history, won the Heisman Trophy in 1982 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999. After playing for the University of Georgia from 1980 to 1982, Walker played professional football for the New Jersey Generals, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, and New York Giants.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Nancy Lopez competes while a student-athlete at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. Lopez enrolled at the university in 1974 on a golf scholarship, and in 1976 she was named an all-American. The following year she left school to begin her professional career.
Courtesy of Tulsa Athletic Media Relations
Nancy Lopez is one of the most successful golfers in the Ladies Professional Golf Association, with career tournament winnings of more than $5 million. Inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame in 1998, Lopez sponsors charity golf tournaments in Albany and Stockbridge each year.
Courtesy of Georgia Golf Hall of Fame
Walt Frazier, a guard for the New York Knicks, plays in a 1969 game against the Seattle SuperSonics. Frazier, a native of Atlanta, played for the Knicks from 1967 until 1976, during which time he often led the team in both assists and scoring.
Photograph by Wikimedia
The 2005-6 women's swim team at the University of Georgia pose at the beginning of the season. In 2005 the team won an NCAA championship, the fourth in the team's history.
Courtesy of University of Georgia Sports Communications
The Ramsey Student Center for Physical Activities has been home to the University of Georgia swimming and diving teams since 1995. The center's swimming facilities are housed in the Gabrielsen Natatorium, which features a 50-meter competition pool, a diving pool, and seats for 2,000 spectators.
Courtesy of University of Georgia Photographic Services
The men's swim team at the University of Georgia won the SEC conference championship in 1952 for the second consecutive year. The team would bring home another championship in 1955.
Courtesy of UGA Sports Communications
Bobby Dodd was the head coach of the Georgia Tech football team from 1945 to 1966. In addition to coaching the Yellow Jackets to the 1952 national championship, Dodd is remembered for leading the team in a thirty-one-game winning streak from 1945 to 1966. He is the first man to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.
Courtesy of Georgia Tech Sports Information
Bobby Dodd Stadium, named for former head coach Bobby Dodd, was built in 1913 by students at Georgia Tech and is today the oldest on-campus stadium in NCAA Division I-A football. Renovated in 2003, the stadium is home to the Georgia Tech football team.
Courtesy of Georgia Tech Sports Information
Tommy Aaron, a native of Gainesville, won the Master's Tournament in Augusta in 1973. He was later inducted into both the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame and the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Tommy Aaron became an amateur golf champion during his high school years in the 1950s. After turning professional in 1961, Aaron became one of the Professional Golf Association's top money earners. In 1969 and 1973 he played for the Ryder Cup team.
Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Georgia State University Library, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Photographic Archive.
Rudy York (left) sits with teammate Roy Henderson in 1930, when the two played together on the company team for the textile mill in Atco. York later went on to play professionally for the Detroit Tigers.
Photograph from Collection of Bartow History Center, Cartersville
