As I was headed north

I did not know that sleepy little Elberta was incorporated as a city on March 21, 1958. Did you know that? The charter was repealed March 24, 1970, and the area is now part of Warner Robins. It is named after the Elberta peach propagated in Marshallville by Samuel Rumph, who named it after his wife.

Byron (5,226) is named after Lord Byron, the British romantic poet. The town was first a flag stop on the Southwestern Railroad called NUMBER ONE AND A HALF-STATION, but was changed by the railroad to Jackson Station, in honor of Nimrod Jackson, who was born into slavery but as a freeman worked for the railroad and was held in high esteem. In 1874 the legislature incorporated the town as Byron when the residents discovered that the town of Jackson already existed. My friend, Michael Chidester, a lawyer, is mayor of Byron, proving that nice guys can get elected to local office.

Macon (159,453) came into existence adjacent to Fort Hawkins, established by President Jefferson. Macon was created out of the small communities Newtown, Troy and Tiger Town. In 1822, the settlers, mostly from North Carolina, came together to create “Macon” after Senator Nathaniel Macon, the patriot and statesman from their home state. Another lawyer, Lester Miller, is “mayor” of Macon/Bibb.

Arkwright, formerly called Holton, is on the map since it was the site of the Arkwright Power Plant, named after Preston S. Arkwright, founder and early president of the Georgia Power Company. 

Juliette, Monroe County (2,839), differs from East Juliette, Jones County. Originally called Iceberg or Brownsville, its settled name honors Juliette McCracken, daughter of a local railroad engineer. The community dissipated when the Juliette Milling Company closed in 1957. Other than its association with the movie, ”Fried Green Tomatoes,” not much happens in Juliette. There was an East Juliette, on the other side of the Ocmulgee River, which was incorporated in 1924 but lost its status in 1995.

On I-475 you see signs for Zebulon (1,228), named after Zebulon Montgomery Pike, a war hero and explorer for whom Pike’s Peak and Pike County is named. It is the county seat for Pike County. I never had a case in Zebulon, and I’ve never been there but intend to go one day.

Bolingbroke (1,737) was named after Henry St. John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_St_John,1st_Viscount_Bolingbroke), an English philosopher and politician. Why? Got me. The town was incorporated in 1912 and unincorporated in 1995. 

Culloden (233) started in 1739. The community had many Scottish Highlanders settlers, with some Irish thrown in, and was first named Cullodenville after William Culloden, a local merchant. Current population is 233. Dropping the “ville,” Culloden was incorporated in 1887.

Smarr (300) is unincorporated and is named after the founder, William Smarr. People from Smarr call themselves Smarrtians. My first-ever client was based in Smarr.

Forsyth (3,788) was named after John Forsyth, a native of Virginia and famed Georgia diplomat and statesman. He served as governor of Georgia and as President Van Buren’s secretary of state. 

Box Ankle is a small community just north of Forsyth. It is said that some men were watching a cockfight when a fistfight broke out. One of the combatants knocked the other over a wooden box, and the fall broke his ankle, creating the community’s bizarre name. 

Griffin is, or was, the “Pimento Center of the World.” Who knew such a thing existed? Originally Pleasant Grove in 1821, the name was changed in 1841 to honor Colonel Lewis Lawrence Griffin. Apparently, the pimiento business is now mostly centered in California, but the 1960s saw Griffin as the pimiento pepper champion.

McDonough is known as “The Perpetual Traffic Jam,” as it has traffic jams on I-75 at 3 a.m. The town was named for naval officer Commodore Thomas Macdonough (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Macdonough), an Irish-American naval officer responsible for kicking the Brit’s backsides at the Battle of Lake Champlain, ending the war of 1812 (in 1814, but who’s counting?). Dropping the “a,” McDonough was founded in 1823 around a traditional town square (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_square) design that is also a traffic nightmare, but nothing like I-75. 

Stockbridge (25,637) was incorporated as a town in 1895, first established in 1882 as a railroad stop. Two theories about its name: It was named after a Professor Stockbridge who taught school in the area, or it was named for Thomas Stock, State Surveyor, and later president of the Georgia Senate. Stockbridge’s claim to fame is the use of eminent domain to create a “better” (i.e. more taxes) business district. That condemnation action made national news for several months. 

This ends my town name curiosity for Warner Robins to Atlanta. I’ll cover Atlanta north in a future column.

Kelly Burke, retired attorney, former district attorney and magistrate judge, writes about the law, rock ’n’ roll, and politics or anything that strikes him. These articles are not designed to give legal advice, but are designed to inform the public about how the law affects their daily lives. Contact Kelly at dakellyburke@gmail.com to comment on this article or suggest articles that you’d like to see, and visit his website at www.kellyrburke.com to view prior columns.

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