The history of the community and people of Pike County, Georgia.

John Goff wrote for people of all reasonings--historians, linguists, anthropologists, geographers, cartographers, folklorists, and those ubiquitous intelligent readers. Comprising one of the most informative and appealing contributions to the study of toponymy, his short studies have never before been widely available. Placenames of Georgia brings together the sketches that appeared in the Georgia Mineral Newsletter and other longer articles so that all interested in Georgia and the Southeast can share Professor Goff's intimate knowledge of the history and geography of his state and region, his linguistic rigor, and his appreciation of the folklore surrounding many of Georgia's names.

Their songs insist that the arrival of the railroad and the appearance of the tiny depot often created such hope that it inspired the construction of the architectural extravaganzas that were the courthouses of the era. In these buildings the distorted myth of the Old South collided head-on with the equally deformed myth of the New South."

Nestled between the Pine Mountains and plentiful Flint River, Pike County and its county seat were named after army general and adventurer Zebulon Pike. Early settlers, as adventurous and independent as the county's famed namesake explorer, built homes and raised families extending for generations in the gently rolling acres of central Georgia. Many residents became well known across the state. Austin Dabney, freed slave and Revolutionary War hero, supported the white family who nursed him to health after a crippling battle wound. Journalist Jacques "Jackie" Futrelle became a famous novelist and playwright before losing his life on the Titanic. After training World War I pilots, early aviator Doug Davis returned home to build the first hangar at Atlanta's airport, to make countless barnstorming trips, and to win early racing and aerobatic competitions. Generations of men and women raised families and worked in the fields, orchards, turkey farms, country groceries, and busy canneries, cotton gins, and packing plants. Some served in the military or carried on family traditions like the Jugtown potters. From Indian trails, stagecoach stops, and train depots to paved highways and Zebulon's Crazy Eight Track, Pike County's history is quite a journey.

An illustrated study that tells the story of Georgia's folk pottery tradition, the forces that shaped it, and the families and artisans who continue to keep it alive provides a new preface that summarizes the past decade of southern folk pottery. Reprint.