Lavonia, Georgia Walkabout

The Northeast Georgia City of Lavonia sits only a few miles from Lake Hartwell and the Savannah River. In 1878, as the railroads continued to expand into the region, the Elberton Air Line Railroad had desired to build a new station near what was known as Aquilla.

A town was laid out; and in 1880, the town of Lavonia was incorporated. The town is named after Lavnoia Jones, the wife of J.H. Jones who was the president of the Elberton Air Line. The Elberton Air Line was absorbed into the Southern Railway System in 1908.

The former railroad depot serves as the town's welcome center. The depot opened in 1912 after the local women's group successfully petitioned the town to rebuild the existing depot at a new location.

Downtown Lavonia's layout is dominated by the railroad. The railroad runs through the center of the downtown splitting Main Street between Thomas and Burton Streets. In the center of town, storefronts line both sides of the railroad.

Lavonia is also home to an original Carnegie Free Library. The Women's Club asked Andrew Carnegie to help assist them in building a town library. Carnegie donated $5,000 towards construction and in 1911 the library opened. The library is now part of the Athens Regional Library System.

Lavonia is the birthplace of former Georgia Governor Ernest Vandiver. Vandiver was a former mayor of the town and served as Governor of Georgia from 1959 to 1963. Vandiver was instrumental in changing the routing of Interstate 85. During the Interstate's planning stages - I-85 was to run further north. The original plans for the highway would have 85 roughly parallel US 23 and 123 closer to Gainesville and Toccoa and into South Carolina. Through political maneuvering, Vandiver changed the routing of I-85 further to the south and paralleling Georgia 59 running just north of Commerce and Lavonia.

Today, Lavonia is a small town of just over 2,100 residents. Lavonia's Chamber of Commerce hosts an annual spring and fall festival in town. In 2019, they held their first Boat Expo along Main Street.

All photos taken by post author - March 19, 2019

Further Reading:

Lavonia ---Vanishing North Georgia

How To Get There:

Comments

Hawaii Route 8930

Hawaii Route 8930 is a 2.5-mile State Highway on the Island of O'hau. Hawaii Route 8930 is aligned over Kualakai Parkway over the course of its entire alignment south from Interstate H-1 to Kapolei Parkway. Hawaii Route 8930 is one of the newest Hawaii Routes only having been completed during 2010. This page is part of the Gribblenation O'ahu Highways page. All Gribblenation and Roadwaywiz media related to the highway system of O'ahu can be found at the link below: https://www.gribblenation.org/p/gribblenation-oahu-highways-page.html Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 8930 The history of Hawaii Route 8930 is brief given it is a modern facility. Hawaii Route 8930 and what was known as "North-South Road" were built to facilitate the developing areas of Kapolei on western O'ahu. According to hawaiihighways.com the first stage of Hawaii Route 8930 was completed from Kapolei Parkway north to Farrington Highway as a four-lane highway during November...

Madera County Road 607 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road

Madera County Road 607 is an approximately seven-mile rural unsurfaced highway which spans from Road 600 near Raymond west to Road 29. Road 607 west from Raymond Road Cemetery (established in 1905) is part of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road corridor surveyed in 1853. The corridor lies in the gap between Fresno Crossing at the Fresno River west to Newton's Crossing at the Chowchilla River. The Buchanan Copper Mine would be along what is now Road 607 in the namesake Buchanan Hollow during July 1863. The Buchanan Mine is thought to have once had a population of between 1,000-1,500 residents by the early 1870s. Copper prices would decline in the decade after the Civil War and much of the activity at Buchanan shifted towards cattle ranching. The last businesses in the community would shutter during World War II and it is now a true ghost town. Part 1; the history of Madera County Road 607 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road What is now Road 607 was a component of the larger Sto...

Old US Route 60/70 through Hell (Chuckwall Valley Road and Ragsdale Road)

Back in 2016 I explored some of the derelict roadways of the Sonoran Desert of Riverside County which were part of US Route 60/70; Chuckwalla Valley Road and Ragsdale Road. US 60 and US 70 were not part of the original run of US Routes in California. According to USends.com US 60 was extended into California by 1932. US 60 doesn't appear on the California State Highway Map until the 1934 edition. USends.com on US 60 endpoints 1934 State Highway Map Conversely US 70 was extended into California by 1934, it first appears on the 1936 State Highway Map. USends.com on US 70 endpoints 1936 State Highway Map When US 60 and US 70 were extended into California they both utilized what was Legislative Route Number 64 from the Arizona State Line west to Coachella Valley. LRN 64 was part of the 1919 Third State Highway Bond Act routes. The original definition of LRN 64 routed between Mecca in Blythe and wasn't extended to the Arizona State Line until 1931 acc...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog