Scenic Drive: Backroads in Rural Georgia (Driving Tour)

On this drive in the American South we travel through Jefferson Davis, Toombs and Emanuel Counties in southeast Georgia. We begin in Hazelhurst, the Jefferson Davis county seat, and finish in Swainsboro, the largest city in in Emanuel County. We travel through Uvalda, Alston and Vidalia. Hazelhurst was founded in 1870, serving as a railroad depot midway between Macon and Brunswick. Tobacco, once the dominant crop in Jeff Davis County has been replaced by cotton, timber and peanuts. Vidalia, the largest city in Toombs county, with a population around 11,000 — is known for it’s namesake sweet onions. The Vidalia onion is the official Georgia state vegetable. The Vidalia Onion Museum is located at 100 Vidalia Sweet Onion Drive. Located at the the intersection of US Rt 80 and US Rt. 1, Swainsboro is known as the “Crossroads of the Great South.” Rt 1, once a major north-south thoroughfare — runs 2,370 miles from Key West, Florida to Fort Kent, Maine. Rt 80 was an early transcontinental highway stretching from Tybee Island, GA to San Diego, also dubbed as the Dixie Overland Highway. It’s western terminus in now in Texas.