Where does South Georgia begin to you? (Atlanta, Columbus: 2015, living)

[Southern Soul Bro]

Exactly what and where do you think the beginning point of South Georgia is?

I've heard so many different things. Some have said once you get south of Macon. I've even heard some things from Metro Atlantans that would lead me to believe some of them think everything south of their core counties is "South Georgia" (I heard someone refer to Barnesville and Jackson as South GA, huh?)

Personally, I think South Georgia begins near Vienna/Dooly County, Cordele, or maybe just south of there.

[go falcons]

For me it is Macon .

[Caleb Longstreet]

Having travelled this state exhaustively, the "south Georgia" mentality kicks in as far North as I-16 and slightly beyond as you travel east. Savannah has its own unique flavor and is typically anything but south Georgia. It's a enclave unto itself and yet, one can experience that flavor in Wadley, Etc.....

After that, the entire rest of the land below I-16 gets very south Georgia in a hurry....hazelhurst, Georgetown, Bainbridge, Camden, Blakely, Alma, Doerun, ludiwici, soperton, doesn't matter. It's entirely different. Not worse mind you, just different.

If you go by economics, it gets steadily poorer the further south you go outside of a few exceptions. A look through Wikipedia and any county you wish will show you the percentage of those living below the poverty line. There are counties where that number hits 34-37%. Take a peek. It's telling. Beautiful countryside abounds throughout the state but, the feeling is different.

[Brian_M]

Last time this came up, people got their undies in a bunch on here. To me (a Wyoming native who married into a GA family), I split the state into 3 equal thirds and called that bottom third "south". I was Aggressively corrected by a number of people that "south" is everything in a line from Columbus, through Macon to Augusta excepting the "coastal" sections.

*shrug* not sure why it matters or what it has any bearing on though. It'd make as much sense to say you were from flat and rural GA (most of it), coastal, urban or rural and hilly (perspective, I don't consider the old hills out east to be much in the way of mountains anymore).

[thatlldobae]

Tifton and lower

[thatlldobae]

I live in valdosta and that's very south 13 miles to Florida

[Southern Soul Bro]

Originally Posted by thatlldobae

Tifton and lower

I almost went with this myself but decided to go with Cordele.

Dooly County is the transition area to me. It's a little closer to Perry than it is to Albany or Tifton, and many of the residents go to Perry/Warner Robins when they need the amenities of a bigger city. They appear more "in tune" with Middle GA. By the time you reach Cordele, it seems like they identify more with South GA. i.e. Albany is their "go to" town instead of Warner Robins/Perry.

[Southern Soul Bro]

While not exact, I think it'd be a somewhat fair assessment to look at the borders of the area codes 478/912 and 478 229 (especially this one) to say where South GA begins.

[thatlldobae]

912 is too coastal in my opinion.

[Newsboy]

It is a puzzling question. Historically the Fall Line divided north and south Georgiia economically, as the southern half of the state was predominantly agricultural while the north more industrial (due to the harnessing of water power at Columbus, Macon, Augusta and points north). But the further north you go, the sketchier this gets. What's today the Metro Atlanta region, for example, didn't have significant population (beyond native Indians) until arrival of the railroads. And even then, most of the mountain region remained isolated and populated mostly by only poor white sharecroppers until well into the last century.

There's also the "Gnat Line" argument, which is about the same as the Fall Line give or take.

If you know Georgia well however, you know there's great variation in the natural terrain of what most people in Atlanta just blanketly dismiss as "South Georgia." The Coastal Plain, from about 30 miles west of Savannah all the way down to the Florida line, bears absolutely ZERO physical resemblance to the Southwest corner of the state, around Thomasville etc. And the area around Columbus looks nothing like the Augusta region, despite both being right on the fall line and having similar elevations. In fact, if you look closely at the map, you'll see Columbus and Savannah are at nearly the same longitude. Savannah is actually further EAST than it is SOUTH -- which is why they call it SOUTHEAST (not SOUTH) Georgia. Or better still, simply Coastal Empire.

I think the answer is that Georgja in fact has FOUR distinct regions north to south (Mountains, Piedmont, South and Coast) which are then each subdivided into east and west depending on both perceived relationships and natural boundaries.

While Middle Georgja is a clearly understood concept, the part of the state that is general regarded as such does in fact overlap the Piedmont and Southern sections while straddling the Fall Line. How's that for confusion?