Skip to main content

Lavonia, Georgia Walkabout

Image
By

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:
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grand Loop Road of Yellowstone National Park

By
  Grand Loop Road is a 140 mile loop highway which traverses the interior of Yellowstone National Park.  Grand Loop Road connects all of the major attractions and geological features of Yellowstone National Park along with the entrance roads.  Grand Loop Road is a seasonal highway and despite some conjecture never has been part of the US Route System.   Part 1; the history of Grand Loop Road The majority of history pertaining to Grand Loop Road was taken from the below National Park Service article: Historic Roads - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) Yellowstone was declared the first National Park of the United States on March 1st, 1872.  The first real highway to access Yellowstone National Park came in 1873 when a tolled facility was constructed from Bozeman, Montana via Yankee Jim Canyon to Mammoth Hot Springs.  Numerous attempts were made to fund construction of roadway infrastructure during the early years of Yellows...
Post a Comment
Read more

The last 1956-63 era California Sign State Route Spade?

By
Along southbound California State Route 170 (the Hollywood Freeway Extension) approaching the Hollywood Freeway/Ventura Freeway interchange a white California State Route 134 Sign State Route Spade can be observed on guide sign.  These white spades were specifically used during the 1956-63 era and have become increasingly rare.  This blog is intended to serve as a brief history of the Sign State Route Spade.  We also ask you as the reader, is this last 1956-63 era Sign State Route Spade or do you know of others?  Part 1; the history of the California Sign State Route Spade Prior to the Sign State Route System, the US Route System and the Auto Trails were the only highways in California signed with reassurance markers.  The creation of the US Route System by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926 brought a system of standardized reassurance shields to major highways in California.  Early efforts to create a Sign State Route ...
Post a Comment
Read more

California State Route 70; the Feather River Highway

By
From 2017 through to early 2019 I drove the majority of the California State Route 70; the Feather River Highway from CA 89 southwest to CA 99. CA 70 is an approximately 178.5 mile state highway which starts at US 395 near the Nevada State Line and travels west through the Feather River Canyon to CA 99.  CA 70 is often referred to as the Feather River Highway" given it's close association with the river.  Historically CA 70 was previously signed as US 40A and CA 24.  The Legislative Routes prior to the 1964 California Highway Renumbering that made up the current route of CA 70 are as follows: -  Legislative Route Number 21 from US 395 westward to Oroville. -  LRN 87 from Oroville south to Marysville. -  LRN 232 from Marysville to the current junction with CA 99.  CA 70 was even dual signed with CA 99 into Sacramento on what was LRN 232 for a time. The change from US 40A/LRN 21/LRN 87/LRN 232 can be seen by comparing the 1963 State Highway Ma...
Post a Comment
Read more