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Thursday 26 March 2015

Georgia (U.S. State)

The state of Georgia was founded by English soldier and philanthropist James Oglethorpe on February 12, 1733. The last of the 13 colonies, it was named after George II of Great Britain.

The government's main reason for creating the colony was to get debtors off its hands and show an English presence between the Carolinas and Florida.

James Oglethorpe

James Oglethorpe established the first Masonic Lodge within Georgia on February 21, 1734. Now known as Solomon's Lodge No. 1, F. & A. M, it is the oldest continuously operating English Masonic Lodge in the Western Hemisphere.

John Wesley, later the founder of Methodism, sailed to Georgia in 1735, on behalf of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to bring the Gospel to the Indians, but it  didn’t work out. He became upset when Sophy Hopkey, the 18-year-old niece of Savannah's chief magistrate who he was in love with, married someone else. Wesley barred her from Holy Communion, her husband sued him and the trial dragged out.

Wesley also prohibited whisky to the Indians and on one occasion attacked a barrel of whisky on the docks with an axe. After months of harassment from various quarters he fled the colony in disgust.

For a period in 1736, James Oglethorpe's secretary was John Wesley's brother, Charles, later well known as a hymn writer of Methodism.

The city of Augusta, Georgia was named after Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (1719-1772), mother of King George III.

The Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta with the distinctive gold dome. By w:en:User:Autiger - w:en: Wikipedia Commons

After the removal of the Creek and Cherokee from their lands, the state of Georgia held a series of public lotteries between 1805 and 1833 to give away the property to white settlers.

The University of Georgia, the first public university in the United States, was incorporated on January 27, 1785, by the Georgia General Assembly, which had given its trustees, the Senatus Academicus of the University of Georgia, 40,000 acres (160 km²) for the purposes of founding a "college or seminary of learning."

Park Hall, one of the oldest buildings on campus. By Josh Hallett from Winter Haven, FL

The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) was founded in Atlanta on October 13, 1885.

Rebecca Latimer Felton (June 10, 1835 – January 24, 1930) was the first woman US Senator. The most prominent woman in Georgia in the Progressive Era, she was honored by appointment to the Senate. Felton was sworn in November 21, 1922, and served just 24 hours. At 87 years, nine months, and 22 days old, she was also the oldest freshman senator to enter the Senate.

Franklin Roosevelt had a holiday cottage at the top of the Pine Mountain, Warm Springs, Georgia. The little white house with its farm in Warm Springs is now owned by the State of Georgia.

Georgia approved the first literature censorship board in the United States in 1953.

In 1979 "Georgia On My Mind" became the official state song of Georgia.

The title of R.E.M.'s best selling album, Automatic For The People, came from the slogan for Weaver D’s Delicious Fine Foods The diner, near the university in Athens, Georgia, was a regular hangout for Michael Stipe and friends in their early days.

The escalator in the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia is the longest freestanding escalator in the world, rising 160 feet or approximately eight stories in height.

Georgia's nickname, The Peach State, is a misnomer since California and South Carolina are number one and two at peach production annually (Georgia is number three).


Here is a list of songs with Georgia in the title.

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