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| Athens History |
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 'Clarke County, created by Act of December 5, 1801, from Jackson County, originally contained Oconee and part of madison and Greene Counties. It was named for Gen. Elija Clarke who came to Wilkes COunty, GA from NC in 1774 and fought several battles with the Indians and signed treaties with the Cherokees in 1792 and the Creeks in 1782 and 1785. He died Dec. 15, 1799.
Just below the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountians, near the confluence of the North and Middle Oconee Rivers, lies the city of Athens amid the rolling red clay hills of North Georgia. There on land once owned by Daniel Easley, a city and university grew into a center of culture and wealth, nurturing men and ideas that commanded the attention of the nation.
By 1800, a tiny setllement, not yet called Athens, had begun at Cedar Shoals where the old Cherokee Indian trail crossed the 'clear waters' of the Oconee river. Early settlers observing student classes under the trees on the hill overlooking the river were witnessing the beginnings of the first college west of the Savannah River.
From its beginning in 1806 Athens has exemplified its motto-tradition with Progress. Here young men from all over Georgia came to be educated and went out from its campus to positions of state and national responsibility. As fine federal homes began to appear around the new campus, the role of Athens as the cultural center of Georgia became increasingly evident. Hand in hand with education, Athens developed industries: one of the first paper mills, brick works, and the oldest textile mills in operation south of the potomac. The cultured social life surrounding the college attracted prominent families of wealth and men of national stature who built impressive Greek Revival homes along with their massive columns, magnolia shaded formal gardens and the gracious unhurried way of life enjoyed by the planter class of the Old South.
The War Between The States interrupted the 'good Life' of Athens. However, under direction of the University and such men as Benjamin Harvey Hill, Howell Cobb and Joseph Henry Lumpkin, Athens soon resumed its growth and leadership. Devotion to the classic in architecture continued throughout the 19th century, unperturbed by street paving and gas lights, electricity and the rest of the nation's turn to Victorian architecture.
A city which has always treasured the individual, Athens finds nothing unusual about having a tree that owns itself or the double-barreled cannon in the world. The cannon, which stands on the City Hall lawn, was the brainchild of Athens contractor John Gilleland, who planned to mow down the Yankees in the Civil War with its twin balls chained together. Though the cannon failed in its trail run, for many years after the war it was fired to celebrate Democratic victories in the national election.
The city was incorporated on December 8, 1806.
Article from The Historical News newspaper
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