Discover Georgia’s Hidden Gems

Discover the heart of Georgia through outdoor adventures, southern cuisine, fascinating art and a compelling history. A captivating journey awaits you along Georgia’s magnificent golden coast, in small towns and in the breathtaking north Georgia mountains.

Food lovers from around the world crave Georgia’s mouthwatering cuisine that boasts everything from smoked barbeque to ripe blueberries to freshly caught shrimp. Celebrate a sweet onion at the Vidalia Onion Festival, a more than 30-year tradition held every spring, or head to the hometown of the world’s most famous peanut farmer, President Jimmy Carter, when Plains hosts its annual peanut festival in September. Discover gourmet Georgia cheeses at one of the state’s award –winning dairies or admire a vine-lined hillside at one of the more than 30 wineries across the state. Georgia’s local food is growing and a trip to a nearby farm, dairy or festival will offer you a taste of the South that you won’t soon forget.

Brave white water rapids, canoe past alligators in murky swamps, identify wildflowers in Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon or hike to the Atlantic Ocean via a live oak forest. Let yourself be captivated by Georgia’s natural beauty through a host of outdoor activities across the state. White water rapids along Northeast Georgia’s Chattooga River challenge rafters from around the world. Kayakers and canoe-goers are fascinated by one of the largest blackwater swamps in the world, Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp that offers diverse flora and fauna including an array of birds, reptiles and rare carnivorous plants. Hikers marvel at north Georgia’s 1000-foot deep Tallulah Gorge and the Columbus-area’s Little Grand Canyon. And visitors to Georgia’s Golden Isles are swept away by the magical live oak forests that have attracted generations of American aristocrats such as the Carnegies, Rockefellers and Kennedys. Georgia’s natural beauty abounds and waits to be explored.

Explore Georgia’s vibrant arts community at thought-provoking museums, galleries and music venues across the state. Premier American art sites chronicle folk art showpieces from eccentric Georgia artists including Eddie Owens Martin and Howard Finster. Museums detail the generations-old tradition of pottery-making. Legacies of modern music greats such as Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers Band, James Brown, Little Richard, Otis Redding , and Michael Stipe of R.E.M. live on at local concert venues and in small towns, and Atlanta, Athens and Macon remain cornerstones for Rock and Roll, Blues and Hip-Hop music creation.

From soldiers to presidents to Civil Rights leaders- Georgia’s rich history abounds. Prepare to walk through World War I trenches or trudge through Vietnam-like jungles at the immersive exhibits of the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center in Columbus. Explore the life of Nobel Peace Prize winner and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in Atlanta or Plains, or learn how Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt both spent pivotal periods of their lives in Georgia- President Wilson as a boy at the end of the Civil War and President Roosevelt when he was looking for a cure for his polio affliction. Finally, retrace the life and legacy of Atlanta’s own Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at his burial site and birth home in the city.

Visit www.ExploreGeorgia.org to plan your Georgia adventure.