Alapaha, Georgia
Encyclopedia
Alapaha is a town in Berrien County
, Georgia
, along the Alapaha River
. The population was 682 at the 2000 census.
Alapaha developed from a trade settlement on the site of a Seminole
village with the same name. The present-day Georgia town of Lakeland
was originally named "Alapaha" and existed before the town that now bears the name.
, the town has a total area of 1 square miles (2.6 km²), all of it land.
of 2000, there were 682 people, 270 households, and 194 families residing in the town. The population density
was 684.5 people per square mile (263.3/km²). There were 318 housing units at an average density of 319.2 per square mile (122.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 62.76% African American, 36.36% White, 0.15% Native American, and 0.73% from two or more races.
There were 270 households out of which 34.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.7% were married couples
living together, 24.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.1% were non-families. 24.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.05.
In the town the population was spread out with 27.7% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 25.2% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.0 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $22,422, and the median income for a family was $27,679. Males had a median income of $26,250 versus $18,800 for females. The per capita income
for the town was $11,925. About 21.5% of families and 21.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.6% of those under age 18 and 33.3% of those age 65 or over.
Alapaha's city hall is located in the former depot that once served the Brunswick and Albany Railroad
, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
, and the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
.
Boom years
20th century and later
operant in the late 19th century.
Some ethnologists believe that "Alapaha" was the Creek word for "other side"; others believe it was the word Timucuan Indians
used for "bear." At least one ethnolinguist believed that "Alapaha" is a Creek "adaptation" of the Timucuan word "Arapaha" which meant "bear lodge." Yet another theory posits that it was the Seminoles who changed the pronunciation from Timucuan to "Alapaha," since their alphabet did not contain an "r" sound.
was developed from the Paulk plantation dogs of the area.
The Alapaha blueberry is a patented rabbiteye blueberry
named for the Alapaha River, and tested at Alapaha. Its berries are medium in size and have excellent firmness, color and flavor. The outstanding characteristics of Alapaha include late flowering with early ripening and vigorous plants that produce high yields of excellent quality fruit. It is a protected blueberry variety that can only be sold by individuals licensed by the Georgia Seed Development Commission (GSDC) under guidelines established in conjunction with the University of Georgia Research Foundation.
Berrien County, Georgia
Berrien County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population is 16,235. The 2007 Census Estimate placed the population at 16,722. The county seat is Nashville....
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, along the Alapaha River
Alapaha River
The Alapaha River is a river in southern Georgia and northern Florida in the United States. It is a tributary of the Suwannee River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico.- Course :...
. The population was 682 at the 2000 census.
Alapaha developed from a trade settlement on the site of a Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
village with the same name. The present-day Georgia town of Lakeland
Lakeland, Georgia
Lakeland is a city in Lanier County, Georgia, United States. The city is the county seat of Lanier County. It is part of the Valdosta, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,730 at the 2000 census....
was originally named "Alapaha" and existed before the town that now bears the name.
Geography
Alapaha is located at 31°22′56"N 83°13′26"W (31.382148, -83.223952). According to the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the town has a total area of 1 square miles (2.6 km²), all of it land.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 682 people, 270 households, and 194 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 684.5 people per square mile (263.3/km²). There were 318 housing units at an average density of 319.2 per square mile (122.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 62.76% African American, 36.36% White, 0.15% Native American, and 0.73% from two or more races.
There were 270 households out of which 34.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.7% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 24.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.1% were non-families. 24.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.05.
In the town the population was spread out with 27.7% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 25.2% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.0 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $22,422, and the median income for a family was $27,679. Males had a median income of $26,250 versus $18,800 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the town was $11,925. About 21.5% of families and 21.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.6% of those under age 18 and 33.3% of those age 65 or over.
Local government
Alapaha was incorporated in 1881 by an act (Law #433) of the General Assembly of the Georgia legislature. That act set forth the framework for its municipal government, specifying that there be a mayor, aldermen, regular elections, taxes, licensing of "ten-pin alleys, billiard and pool tables, and other establishments calculated to encourage idleness" as well as "spiritous liquors." The corporate limits of the town were set at a quarter-mile from the junction of Main and Center streets in every direction. In its entire history, the town has only grown 3/4 of a square mile, despite early efforts to promote it for development.Alapaha's city hall is located in the former depot that once served the Brunswick and Albany Railroad
Brunswick and Albany Railroad
Organized in 1869, the Brunswick and Albany Railroad was created to take over operation of the Brunswick and Florida Railroad which was a casualty of the civil war. Apparently the Confederate States of America took portions of the B&F rail line for use in other more strategic lines...
, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was an American railroad that existed between 1900 and 1967, when it merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, its long-time rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad...
, and the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
Seaboard Coast Line Railroad
The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a former Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971...
.
Historical notes
Indian presence and early settlement- The Hernando de SotoHernando de Soto (explorer)Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who, while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River....
expedition narrative records mention a "Yupaha" village they encountered after they left Apalachee, "the sound of which is suggestive of the Alapaha, a tributary of the Suwanee," Another reference to a village of "Atapaha" "so closely resembles Alapaha that it is reasonable to suppose they are the same, and that the town was on the river of that name." John Reed Swanton's landmark Indian Tribes of North America places the Indian village of Alapaha near where the Alapaha RiverAlapaha RiverThe Alapaha River is a river in southern Georgia and northern Florida in the United States. It is a tributary of the Suwannee River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico.- Course :...
met the Suwanee, and also noted that an Indian village of "Arapaja" was 70 leagues from St. Augustine, FloridaSt. Augustine, FloridaSt. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
, probably on the Alapaha River. - In the 1840s a German travel writer, Friedrich GerstäckerFriedrich GerstäckerFriedrich Gerstäcker was a German traveler and novelist.-Biography:He was the son of Friedrich Gerstäcker , a celebrated opera singer. After being apprenticed to a commercial house, he learnt farming in Saxony...
wrote a dime novelDime novelDime novel, though it has a specific meaning, has also become a catch-all term for several different forms of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S...
called Alapaha, or the Renegades of the Border, giving the name to a noble Cherokee "squaw." A translation of this novel was published in the 1870s as #67 in a series of American narratives published by Beadle. - Movement of migratory Indians is believed to have ended with the U.S. cessionsCherokee treaties-Pre-American Revolution:Treaty with South Carolina, 1721 : Ceded land between the Santee, Saluda, and Edisto Rivers to the Province of South Carolina.Treaty of Nikwasi, 1730 : Trade agreement with the Province of North Carolina thru Alexander Cumming....
of 1819-20. However, an 1836 account in the Hartford, Connecticut Courant describes "gangs" of 50 or more Indians roaming as close as Tallahassee, "west of the Alapaha," looting the houses of settlers, asserting that "all the country South is in possession of the Indians.""Alapaha" was reported in a 1914 publication to be the name of an Indian chief near the Chattahoochee River in what is now North Georgia. - The Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
documented the presence of an Indian mound at Alapaha in 1886:"The Alapaha mound is situated 5 miles (8 km) northeast of the town of Alapaha, on Alapaha River, on lot of land No. 328, fifth district of Berrien County, Georgia. It is 38 feet (11.6 m) across, 6 feet (1.8 m) above the level, and somewhat oval in shape. In the center of the mound was a burial vault 6 feet (1.8 m) deep, 3 foot (0.9144 m) wide, and 6 feet (1.8 m) long, north and south. Two bodies were deposited in this vault with the heads pointing south." It is possible that these remains became part of the Smithsonian collection, as was typical of its archaeological expeditions at the time. This source also gives the location and contents of two other Berrien County mounds south of Nashville, the Withlacoochee mound, and the French Ferry mound. - Early European settlers were primarily Highland Scots Methodist or Primitive BaptistPrimitive BaptistPrimitive Baptists, also known as Hard Shell Baptists or Anti-Mission Baptists, are conservative, Calvinist Baptists adhering to beliefs that formed out of the controversy among Baptists in the early 1800’s over the appropriateness of mission boards, bible tract societies, and temperance...
, representing two socio-economic classes, "Jeffersonian yeomen" and a "squirearchy," two distinct divisions of landed farmers created by the Georgia Land Lottery of 1820. Between 1820 and 1840, agriculture was principally sheep and cattle herding. With the advent of railroad expansion in the 1830s a sizable population of Irish Catholic laborers settled in and around the lower Alapaha River, eventually leading to the establishment of St. Anne's Catholic church there. Brushy Creek Primitive Baptist Church, originally in Irwin County, figured prominently in local affairs up to and after the Civil War. The Primitive Baptists often opposed the Methodist programme of "benevolence" toward less fortunate citizens. - In 1854, Alapaha was listed as the terminus of a "post road" that extended "from Alapaha, by Driver's Hill, and Troublesome, to Jasper, Florida." By 1855 it was listed as a post office in the Harper's Statistical Gazetteer of the World. Early railroad maps refer to it as "Alapaha Station."
Boom years
- The 1880s and 1890s brought an agricultural/industrial boom in forestry, timber, and naval stores. There were several sawmills in Alapaha by 1880, including "Alapaha Steam Saw Mills, established 16 years" which ran a weekly advertisement in the New York Times, boasting that Sloat, Bussell, & Co. were prepared to ship from Savannah or Brunswick "a Superior Article of Long leaf, close-grained, untapped Georgia Pitch Pine," guaranteed never to have been "injured" by turpentine extraction. Alapaha Steam Saw Mills listed its business addresses as 116 Wall Street, New York City, and 76 Bay Street, Savannah.
- From the Macon Telegraph, March 24, 1886, in an article titled "At Alapaha. Her New Hotel. Her Clever Social People. Her Prosperous Merchants, Etc.,": "...a new hotel, two stories high, nicely fitted up and well kept. Dr. J.A. Fogle, one of the most clever men you would met in a week's hard riding, is the proprietor, but his time is mostly devoted to an extensive practice and to his well stocked drug store. The hotel is presided over by Mrs. Fogle, a lady of refinement and most pleasant manner, ably assisted by her sister, Miss Fannie Leonard. The table is bountifully supplied with tempting fare, the sleeping apartments are models of cleanliness and comfort, and the attention to guests is prompt and courteous The commercial tourists are fond in their praise of it, and you know they are, generally speaking, a difficult set to please." This building is still intact, and is now a private home.
- Also in 1881, Alapaha received prominent mention in a promotional pamphlet on the excellence of economic opportunity in South Georgia. The pamphlet was published "under the auspices" of the Savannah, Florida, and Western Railroad, the Brunswick and Albany Railroad, and the Macon & Brunswick Railroad, for the benefit of "Timber Men, Lumber Manufacturers, Fruit Growers, Vegetable Growers, Tourists, Invalids, Pleasure Seekers, Travellers, Parties Seeking New Homes, --and--All Who Desire To Better Their Condition." It devoted significant space to Alapaha, calling it "an important wool market," and "a lively and business-like little village," with "six stores with mixed stocks, and three bar-rooms." Its aggregate annual sales reached $100,000, and it had "two physicians, two lawyers, and one dentist" and "a sprightly newspaper." Calling it a "land of promise," the anonymous writer (probably a Mr. Lastinger who was the newspaper editor) wrote, "Bee culture is also carried on; the honey is as rich as that from California."
- In the spring of 1897, a catastrophic fire destroyed four uninsured buildings in the downtown section of Alapaha. The Macon TelegraphThe Telegraph (Macon)The Telegraph, frequently referred to as the Macon Telegraph, is a McClatchy newspaper in Macon, Georgia, United States, and is the primary print news organ in Middle Georgia...
reported that a bucket brigade of both black and white citizens worked to save the buildings which had begun to burn after midnight. Lost were a store belonging to H.B. Young, a sewing machine repair business belonging to "Mr. Norton" who managed to save his tools and materials, a two-story building owned by J.H. Baker, an old livery stable run by J.S. Turner, and a "storehouse" managed by W.S. Walker that contained 39 barrels (6.2 m³) of wine, an iron safe, and books and papers. Two of the buildings were owned by a "T. Cook." The paper reported that "The cause of the fire is not known, but the general opinion is that someone must have set it on fire."
20th century and later
- The 1907 roster of the Georgia Medical Association list two physicians from Alapaha, W.A. Moore, and G.A. Paulk.
- Alapaha was the site of a famous Atlantic Coast Line RailroadAtlantic Coast Line RailroadThe Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was an American railroad that existed between 1900 and 1967, when it merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, its long-time rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad...
train wreck on March 26, 1911, when the Dixie Flyer derailed on a high trestle across the Alapaha River, killing ten and injuring many, including wealthy Northern socialites who were traveling to the coast. - On December 30, 1914, a patent application for a "portable shower-bath" with a detailed diagram was submitted by inventor Robert Alex Rutland of Alapaha, and witnessed by E.F. Tiller and W.M. Gaskins, local entrepreneurs. The patent was granted by the U.S. Patent Office on July 20, 1915.
- On July 4, 1918, the Alapaha , a wooden paddle-wheeler Ferris-type cargo ship whose dead-weight tonnage was 3,500, registered in Cornwells Heights, Pennsylvania, was christened and launched. The ship routinely transported cargo such as coal between Philadelphia and the French cities of Rouen and Le Havre. The vessel was featured in a New York Tribune headline "Freighter in Distress," reported to be off the Atlantic Coast, "heavy seas breaking over her deck, her steam pipes were broken; her seams had opened up and several feet of water were in her hold." The freighter survived, only to meet with delays during the marine workers' union strikes of 1919.
- Alapaha lost four men (of 25 total from Berrien CountyBerrien County, GeorgiaBerrien County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population is 16,235. The 2007 Census Estimate placed the population at 16,722. The county seat is Nashville....
) in the infamous Otranto troopship disaster off the coast of Scotland, eight weeks before the Armistice ended WWI. Their names and hometowns were published among 200 dead in the New York Times coverage. Their names were James Malcolm McMillan, Arthur Harper, William Hayes, and B.F. McCranie. - The Alapaha Colored School, one of the historic place listings in Berrien County, was the only school for African American children in the northern part of the county for three decades, starting in 1924. Atypical for rural Georgia, it had four classrooms and two stories, accommodating boys and girls in eleven grades; it closed in 1954 when Berrien County's African American schools were consolidated in NashvilleNashville, GeorgiaNashville is a city in Berrien County, Georgia, United States. The population was 4,697 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Berrien County...
.
- A tornado on 11 May 1952 led to national headlines. The business area of the town was decimated and the water tower was smashed. The Red Cross set up field operations, bringing in a director from Moody Air Force BaseMoody Air Force BaseMoody Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation located in Lowndes County and Lanier County, about northeast of Valdosta, Georgia, United States.Moody Air Force Base is home to the 23d Wing...
, and a mobile kitchen from Fort BenningFort BenningFort Benning is a United States Army post located southeast of the city of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama...
. - In 1963, the U.S. Department of Labor won a lawsuit, Wirtz v. Alapaha Yellow Pine Products, Inc., against a locally-owned sawmill. At issue were Fair Labor Act violations concerning overtime pay. The case became a minor landmark in labor litigation history; the case is frequently cited as a precedent for denying defendants in similar suits to have their cases heard by a jury.
- On October 3, 1966, Army Master Sgt. James Emory Jones of Alapaha, one of the first members of the elite Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations GroupMilitary Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations GroupMilitary Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group was a highly classified, multi-service United States special operations unit which conducted covert unconventional warfare operations prior to and during the Vietnam War....
(MAC-SOG), a black-operations unit of the Vietnam WarVietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, was killed in a secret attempt to wire-tap North Vietnamese communications lines in LaosLaosLaos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
. The existence of this secret unit was concealed for many years, as well as its operations outside borders of Vietnam. Jones's entire three-man commando unit was lost; evidence suggests that the unit requested U.S. bombers fire upon its coordinates when they knew they could not escape ambush. Jones's fate and place of death was kept secret for many years, and he was listed as "missing in action" for over two decades. - The 1996 novel The Wonder Book of the Air (ISBN 067943982X) by Cynthia Shearer is set in Alapaha and includes much of the town history.
- Just outside the town is the site where the famous "HogzillaHogzillaHogzilla is the name given to a male hybrid of wild hog and domestic pig that was shot and killed in Alapaha, Georgia, United States, on June 17, 2004 by Dr. Eliahu Katz on Ken Holyoak's fish farm and hunting reserve. It was alleged to be long and weighed over . It was originally considered a...
", a "wild" hog weighing in at about 800 pounds (362.9 kg), was shot on June 17, 2004 on a commercial hunting farm. The carcass of the hog was exhumed for a National GeographicNational Geographic SocietyThe National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
special.
Name
The name "Alapaha," was included, along with hundreds of Native American words, in mid-19th-century pronunciation guides as both a river and a "village." Even then, opinions differed as to the proper pronunciation of the word, whether it was "A-LAP-Uh-ha," or "A-LAP-uh-haw." These guides offer no speculation as to the word's meaning. There were many variant names, pronunciations, and spellings of the Alapaha RiverAlapaha River
The Alapaha River is a river in southern Georgia and northern Florida in the United States. It is a tributary of the Suwannee River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico.- Course :...
operant in the late 19th century.
Some ethnologists believe that "Alapaha" was the Creek word for "other side"; others believe it was the word Timucuan Indians
Timucua
The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The various groups of Timucua spoke several dialects of the...
used for "bear." At least one ethnolinguist believed that "Alapaha" is a Creek "adaptation" of the Timucuan word "Arapaha" which meant "bear lodge." Yet another theory posits that it was the Seminoles who changed the pronunciation from Timucuan to "Alapaha," since their alphabet did not contain an "r" sound.
Namesakes
A breed of bulldog, the Alapaha Blue Blood BulldogAlapaha Blue Blood Bulldog
The Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog is an American rare dog breed, believed to have been developed in the Alapaha River region of southern Georgia. They are recognized for intelligence, athleticism, and a protective nature...
was developed from the Paulk plantation dogs of the area.
The Alapaha blueberry is a patented rabbiteye blueberry
Rabbiteye blueberry
Rabbiteye Blueberry is a species of blueberry native to the Southeastern United States, from North Carolina south to Florida and west to Texas...
named for the Alapaha River, and tested at Alapaha. Its berries are medium in size and have excellent firmness, color and flavor. The outstanding characteristics of Alapaha include late flowering with early ripening and vigorous plants that produce high yields of excellent quality fruit. It is a protected blueberry variety that can only be sold by individuals licensed by the Georgia Seed Development Commission (GSDC) under guidelines established in conjunction with the University of Georgia Research Foundation.