BEGINNINGS

Little is known of southwest Georgia before the first white settlers came. A few hunters, explorers and traders with the Indians ventured into this remote section in the 1700's. Spanish missionaries left no mark and no one has found the legendary silver treasure at Mule Creek. The earliest English settlers were primarily from Virginia, North Carolina and older sections of Georgia. A few came from England and even fewer came directly from Europe. Some brought slaves of African origin. Most were of English, Welsh, Scotch and Irish background. Only a few were from France, Austria, Holland, Switzerland and Germany and almost none from Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Migration is central in human history, prompted by need, greed and fear, and sometimes by a love of freedom and adventure. Most migrants move only a short distance. Those who migrate greater distance do so usually in a group to share risks and work.

Few of European and African background are aware that people have lived in this area of South Georgia and North Florida for 15,000 years or more. Findings in the Aucilla River by archeologists prove hunters pursued and killed mastodons with spears, predating the better known Clovis settlements in the West. Thus the story is a long one. The experts suspect the first migrants to this part of the continent came from Europe and not Asia.

Only a hundred years before white settlement began, the Creek tribes drove out earlier Indian inhabitants or absorbed them. The Creeks would be forced west and into Florida after being on the losing side of the War of 1812. An occasional arrowhead or cache of tools found here or there and the names of some creeks and rivers are our main evidence of their lives here.

Geology and Topography

We are shaped by the place where we live. Geology and topography dictate how we live. Brooks County is almost square, lies just north of the Florida border and is bound on the northeast and east by the Little River and the Withlacoochee River. One oddity is that a 300 acre tract is completely separated from the rest of the county and lies in a crook of the river south of Lowndes County, one of our parent counties.

The topography is part of the central Coastal Plain, with rolling hills, broad valleys, low broad ridges and some level areas. Large ponds formed in a few depressions and local streams were easy to dam. Several water courses traverse the district.

Okapilco Creek in the western range of the district follows a meandering course from its rise north of Moultrie and is fed by branches which rise near Burney Bridge, by outflow from Brice's Pond, by Mule Creek and its tributaries, by Coon Creek south of Fodie, by Rainy Creek which rises north of Williams Road and is fed by Crevasse Pond, and other smaller streams. Millrace Creek and Reedy Creek rise north of Troupeville Road and feed the Okapilco before it is joined by Piscola Creek in the Nankin section south of us. Okapilco flows into the Withlacoochee south of Valdosta. The Okapilco has a wide flood plain but the main channel can be deep and narrow. Little River rises west of Tifton and forms much of the northern county boundary with Cook and Lowndes, joining the Withlacoochee near Valdosta. It is fed by Slaughter Creek which rises north of Highway 122 and flows southeasterly under Highway 76 and is joined by Pike Creek (Campground Creek) to feed Lawson Pond. Slaughter flows out of Lawson Pond and is joined by water from Jones Creek and Downing Creek south of Morven, before flowing into Little River. Walden Branch east of Barney and Rountree Creek flow into Little River as do small creeks northwest of Barney. The Withlacoochee flows south to the Suwannee system and to the Gulf of Mexico. Little River has some high bluffs and changes course irregularly, with connections with underground limestone streams. In earlier days it had wide limestone sand beaches in some spots. It is spanned today by Burney Bridge, the South Georgia Railway bridge, the Highway 76 bridge, Folsom Bridge on Highway 122 and old Miller Bridge on Lawson Pond Road (formerly Miller Bridge Road). Two large man made ponds are notable. Brice's Mill Pond is a cypress pond of many hundreds of acres. Lawson Mill Pond is fed by Slaughter Creek as stated. A smaller man made pond is located on Pike Creek, just east of Campground, another pond at the head of Slaughter Creek on Burton farmland and others. Does anyone recall James Alderman's digging a channel with a shovel from his pond beside Burton Road to drain that pond to the Little River below Burney Bridge? We have no natural ponds of any note. In the early days, the water table was high and water wells usually brought a good supply at sixty feet from the vast limestone aquifer which lies under us. Wells now require drilling to 200 feet as the aquifer has been depleted. Occasional heavy rain seasons, especially if linked to Gulf storms, cause flooding along streams and rivers, sometimes overflowing bridges. Malaria was a scourge for generations, now eradicated, but insect life is profific, especially gnats and ticks.

The soil varies from clay to sand and loams of the two, much richer in bottoms and broad valleys. Tifton Sandy Loam, brownish-gray to light brown, somewhat pebbly, is prominent in the district. Though early farmers placed low value on this type soil, most of it is under cultivation today. Tifton fine sandy loan is also common. Our climate is ideal for crops and rainfall is usually abundant. Winters are short and mild, allowing three crops of vegetables such as tomatoes and greens. Summers are long and humid. Spring comes early. Dry seasons require irrigation and rigs are a common sight on larger farms. Peaches, cotton, cabbage, peanuts, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, watermelons, turnips and mustard, pecans, corn, oats and other crops thrive. Pastures are lush and...