Snow in South Georgia

South Georgia Snow. US Hwy. 19, Taylor County

 

Northern tourists want to know “What is that fluffy white stuff in the fields? Looks like snow!”

That fluffy white stuff is cotton, and it has a long history in Georgia.

In the years before the Civil War, cotton was king all across the South. But nowhere did it reign more supremely than in Georgia, where it was first planted in 1733 and began to be grown commercially in 1788. The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 made cotton the state’s major cash crop.

In 1914 more than five million Georgia acres were planted in cotton. Nowadays it’s still the most widely grown row crop in the state, with about one and a quarter to one and a half million acres planted. Better farming and harvesting methods make those acres more productive. Only Texas grows more cotton than Georgia in the U.S.

Did you know the cotton gin was invented in Chatham County, Georgia? Whitney’s patent was signed by President George Washington himself.

(From my limited edition book Georgia: A Backroads Portrait. Canon EOS A2 camera, Fujichrome 100D film.)

Signed copies of the new second edition of Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to me at 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    Georgia     travel     cotton      cotton gin     Canon EOS A2 camera, Fujichrome 100D film     Eli Whitney     Chatham County