January 2, 2024 – Georgia

Happy Birthday, Georgia! On this day in 1788, Georgia became the 4th state to ratify the constitution and join the Union. It was founded in 1732 as the Province of Georgia and became a British royal colony in 1752. Named for King George II of Great Britain, the territory covered the area from South Carolina down to Spanish Florida and west to French Louisiana at the Mississippi. It was the last and southernmost of the Thirteen Original Colonies to be established.
Georgia’s nickname is the Peach State, but it’s also the country’s top producer of pecans, peanuts, and Vidalia onions. It’s also in the top 5 blueberry producers in the U.S. There are 16 Fortune 500 and 26 Fortune 1000 headquartered in the state, including Coca-Cola, Chick-fil-A, Delta Airlines, the CDC, and Home Depot.
Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp is the largest in the country, covering 438,00 acres of south Georgia and northern Florida. It’s considered one of the state’s natural wonders, and more than 600,000 visitors travel there to enjoy the untouched wilderness each year.
In 2016, Georgia overtook California as the state with the most feature films produced on location. Since 1972, more than 700 film and TV projects have been filmed there, giving rise to Atlanta’s nickname “Hollywood of the South”. TV shows like The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, The Vampire Diaries, and movies such as Forrest Gump, Hidden Figures, Black Panther, and many more have all been filmed in Georgia.
Over the weekend, thousands of people celebrated the New Year in Tallapoosa, Georgia, by watching the Possum Drop! Every year on New Year’s Eve, Spencer the taxidermied possum, is suspended in a wire ball wrapped with Christmas lights. Around 11:30 pm, he’s raised to the top of the Cain Law Firm building and slowly lowered to the ground at midnight. Spencer was an opossum found dead in the wild and stuffed by a local taxidermist. The event has grown over the last several years with visitors from all over the country traveling to Tallapoosa to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Learn more here.