A Program At The Georgia Department Of Agriculture, Designed To Support And Promote The State’s Agribusinesses
When Jerry Connell, head of Georgia’s Adel-Cook County Chamber of Commerce, started meeting with local grape growers and wineries back in 2012, he thought he was organizing a wine trail through south Georgia. But the project, he says, just kept growing. Today, the state of Georgia is crisscrossed by trails that lead visitors to all sorts of authentic Georgia tastes and experiences, including, but definitely not limited to, wine.
Connell remembers the day it all came together. “We were having a meeting at Horse Creek Winery and Gary Black, the Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner, was there. He pulled me aside and said, ‘I want it to be a Georgia Grown trail. And I want you to do it.’ So I started meeting with folks.”
In 2012, Georgia Grown was a new program at the Georgia Department of Agriculture, designed to support and promote the state’s more than 40,000 agribusinesses. The state brand aimed to spotlight locally grown foods, and increase awareness of the huge variety of products produced on Georgia farms. A tourist trail leading travelers on an off-the-beaten track experience fit right in with these goals.
“I got to thinking that you can’t have a Georgia trail without peaches, or pecans, or peanuts,” Jerry says. Pretty soon he had assembled a considerable list of potential tour stops, most strung along a 160-mile stretch of state road 37, running east-west from Homerville outside Valdosta, to Fort Gaines on the Alabama border. A few organizing meetings later, plus an act of the state legislature, and Georgia Grown Trail 37 (GG 37) was born.
The two dozen stops along the trail include u-pick operations, peach and pecan orchards, a dairy farm, roadside stands, farmers markets, and a honey shack, as well as properties where you can hunt quail, a local specialty. Also on the trail are state parks with campgrounds, interesting lodging options with local flair, and shops offering tastes of Georgia jellies, jams and pickles.
The region’s wineries aren’t forgotten. “A lot of our agritourism sites are seasonal,” Connell says. “But you can taste wine all year. We have four wineries within 40 miles of my office in Adel. Over at Gin Creek Plantation they’re growing grapes and bottling wine on site. And Still Pond Vineyard is making muscadine moonshine.”
One unexpected find along GG 37: an olive grove. Georgia Olive Farms in Lakeland produces extra virgin olive oil from the first olives grown commercially east of the Mississippi since the Franciscan missionaries left the region. “Everyone said that olive trees wouldn’t grow in Georgia, but the Shaw family set out to prove them wrong,” Connell says. “They’ve been at it six years or so and this year was the best crop ever. Their Georgia Olive Oil is all over the Atlanta foodie scene. Chefs love it.”
Vicki Hughes, a member of the Shaw family, explains how the olive farm ended up in Georgia. “Jason Shaw, one of our partners, studied in Italy during college. He realized the olive region had the same sandy loam soil, the same seasons, and was the same latitude as the farm back home.” Today, Shaw Farms harvests several olive varietals and cold presses the oil in their own mill.
Vicki hosts guided tours of the farm by appointment and supervises olive oil tastings where she demonstrates dipping techniques and offers hints on using the oil to enhance flavors. “We show a video that follows the process from harvest to milling, and introduces the history of olives in Georgia,” she tells The Buzz. Although the agritourism part of the farm has only been operating for a couple of years, Vicki sees a lot of people traveling GG 37 coming through. “Last year we had 1400 visitors,” she says. “And more this year.”
An added attraction at Shaw Farms is a visit to the Gayla’s Grits store. Operated by another Shaw family member, the grits are stone-ground on the property from white corn raised with no GMOs, no preservatives and gluten-free. “Once you start eating them, you’ll never go back to instant grits,” Vicki says.
Georgia Grown Trail 37 launched in June, 2014, but Jerry Connell soon discovered his work wasn’t over. His office in Adel is at the intersection of GA 37 and GA 41, and before long Jerry was organizing Georgia Grown Trail 41/341 running north-south from the Florida border to just west of Macon, about 200 miles.
It’s a little different,” Jerry says. “Most of GG 41 parallels I-75, so if you don’t want to wind through the countryside, you can get off at most any exit and find an attraction within a couple of miles.” In addition to farmers markets and produce stands, this trail has some unusual features including the Georgia Cotton Museum, the SAM Shortline Historic Railroad, and a miniature horse farm. One attraction, Horse Creek Winery just outside of Adel, is on both GG 37 and GG 41.
The success of GG 37 has inspired agritourism throughout the state, and Jerry Connell keeps busy consulting on new trails. “Georgia Grown Trail 301 is underway,” he says. “It has attractions that are not necessarily agriculture-based, like the last drive-in theater in the state and the Okefenokee Swamp. US 280 out toward Plains is getting organized. The one I’m most excited about is GG 400 in Atlanta. It will start in Buckhead and run to Dawsonville.”
Next time your journey takes you through Georgia, remember Jerry’s advice: “Take the slow route and stop along the way.” There’s sure to be a Georgia Grown Trail headed in the direction you are headed, with some delicious treats and interesting experiences waiting to be discovered.
Renee Wright
A graduate of Franconia College in Social Psychology, Renee has worked as Travel Editor for Charlotte Magazine and has written three travel guidebooks for Countryman Press among other writing assignments. She enjoys food and camping.
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