Welcome to downtown Colquitt - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Welcome to downtown Colquitt

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September 9, 2004

Like many other south Georgia towns,  Colquitt is built on a square with the courthouse at the center. This is the town's fourth courthouse, the other three burned in 1873, 1902 and 1904.

On one corner of this square, sits the beautiful Tarrer Inn and restaurant. The Tarrer Inn was built in 1905 and restored just ten years ago. It's on the National Register of Historic Places.

Colquitt was established in 1860 and named for W. T. Colquitt of Halifax, Virginia. Colquitt is the county seat of Miller County, Georgia. The city has a population of about two thousand, the county about 6,500.

 This is the site of the National Mayhaw Festival. In case you don't know, the mayhaw is a berry used to make jelly, wine, and desserts.

Every spring, Colquitt's Mayhaw Festival features a parade, crafts and antiques, a tennis tournament, civil war re-enactments and more. There's even a Mayhaw Queen, who, by the way will be crowned this weekend during the Mayhaw pageant.

When you drive through Colquitt, you can't miss all the beautiful murals painted on the sides of buildings. But these are more than just pretty paintings. They tell stories of how life used to be in the old South, and they portray stories collected for the play Swamp Gravy.

There are nine of them all over town and once the 10th mural is finished, "It will make us Georgia's first mural city and part of an international promotion for public art through the Global Mural Society."

The 10th mural is being painted at the New Life Learning Cent It's here in Colquitt, Georgia where you can see Georgia's official Native American Monument. This beautiful 27 foot tall scuplture pays tribute to Native Americans, who first inhabitated this land.

Artist Peter Toth carved the monument from a red cedar log. He's created these monuments he calls "Whispering Giants" in all 50 states. The one in Georgia stands just outside the Welcome Center on Highway 27 in Colquitt. 

posted at 4:05PM by dave.miller@walb.com