Georgia Magazine - July 2011 - (Page 32)

(Continued from page 30) Day Catﬁsh Festival partners country music with Southern-fried catﬁsh. This three-day event is the largest festival in Southeast Georgia, with plenty to see and do for the entire family! Another not-to-miss attraction is the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island, a state-of-the-art facility with interactive educational exhibits. The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is also located in the Georgia Coast region. With entry points at Folkston, Fargo and Waycross, this 650-square-mile wetland wilderness is a natural habitat for wildlife and migratory birds. Festivals with delicious food as their themes include the National Barbecue Festival in Waycross, where some of the nation’s top barbecuers compete. There’s also an indoor yard sale and a focus on barbecue art. For a glimpse at military history, visit the St. Marys Submarine Museum, located in downtown St. Marys, with one of the most modern submarine periscopes on public display in the country. Pooler’s Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum contains exhibits from World War II through today, and visitors can experience the thrill of a B-17 bombing mission. Magnolia Midlands Known for its abundance of farmland and vast natural attractions, the Magnolia Midlands region offers a relaxing and delicious getaway. The star of the show is the state’s ofﬁcial vegetable—the Vidalia sweet onion—grown in a 23-county region that includes the small rural town of Vidalia. The annual Vidalia Onion Festival each spring celebrates the harvest for ﬁve days of nonstop fun that includes an air show, carnival and Miss Vidalia Onion Pageant. In nearby Lyons, Elements Bistro & Grill has perfected the Vidalia Onion Strudel, which is frequently offered as a special throughout the year, especially when it’s Vidalia onion season. The region is also known 32 around the world for Claxton Fruit Cake, a holiday staple made fresh in Claxton all year long. Alma is known as the blueberry capital of Georgia and celebrates its agricultural contribution each June with the Georgia Blueberry Festival. While there, stay at The Inn at Blueberry Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum, Pooler Plantation, with a fullservice restaurant and 18 holes of golf. Plantation Trace While food is not the main focus, The appeal of rural Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day Festival celGeorgia’s countryside ebrates the luck of the Irish in style. lures visitors to PlanMagnolia Midlands produces tation Trace. From signature Georgia muscadine wines folklife to farms, stately at Shannon Vineyards and Winery in mansions to parks, Sylvania and Meinhardt Vineyards discover an outdoor paradise where and Winery in Statesboro. With agwoodlands thrive with wildlife, visiriculture at the heart of the region, visitors and residents alike can enjoy tors can sample organically grown vegetables and fresh-made jellies, seasonal you-pick farms and farmand numerous festivals celebrate evfresh produce from the many roaderything from ﬂowers to ﬁne arts. side stands that dot the highways As the name implies, this region’s and back roads. trademark is its historic plantations Listed as one of the Nature Conservancy’s “75 Last Great Places,” the and farms. Pebble Hill Plantation Altamaha River watershed is the larg- in Thomasville, a former hunting est river system east of the Mississip- lodge, recreates old-time Southern pi. Formed by the conﬂuence of three charm with graceful magnolias, stately pines, lush gardens and stables. rivers—the Ocmulgee, the Oconee Visit the collection of antique carand the Ohoopee—near Lumber riages. Thomasville’s annual Rose City, it has been called Georgia’s Show & Festival, which celebrated its Mightiest River. The slow-moving, 90th year in April 2011, attracts rose137-mile river meanders through growers and admirers from around plantations, forts, archaeological the world. mounds and historic settlements, Georgia-made, Georgia-grown and is one of the state’s two ofﬁcial certainly holds true in the Plantariver trails. Enjoy guided or self-guidtion Trace region. Tifton is known ed rafting, canoeing and ﬁshing. for its farming and agriculture. The Statesboro, about 15 miles off University of Georgia College of AgInterstate 16, beckons visitors to ricultural and Environmental Sciences Georgia Southern University, a campus ﬁlled with interesting attractions, Tifton campus provides agricultural and environmental research. Abraincluding the Georgia Southern Boham Baldwin Agricultural College’s tanical Garden, the Georgia SouthAgrirama, ofﬁcially known as the ern University Museum and Georgia Georgia Museum of Agriculture and Southern University Center for WildHistoric Village, is a demonstration life Education and the Lamar Q. Ball and educational attraction that brings Jr. Raptor Center. While there, visit (Continued on page 34) historic homes and nearby farms. More online at www.georgiamagazine.org GDEcD GEORGIA MAGAZINE http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - July 2011

Georgia Magazine - July 2011
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This?
Georgia News
Calendar
Currents
Georgia’s Energy Outlook
Special Energy Report
A Jewel Against the Sea
“A Special Blessing”
Your Own Backyard
Around Georgia
My Georgia
Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Cookbook of the Month
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - July 2011