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History
The city of Athens began as a tiny settlement that emerged at Cedar Shoals, where an ancient Cherokee trail crossed the Oconee River. Clarke County was enacted on December 5, 1801, and originally contained present-day Oconee County, as well as parts of Madison and Greene Counties. Clarke County was named for Elijah Clarke, who came to Georgia from North Carolina in 1774 to fight in Georgia’s battles with the Cherokee and Creek tribes. The City of Athens was incorporated on December 8, 1806. The University of Georgia had opened for classes in 1801, and the city was named in honor of the center of higher learning that had flourished in classical Greece. As fine federal homes began to appear around the new campus, the role of Athens as the intellectual center of Georgia became increasingly evident: the cultured social life surrounding the college attracted prominent families of wealth and national stature. Industry developed rapidly; Athens’ economy during the first half of the nineteenth century was based primarily upon cotton, brick works, textile mills, and railroad transportation.
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