About Augusta

Fort Gordon lies a few miles just outside of Augusta, Georgia. The post is surrounded by the communities of Grovetown, Harlem, and Hephzibah. The post can be easily reached from Interstate 20 by following Jimmie Dyess Parkway.

Augusta is located along the Georgia-South Carolina border, formed by the Savannah River. The area lies about halfway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian Mountains.  The city of Augusta lies within Richmond County, and the two were consolidated in 1996 to form one government.  The metropolitan area spills over into Columbia County, which lies upriver to the northwest. Across the river is Aiken County, South Carolina.  North Augusta, SC is just across the river via several bridges.  The City of Aiken is about 12 miles away.  Several other Georgia and South Carolina counties combine with Richmond, Columbia, and Aiken Counties to form the Central Savannah River Area, commonly referred to as the CSRA.

Augusta is about two hours from Atlanta, two hours from Savannah, two hours from Charlotte, and one hour from Columbia, South Carolina. Interstate 20 is the main traffic artery, passing by Augusta to the West. US 1, US 78, and US 25 are other well-traveled routes. The area is serviced by Delta Airlines and US Airways at Augusta Regional Airport.

Natural beauty abounds in the area. Augusta is only a short drive from Thurmond Lake, also known as Clarks Hill Lake, which is the largest man-made lake east of the Mississippi. We are only about two hours from the Atlantic Ocean, and about three hours from the Appalachian Mountains.

The area is well know for its medical community. The Medical College of Georgia is located here, and the area is home to ten hospitals. Many modern medical techniques and innovations, such as telemedicine, were pioneered here.

Of course, Augusta is the center of the golfing universe the first weekend of April, when the Masters is held here at Augusta National. There is plenty of golf available for the more typical golfer as well, with almost twenty public and private courses in the area.

The area's climate is moderate and comfortable for most of the year. Winters are generally mild, with lows in the thirties and forties and highs in the fifties and sixties. Spring and fall are unpredictable, with wide variations in temperature and conditions. Summer can be HOT! July and August are usually the hottest months, with high humidity and temperatures around the 100 degree mark.

The CSRA is rich in industry. It is the home of EZ GO and Club Car, the two largest makers of golf carts in the world. Kimberly Clark, Amoco, Sweetheart Cups, Proctor & Gamble, Federal Paperboard, Columbia Nitrogen, and other major manufacturers have facilities here. Bridgestone/Firestone's facility in Graniteville is the world's most technologically advanced tire factory, and produces over 20,000 tires per day. The Savannah River Site, located in Aiken and Barnwell Counties, is a major Department of Energy facility.

Augusta is located...

• 139 miles from Atlanta, GA
• 160 miles from Charlotte, NC
• 138 miles from Charleston, SC
• 68 miles from Columbia, SC
• 245 miles from Jacksonville, FL
• 211 miles from Myrtle Beach, SC
• 122 miles from Savannah, GA

Augusta is...

• Second largest city in Georgia


• Second oldest city in Georgia


• Home of the Masters Golf Tournament


• Birthplace of the Godfather of Soul, James Brown
• Birthplace of singers Amy Grant, Jessye Norman and Terri Gibbs; actors Laurence Fishburne and Joe Penny; Boxer Ray Mercer, Novelist Frank Yerby, WWF Wrestler Hulk Hogan, and pro golfers Larry Mize, Vaughn Taylor, Charles Howell.
• Second largest inland cotton market in the world during the cotton boom
• Home of the oldest newspaper in the South, The Augusta Chronicle
• Home of poets Richard Henry Wilde and James Ryder Randall
• Home of George Walton, the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence
• Home of Springfield Baptist Church, the oldest independently formed black congregation in the United States with an unbroken record of existence
• Headquarters of E-Z-GO Textron and Club Car, the number one and two manufacturers of golf carts
• Home of the largest man-made lake east of the Mississippi River, Thurmond Lake
• Home of the Augusta Southern Nationals drag boat races
• Headquarters of the National Barrel Horse Association
• Home of the Augusta Futurity, the largest cutting horse event east of the Mississippi River and second largest in the world
• Location of baseball legend Ty Cobb's first professional game and his home from 1904 to 1932.

Local web sites of interest...

• Augusta Magazine
• Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau
• GreenJackets Baseball
• Area Churches
• Georgia state web site
• South Carolina state web site
• Augusta/Richmond County
• Columbia County

History

Augusta is Georgia's second oldest city and was founded in 1736 along the banks of the Savannah River as an Indian trading post by Georgia's founder, General James Edward Oglethorpe. 

Augusta served as a colonial military outpost, the center of Georgia's eighteenth century tobacco trade, and a Revolutionary War battle site.  Augusta was the capital of Georgia from 1785 until 1795.

Augusta became a winter resort in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Large hotels, such as the Partridge Inn and the Bon Air, attracted wealthy northern visitors like John D. Rockefeller for extended stays on the "Hill", also known as Summerville. Golf architect Bobby Jones played his best golf at several courses on the "Hill." He liked the climate and scenery so much, he built his dream course on the Berckmans Nursery tract, today known as the famous Augusta National Golf Club. In 1934, his Masters Tournament began.