What is the history of Athens, Georgia?
In the late 18th century, a trading settlement on the banks of the Oconee River called Cedar Shoals stood where Athens is located today. On January 27, 1785, the Georgia General Assembly granted a charter by Abraham Baldwin for the University of Georgia as the first public universitystate-supported university. Sixteen years later, in 1801, a committee from the university’s board of trustees selected a site for the university on a hill above Cedar Shoals in what was then Franklin County. On July 25, John Milledge, one of the trustees and later governor of Georgia, bought 633 acres (2.6 km sq) from Daniel Easley and donated it to the university. Milledge named the surrounding area Athens, GreeceAthens after the city that was home to the academy of Plato and Aristotle in ancient Greece. The first buildings on the University of Georgia campus were made from logs. The town grew as lots adjacent to the college were sold to raise money for the additional construction of the school. By the tim
