Thomasville

Have you ever been driving through southwest Georgia looking for something to do? No, well to be honest that's not surprising. That corner of the state is sparsely populated, and there is not a lot of reason to be passing through there unless you already have something planned or you are heading to Tallahassee. That being said, just because the area is seldom visited doesn't mean there are not some gems to visit. One of those gems is the beautiful Southern town of Thomasville.

Thomasville is located about 30 miles north of Tallahassee on US-319, or about 40 miles west of Valdosta on US-84. If you are driving down from Atlanta there are multiple ways to get there including the most direct way of taking I-75 South, getting off in Cordele, and taking several state highways down. If you want a more historic route, you can take US-19 once you get outside of the metro area and pass through Americus, Andersonville, Plains, and Albany before you arrive in town.

The first thing you will notice about Thomasville is the charm of the downtown area. Sadly, far too many small towns have seen their downtown areas die off as generations pass, but some have either been lucky enough for their downtown businesses to survive these generational changes or have made a great effort to revive their downtown area. The downtown of Thomasville is a scenic grid of roads that is lined with thriving restaurants, gift shops, antique shops, and historic homes.  In true Southern town fashion, the main street through the downtown area is Broad Street. The entire downtown area smells like freshly baked bread which is coming from the giant bakery located on one end of Broad Street. All of the parking spots on the street are free, and there are plenty of them.

Some of the fun places we checked out were Kevin's Outdoor Gear and Apparel, a very unique store with their own high end outdoor wear, but also full of unique gifts like bronze statues, jewelry, and guns. It's truly a one of a kind store, and very well run.  On the same side of the street check out Relish, a food and kitchenware store that was nice, but the big draw for us was the bacon jam they had for sale. If you haven't had a burger with bacon jam on it you don't know what you're missing, and we loaded up on some for the house.

If you are hungry the downtown is full of great places to eat as well. On Jackson Street, you will find the local hot spot of Jonah's Fish & Grits. This place has been featured on several television shows and in many magazines. We both got the fried catfish with white cheddar grits.  To tell you how good it was Wendy told me, "if I ever leave you it will be to marry these grits." They also had fried pickles on the menu, and who doesn't love fried pickles. There is another place right next door called Liam's, an ice cream shop about a block away called The Scoop, and many other places to eat around downtown.

To walk off your lunch, walk up Broad Street towards the historic courthouse.   The courthouse is a beautiful building with several monuments to heroes who have lost their lives in battle.  Keep walking past the courthouse and follow the signs pointing you towards the Big Oak. Just a block away in Elisabeth Ireland Poe Park, what they call the Big Oak would be better described as the Really, Really Crazy Big Oak. This gorgeous oak tree is approximately three and a half centuries old, and looks like something out of a children's book. The limbs are so big they each have their own ecosystems with ferns growing on them that look like a set piece in Jurassic Park.  The city offers a very neat feature where they will take a free picture of visitors to the Big Oak with a local traffic camera and post it to a website for you to download for free.  The picture is low resolution, but a very nice gesture.

 

 

 

 

You could spend the entire day there, and if they had a hotel in the historic downtown area you could spend a night there too, but you can easily walk through most of it in about three hours. If you are a big shopper plan on spending a few more hours.  Regardless of how long you choose to stay, we think you will love it and want to go back as soon as you can. True Southern towns like this are not always easy to find, but when you do take advantage of them. The nice people, small town atmosphere, and wonderful scenery make Thomasville worth the trip.