A HISTORY OF
DUBLIN AND
LAURENS COUNTY, GEORGIA
Part One
The Native American Millennia
Laurens County was first inhabited by the American indian about ten thousand years ago. The first inhabitants were organized into small groups known as bands. These bands predominately settled along the creeks and rivers in the area. The time of occupation began at the end of the Ice Age with the Clovis People. Over the years the Indians were categorized as Creek Indians while they were, in fact, several different groups. This area was occupied by the Creeks, Seminoles, Hitchiti, Yamassee, and Uchee (Yuchi), among others.
The Lower Uchee Trail ran from lower Alabama to the Augusta area. The trail entered the county from the southwest following Highway 26 which turns into Blackshear's Ferry Road. The trail crossed the Oconee at Carr's Bluff opposite the Country Club and ran into Highway 319, thence toward Augusta. This trail and others helped in the development of the area in the late 18th century.
A second trail, today known as the "Chicken Road," ran from Hawkinsville and headed into Dublin along Moore Station Road, Bellevue Road, and Bellevue Avenue. This trail crossed the Oconee River near the current river bridge at what was originally named "Jenk's Ferry." A third trail from Indian Springs through Macon and Jeffersonville became part of the Old Macon Road. After crossing at Dublin, the trail ran through East Dublin, down Highway 29, and Highway 86. A fourth trail ran from Darien to the Forks of the Altamaha (Oconee River and Ocmulgee River) and turned northward along the eastern valley ridge to Milledgeville. It was known as "The Old River Road" or the "Darien to Milledgeville Road." A fifth major trail ran from the "Forks" along the western valley ridge to Milledgeville. It is known today as the "Old Toomsboro Road."
One village site, the Sawyer site at Fish Trap Cut, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The site contains two mounds that were constructed in the 13th Century during the Mississippian mound-building period. University of Georgia anthropologists recently discovered that between the two mounds are the remains of a Woodland Period village. This village, which was first occupied about 200 B.C., is the oldest known site of its kind in Georgia.
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Several Spanish expeditions were conducted in the Laurens County area during the 16th and 17th centuries. The most famous of these was Hernando de Soto, who came near this area in 1540. Historians and scientists have debated for years over De Soto's exact route. Today the prevailing theory is that the explorer crossed the Oconee River above Laurens County.
Hernanado De Soto
It also stands to reason that DeSoto or some of his patrols passed through what is now Laurens County. That theory was substantially proved by Dr. Dennis Blanton, whose archaeological expeditions discovered the “Glass Site” on the southern banks of the Altmaha River. Blanton found beads that correlated with those of the same era as those of DeSoto’s expedition in 1540. From there the column moved northward from the forks of the Ocmulgee and the Oconee along the eastern side of the Oconee through Laurens, Johnson, and Washington County before moving toward the Augusta area.
The Spanish government set up a mission south of here at the Forks of the Altamaha. Spanish missionary, Father Chozas, visited this area in 1597. He told of the "Diamond Mountain" and barely escaped with his scalp between here and the forks of the Ocmulgee and the Oconee where the village of Tama is said to have been located. Juan de Lara returned to this area five years later to look for survivors of earlier expeditions. The Spanish established a mission at Tama about 1680 but soon abandoned it. The English attempted to colonize the area, but the plan was abandoned.
The Uchee and the Oconee in this area were subjected to a brutal invasion in 1695 from other Indians to the south. The Oconee traveled south to Florida, which was controlled by Spain. The Oconee tribe evolved into a tribe we know today as the Seminoles. The Indians left this area in the latter part of the 17th Century and the early 18th Century. The lands of Ocute gradually became nothing more than hunting grounds for the Uchee.
All Indian lands east of the Oconee River were ceded to Georgia under the Treaty of 1783. The remaining lands on the west side of the river were ceded by the Treat of 1801.
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