Amanda America Dickson Museum Exhibit
Camilla and Zack Hubert Country Center
Hancock County Historical Sites
REFLECTIONS: Preserving The Cultural of Sparta
The lovely pine tree melody that you hear while visiting with us kind of sticks with you, so don't be surprised if you find yourself humming a little bit of Ray Charles and "Georgia on My Mind".
"Georgia on My Mind" Click on link for tune.
1990 history of Hancock County, Forrest Shivers selected as the title of his study the phrase "The Land Between," referring to the land located between the Ogeechee and Oconee Rivers that became Hancock County. As Shivers recognized, that phrase captures the essence of the Hancock County story, for it puts the natural environment first from which the many people who have lived, loved, died, or moved on. If the narrative begins with a clear focus on the beautiful and fecund earth that provided past wealth as well as poverty, and that holds the promise of the future, then the numerous stories of the people who made Hancock County home can be interwoven into the fabric of the story of the land.
It was the abundant wildlife and rich soil that attracted the Indians to the Oconee River Valley, and although their Mound Building civilization collapsed hundreds of years ago, they left behind remnants of their existence in Hancock County. In 1540, when Hernando de Soto traveled through the valley, he met the head of the Ocute Chiefdom and saw the mounds at Shoulderbone. Within a few years disease had ravaged the population as the civilization collapsed. Those Indians who survived created a new culture based on trade with the white settlers to the east.
By the close of the eighteenth century, white settlers pushed to the borders of the Ogeechee River. They were eager to cross over and cultivate the Piedmont. Likewise, the Indians, descendants of the Mound Builders who had reorganized their civilization in response to the disease and contact with the West, were just as eager to keep the white man to the east of the river. A treaty concluded in 1884 enabled the state of Georgia to claim title to the land between the rivers but touched off the Oconee War. It also ushered in white settlement of Hancock County......(Read more about SHARE Inc).