Watkinsville
Watkinsville, the seat of Oconee County, has been a center of social life and a hub for local politics in northeast Georgia since the early nineteenth century.
Early History
In 1802, Watkinsville, originally known as the “Big Springs” community, was named after Colonel Robert Watkins of Augusta, a lawyer and early compiler of A Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia through 1799. Watkinsville was a village located on the dangerous western frontier of the new United States between Creek and Cherokee territories. Eagle Tavern, believed to stand on the site of the old Fort Edward, opened in 1801 and today serves as a museum commemorating the era of wagon and stage travel. Watkinsville first appeared in Clarke County records in 1791; only fifty-eight years after James Edward Oglethorpe founded the colony of Georgia. In 1802, John Cobb gave up eight lots of his plantation to create the city. And on November 24, 1806 the City became the Incorporated Town of Watkinsville. It then became the seat for Clarke County and remained so until 1872, when Athens took over that role. Angry locals voted to create a new county, named after the Oconee River on its eastern border, and Watkinsville became its seat on February 25, 1875.
People and Places
The Methodist Church has played a prominent role in the city's history and founded a cemetery there in the early 1800s. Watkinsville was the birthplace of two famous Methodists, Bishop Atticus G. Haygood in 1839 and his sister, Laura Haygood, in 1845. Laura Haygood became one of the first Christian missionaries to China and the principal of an Atlanta girls' school. Bishop Haygood was chaplain to the Confederate army during the Civil War (1861-65) and served as president of Emory College in Oxford from 1875 to 1884. Their family home in downtown Watkinsville is known as the Haygood House. Today the Haygood House is owned by Jerry and Kathy Chappelle and houses the Chappelle Gallery. Printed in Watkinsville on Thursdays, the Oconee Enterprise is one of the last family-owned weekly newspapers in Georgia. A country printer named L. Shackelford founded the paper in 1884, which was funded by legal advertisements that mostly reported farm closures. Today a mother-daughter team, Vinnie and Maridee Williams, own the Oconee Enterprise.
Modern Watkinsville
A small but bustling City, Watkinsville no longer depends upon agriculture as its lifeblood. The City's agricultural economy has been replaced by light industry, small businesses, and the development of an arts community. Southwire, a Carrollton-based manufacturer of wire and cable products, and AmeriPride, an apparel and linen service company, are major employers in the City, and the Oconee Industrial Park features a number of businesses and light industries. The Town Center retail and office complex in downtown Watkinsville contains upscale restaurants, salons, and shops, while antique and retail shops line Main Street. The City, whose slogan is "The Artland of Georgia," also supports a thriving arts community that contributes to the local economy. The Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, located in the old Watkinsville High School, joins the Chappelle Gallery, Happy Valley Pottery and a host of retail art stores and artists in the area. Because of the City's proximity to Athens, many Watkinsville residents are employed at the University of Georgia.
Eagle Tavern, Harris Shoals Park and the Oconee County Courthouse attract visitors from throughout the area. The historic South Main Street District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, includes the Ashford Memorial Methodist Church, the Haygood House and Ashford Manor. Ashford Manor, a bed and breakfast, conducts summer pop concerts and supports various charitable events, including "Grace's Birthday Party," an annual fundraiser for veterinary research and pet adoption. Watkinsville has also been named a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation for the last consecutive 2 years. According to the 2000 U.S. census, Watkinsville covers 3.23 square miles and had a population of 2,097, a 31 percent increase since 1990. The population today is about 2,700 residents.