Site of Petersburg

Site of Petersburg is a Georgia historical marker in Elbert County, dedicated 1996.

On Bobby Brown Park Road in Bobby Brown State Park in Elberton.

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In 1784, General George Matthews brought a number of Virginians and Carolinians, large tobacco planters, to settle this section. Dionysius Oliver laid out the town of Petersburg, on the site of the earlier settlement of Dartmouth, at the union of the Broad and Savannah Rivers, and built a large tobacco warehouse. Among the early settlers were Governor William Wyatt Bibb and Judge Charles Tait, who served together in the U.S. Senate (1813- 17), the Shackelfords and other prominent Huguenot families. Both Petersburg and the old road from Petersburg to Augusta are now under water.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1778 · The Western Parts of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1795 · State of South Carolina. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1816 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1816 · Georgia (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1824 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

State of South Carolina, 1795, covering the location of Site of Petersburg, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — State of South Carolina, 1795, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyThat would be an error, and we can pass it to the program.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

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This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

Site of Petersburg

Historical maps covering this location

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