Washington's Southern Tour

Washington's Southern Tour is a Georgia historical marker in Burke County, dedicated 1999.

In front of the courthouse in Waynesboro.

Get directions ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

Traveling from Savannah to Augusta on his Southern tour of 1791, President George Washington stopped in Waynesboro on May 17. Departing from Savannah two days earlier, Washington lodged at "one Spencers" in Effingham County, fifteen miles north of Nathanael Greene's Mulberry Grove plantation. Journeying through modern-day Screven County the next day, he traveled six miles out of his way to visit the city named for General Anthony Wayne, who served with Washington during the Revolution. He noted the town's "6 or 8 dwelling houses" and local efforts to "establish an Academy." After spending the night in Waynesboro, Washington reached Augusta the following day.

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 · Parte Orientale della Florida, della Giorgia, e Carolina Meridionale. Fogl. XI (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1794 · Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. (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)

Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, 1794, covering the location of Washington's Southern Tour, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, 1794, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

Example

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 Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

More markers nearby

Waynesboroughsame spot
Burke Countysame spot
Burke County's 8 Governorssame spot
First Presbyterian Church (Burke County)under 1 mi

On the National Register nearby

Burke County Courthouse160 ft

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.