Traveling along the Historic Dixie Highway Scenic Byway route you can watch Ray Charles play piano, enjoy the divine climate conditions while getting an eyeful of the universe and come face to face with creatures of the deep. You can do all of this and more in Albany, Georgia located in the Plantation Trace Region of southwest Georgia along the Flint River.
The first inhabitants of the area known today as Albany were the Creek Indians who called their home along the riverbank “Thronateeska,” meaning “the place where flint is picked up.” Fittingly, the river that flows through Albany is called the Flint.
The city was founded in 1836, by Nelson Tift in hopes that the settlement would prosper as a trade center much like that of Albany, New York. Albany grew over time and incorporated several vast plantations during the mid-1800s. The region was spared during the Civil War as not to interfere with the plantations’ production of cotton and desperately needed food for the Confederacy.
Today Albany offers a diverse lineup of family attractions, you will want to visit– Chehaw Park; Thronateeska Heritage Center with Wetherbee Planetarium, the Science Discovery Center and Museum of History; the Flint RiverQuarium and the Imagination Theater – Albany transports its visitors to great times. Visitors can enjoy the Art Museum of Albany, performances by the Theatre Albany, engage at the Albany Civil Rights Institute, stroll through beautiful parks and trails, and an adventure at the All American Fun Park with arcade, go-carts, bumper boats, miniature golf and laser tag.
Adjacent to Albany along the southern corridor of the Historic Dixie Scenic Highway is the unique Radium Springs. Its once glittering Casino resort and ballroom drew tourists and locals to one of Georgia's seven natural wonders. The casino opened in the roaring 20’s overlooking Radium Springs, which normally gushes sapphire-blue water from caverns linked to an aquifer far below at a rate of 70,000 gallons per minute. The water, at 68 degrees, maintains its temperature throughout the warm Georgia summers and colder winters. This place for years was the social center of this part of the country with swimming, dancing and listening to big bands like the Auburn Knights, Smiling Ben Shorter from Cuthbert and other regional bands that played music like the Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey bands. The casino provided swimming, golfing and other recreational activities to generations of southwest Georgia residents and to Northern tourists headed for Florida on old GA 3 / the historic Dixie Highway. The tourist business slowed down after traffic was rerouted on a four-lane several miles east of the casino in the 60s. All of these adventures are conveniently accessible to the Historic Dixie Highway Scenic Byway.
