Savannah-Ogeechee Canal Museum and Nature Center

The Historic Savannah-Ogeechee Barge Canal is one of the prime relics in the history of southern canals. Chartered in 1824, the Savannah - Ogeechee Canal was constructed between 1826 and 1830 by African and Irish laborers who moved thousands of cubic yards of earth. A boon to Georgia's economy, the canal transported local crops and goods from the inland plantations along the Ogeechee River to the busy shipping port of Savannah. The lumber industry revived canal usage following a Civil War-era lull, but a series of yellow fever epidemics, blamed on the canal, caused a further decline. The canal closed in the early 1890s as the Central of Georgia Railroad served transportation needs.