GARDI – This unincorporated community, seven miles south of Jesup on U. S. 341, has a population of 85.  That is what Wikipedia says about this settlement which I have been passing though for decades.

I have no idea how many times I have driven through Gardi in the past, but I am sure I have never stopped here before.  None of the residents spoke to me, none wondered what I was doing and if I were up to something.  In fact, I did not see a solitary person walking about.

Since my high school days, when I made that first trip to St. Simons Island, I am guessing I have driven through Gardi at least a hundred times or more.

Not sure what made me stop other than to stretch a bit and look around.   I am often moved to do that sort of thing out of curiosity.  You never know what you might find.  There are no historical markers, however. There is no general store with a rusting “Drink Coca-Cola” sign.   

There, also, is no rusting sign that says, “Vote for Herman Talmadge” on an aging oak tree.    Some of those signs probably exist although I have not seen one lately.   I have seen them over the years in out-of-the-way places like Gardi.

Wonder how many residents of Atlanta have come this way?   Wonder if anybody from Gardi has ever been to Atlanta?   

As most Georgians know, there are 159 counties in the state of Georgia.  You may know that the state of Georgia once stretched as far west as Mississippi.  

This led to a legal battle that reached the Supreme Court.  The court fight was over the sale of acreage in what is now Alabama and Mississippi.  It was known as the “Yazoo Land Fraud.”

That’s another story.

Gardi is bigger than Aldora in Lamar County in Middle Georgia.  Aldora, according to the last census, has 0 population.  Yes, zero, but upon further review you discover that because of the incorrect filling out of a form, Aldora was assigned a zero population figure.   The estimated population is actually 103.

In case you are interested Aldora is in the neighborhood of these towns (or communities): Zillo Trulia, Zebulon, Oak Grove, Concord, Molena, and Williamson.

I love getting off the interstates and traveling the back roads of Georgia and am happy to confirm that I have set foot in every one of Georgia’s 159 counties.    

Interestingly, I have also had a pint in Fordwich which is the smallest village in Great Britian.   That, by the way, is official.   It is 3.4 miles from Canterbury and is located on the River Stour.

How many out there can make the same claim that they have set foot in Gardi and Fordwich?  

Growing up on a farm in Johnson County, we lived halfway between Donovan and Pringle.  Haven’t been to Pringle since I left high school and Donovan maybe a half dozen times since I was graduated from the University of Georgia.

There are 629 towns and cities in our state, and I have stopped in many of them which is great fun.  Read the historical markers and talk to the locals in Pavo, Hahira, Harrison, Sterling,  Pocataligo, Vana, Dudley, and Chitlin Switch.  

There is a Chitlin Switch located in North Brooks County.  That is a place in Georgia which I have never visited, but it is on my travel to do list.