TALBOT COUNTY
Talbot County was created by Act of Dec. 14, 1827 from Muscogee County. Originally, it included part of Taylor County. It was named for Matthew Talbot (1767-1827), member of legislature, member of the Convention that framed the Constitution of Ga., President of the State Senate, Governor in 1819 after the death of Gov. Rabun until the election of Gov. Clark. First officers of Talbot County, commissioned Feb. 9, 1828, were: Abraham Laurence, Sheriff; Samuel C. Leech, Clk. Sup. Ct; William S. Goss, Clk. Inf. Ct.; Benjamin Loyd, Surveyor; Hubbard Brown, Coroner.

Georgia Historical Commission marker, placed at the north east corner of Courthouse Square in Talbotton in 1955.

FIRST SESSION SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA
At Talbotton on Jan 26, 1846, the first meeting of the Supreme Court of Georgia was held in the dining hall of the old Claiborne Hotel which stood one block west of this marker. Judge Hiram Warner and Judge Eugenius A. Nisbet were present. Judge Joseph Henry Lumpkin, the other member of the newly established Court, did not attend because of illness in his family. At the Court’s first session James M. Kelly of Perry, was elected Reporter and Robert E. Martin, of Milledgeville, Clerk. Martin was sworn in Fifteen attorneys were admitted to the Supreme Court during the term held at Talbotton in January 1846. The first lawyers in Georgia to qualify to practice before Georgia’s highest court were: Alfred Iverson, Hines Holt, James Johnson, Marcus Johnston and Adam G. Foster of Columbus; Barnard Hill, Allen F. Owen, Edmund H. Worrill, William F. Brooks, Anthony G. Perryman, Levi B. Smith, Stephen D. Heard, Marion Bethune, and J. L. Stephenson of Talbotton; and Amos W. Hammond of Culloden.

Georgia Historical marker on the southeast corner of Talbotton Courthouse Square, erected 1953.

GEORGE WASHINGTON TOWNS
George Washington Towns was born in Wilkes County, Georgia May 4, 1801 and died in Macon, Georgia July 15, 1854. A lawyer and resident of Talbotton, Georgia. Towns served as state legislator, U.S. Congressman, and Governor of Georgia (1847-51). During his administration he led the fight for the amelioration of the slave code, obtained the adoption of the ad valoreum system of taxation, completed the Western and Atlantic Railroad, and became an early advocate of free public schools. Towns wrote Georgia’s inscription on the Washington Monument: "The Constitution As It Is, the Union As It Was."

Georgia Historical marker on the northwest corner of Talbotton Courthouse Square

ZION EPISCOPAL CHURCH ERECTED 1848
The edifice has been spared modernization and is a perfect replica of a typical English rural parish church of the Tudor-Gothic period. The altar, communion rail, lectern-pulpit, and prayer desk are handmade of native walnut. The entire structure is put together with wooden pegs and handmade iron nails. The pipe organ, installed in 1850 and in continous use since that time, is a Pilcher and still is operated by hand pump.

The choir loft at the east end of the structure opposite the sanctuary, above the narthex. Is flanked on each side, by a gallery, where slaves worshipped prior to the conflict which many believed temporarily destroyed Southern culture. Zion Church had its incipience from the missionary zeal of the Rev. Richard Johnson and the financial assistance of South Carolina rice planters.

Georgia Historical marker located near the back of the church st the roadside of U.S. Highway 80. Erected 1955.

1831 TALBOTTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
As Methodism moved across Georgia, in 1830 Jesse Sinclair and Henry W. Hilliard were sent by the South Carolina Methodist Conference to the Flint River Mission of which Talbot Co was a part. In 1831 this circuit became a part of the newly formed Georgia Conference and by 1834 Talbotton became a separate Charge.

Upon the incorporation of Talbotton on 20 December 1828 a lot was set aside for a Methodist Church and deeded to it on 25 June 1831. Soon a substantial wooden church was erected. In 1857 this building was replaced by the present handmade brick church constructed by Miranda Fort. Among the oldest original brick churches of the South Georgia Conference. It is an outstanding example of Greek Revival Temple Architecture.

Georgia Historical marker. The Church was also designated as a Methodist Conference Historical site in 1978, with a historical marker installed at the front of the building. "United Methodist Historic Site No. 64".

STRAUS HOME SITE
In 1854, Lazarus Straus brought his wife and four children to Talbotton to their first home in America. Here he established a store, the first in a series that led to Macy’s, one of the leading department stores in the world. Straus and his sons, Isidor, Nathan, and Oscar, are among those men in American Jewry of whom all Jews are most proud. Isidor as a merchant, Nathan as a pioneer in public health, Oscar as one of the earlier career diplomats, and all as philanthropists and patriots, have won national acclaim.

After leaving Bavaria, Lazarus Straus dispensed his merchandise over several states searching for a home for his family. In 1854, his wife and four children, settled in a comfortable house one block from here. An expert merchant and a learned man, he became actively identified at once with the progress of Talbotton. From his humble beginning, Lazarus Straus and his sons, Isidor, Nathan, and Oscar, reached the pinnacle of success in the business, political, and civic affairs of our nation.

Two Georgia Historical markers erected 1958, one block east of the Straus home site, on Washington Avenue.

STRAUS HOME SITE
Here stood the small frame house in which Lazarus Straus and his family lived when they came to Talbotton in 1854. Seeking a new home in America after leaving Bavaria, Straus visited Talbotton during a "court week" and decided to make his home among its hospitable people.

His family, the only Jewish one in town, became identified with the progress of the community. The sons, Isidor, Nathan and Oscar, studied at nearly Collingsworth Institute. Nathan and Oscar attended the Baptist Sunday School.

Lazarus Straus founded a mercantile business in Talbotton and a later one in Columbus. After the War Between the States, he established a crockery and glassware business in New York, a forerunner of Macy’s which became, under the leadership of Isidor Straus, one of the world’s leading department stores.

Oscar Straus, among the earliest career diplomats, served as minister, ambassador, and cabinet member under Presidents Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft. Author of several books, he wrote the widely read Under Four Administrations.

Nathan Straus, leader in the fight for pasteurization of milk and a pioneer in other health reforms, was known throughout his life as a great philanthropist.

The Straus family is honored, not for its wealth, but for its outstanding contribution to the American way of life.

Georgia Historical marker erected 1958 at the former site of the Straus home, on the corner of Monroe Street and Jefferson Street in Talbotton.

OLD BELLEVIEW
Ante-bellum settlement on the old Alabama Rd between the Chattachoochee at Columbus & the Flint River at the Double Bridges. Columbus was seized by Federal Cav. Under Gen. James H. Wilson April 16, 1865. The next day Minty’s div. Was sent forward to secure the Flint River crossing at Double Bridges. This was done by the 4th Michigan & 3d Ohio Cav., Col. B. D. Pritchard comdg., after a rapid night march & a surprise attack, early the 18th.

The rest of Wilson’s forces left Columbus that day, following Minty’s div. via Talbotton. Belleview, Pleasant Hill, Double Bridges, Thomaston, Culloden-Macon, their destination.

Georgia Historical marker on Ga Hwy 41, near its inter-section with Ga Hwy 36 west in Talbot Co Land District 23.

DOUBLE BRIDGES
An ante-bellum Alabama Road crossing of Flint River at Owens Island, 1.25 miles N. of the old DuBignon Ferry & 2.5 mi. N.E. of this point.

Wilson’s Cav. seized Columbus Apr. 16, 1865. On the 17th, Minty’s div. was sent to blaze a trail to Macon. Minty sent the 4th Mich. & 3rd Ohio Cav. under Co. B. D. Pritchard on a night march to secure the Flint River Crossing at Double Bridges, guarded by 50 Georgia Cavalry Reserves, under Maj. N. C. Osborn. Pritchard, in a surprise attack, with over-whelming forces, seized the island and the two bridges. Wilson’s Raiders followed April 19-19, via Talbotton, Belle-view, Pleasant Hill & Thomaston.

Georgia Historical marker erected 1956 on Ga Hwy 36 East, about 2 miles from Pleasant Hill.

CONFEDERATE MONUMENT
Situated at the Courthouse Square in Talbotton, it was erected in 1904 by the Alice Beall Matthews Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.