Fitzgerald



Fitzgerald is a small town in Georgia's Plantation Midlands region, and is the (get this) center of the Fitzgerald Micropolitan Area. It was founded in 1895 by former Union Army drummer boy Philander H. Fitzgerald on behalf of Union Civil War veterans, leading to the nickname The Colony City. You'll see the Civil War history in the street signs: Union generals on the east, Confederates on the west, and at the Blue & Gray Museum. More importantly, though, tropical jungle chickens.

By car
Fitzgerald is off I-75 at the intersection of US-129 and GA-107, an hour and a half drive south of Macon—three hours from Atlanta.

By plane
If you have your own wings, you can fly into Fitzgerald Municipal Airport.

See
Wandering around town, keep an eye out for Red Junglefowl, a tropical pheasant from India or Burma or somewhere that looks an awful lot like a chicken, several of which were introduced for reasons well-masked by a Fitzgerald sense of humor. They have fled the boring old woods for the charming city center—look for them downtown. Today they are the city mascot, loved and unloved by a whimsically ambivalent populace.



Connect

 * The local area code is 229 and is not required for local calls.

Go next

 * Ashburn and its Jail Museum are just a half hour drive west on GA-107.
 * The Georgia Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village (Agirama) is a half hour drive southwest in Tifton.