# Coffee Road

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{{Use American English|date=March 2025}}
[[File:Old_Coffee_Rd_Historical_Marker.JPG|thumb|Old Coffee Road historical marker north of [Cecil, Georgia](/source/Cecil%2C_Georgia)]]
'''Coffee Road''' as it became known, was a supply trail cut through the southern Georgia frontier in the early 1820s by General [John E. Coffee](/source/John_E._Coffee),<ref>{{Cite web
|url=http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/ogh/Coffee_County,_Georgia
|title=Coffee County, Georgia
|accessdate=2008-12-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/c.pdf | title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins | publisher=Winship Press | author=Krakow, Kenneth K. | year=1975 | location=Macon, GA | pages=47 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}}</ref>
with the help of Thomas Swain. After establishing the counties of [Early](/source/Early_County%2C_Georgia), [Irwin](/source/Irwin_County%2C_Georgia), and [Appling](/source/Appling_County%2C_Georgia) in 1819, the [Georgia General Assembly](/source/Georgia_General_Assembly) approved construction of the road December 23, 1822, with funds of $1,500.<ref name="Georgia1858">{{cite book|author=Georgia|title=Acts Passed by the General Assembly of Georgia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AiE4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA230|year=1858|publisher=J. Johnston|pages=230–}}</ref> The trail was built in the early 1820s and ran from [Jacksonville, Georgia](/source/Jacksonville%2C_Georgia), through [Metcalf](/source/Metcalf%2C_Georgia) and across the Florida border.<ref name="Baptist2002">{{cite book|author=Edward E. Baptist|title=Creating an Old South: Middle Florida's Plantation Frontier Before the Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5rXBGFC1_YwC&pg=PA45|year=2002|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-8078-6003-8|pages=45–}}</ref> The trail was about {{convert|3|ft|m|abbr=on}} wide, cleared, dug, and leveled by [enslaved African-American laborers](/source/Slavery_in_the_United_States).

This became the first vehicular path through the region to the new U.S. [Territory of Florida.](/source/Florida_Territory) It was later used by settlers moving into the [Georgia](/source/Georgia_(U.S._state)) frontier.<ref name="Baptist2002" /> It has no bridges or ditches and only private ferry crossings.<ref name="Baptist2002" /> Many pioneer families, including Hall, Folsom, Roundtree, Parrish, and Knight, migrated to claim land for farms and plantations. They brought enslaved African Americans or bought them through the domestic slave trade to work the cotton plantations.

Later improved to modern paved standards, much of the road remains in daily use.

== See also ==
{{Portal|roads|Georgia (U.S. state)}}
* [General Coffee State Park](/source/General_Coffee_State_Park)
* [Coffee County, Georgia](/source/Coffee_County%2C_Georgia)

== References ==
* {{cite book|last=Cadle|first=Farris W.|title=Georgia Land Surveying History and Law|publisher=University of Georgia Press|year=1991|pages=201|isbn=978-0-8203-1257-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dG2ssSMlZ2MC}}
* {{cite book|others=Florida State University Research Council|title=Florida State University Studies|publisher=Florida State University|year=1963|pages=43, 45|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zCgwAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{cite book|last=Baptist|first=Edward E.|author-link=Edward E. Baptist|title=Creating an Old South: Middle Florida's Plantation Frontier Before the Civil War|publisher=UNC Press|year=2002|page =45|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5rXBGFC1_YwC&dq=%22coffee+road%22&pg=PA45 | isbn=978-0-8078-5353-5}}
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|Old Coffee Road}}
* [http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/berrien/old-coffee-road1 Old Coffee Road] historical marker

{{Coord|30.533505|-85.4183201|display=title}}

Category:Historic trails and roads in Florida
Category:Historic trails and roads in Georgia (U.S. state)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Coffee Road](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_Road) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_Road?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.