West Central Georgia

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" As we checked on the fattening sugar cane, he continued, "I used to grow my own corn for the mill, too, but I can buy it cheaper than I can grow it. I still plant some, but the deer eat as much as we do."

In fact, most landowners here plant a few acres—sometimes as many as 20—in crops, such as millet for turkeys, to sustain wildlife. And, when the Georgia Power Company wanted to dam the Flint River, a favorite of canoeists, river-preserving activists stopped the project and brought about the creation of a 75,000-acre hunting preserve.

All this has helped to make Talbot County one of the best hunting areas in the Southeast. (If you intend to buy land here—and it can go as low as $500 an acre for large parcels—check on hunting and timber rights. You may not own them.)

Time Moves On

The dangers of the 20th century aren't unknown here, though. The day of my visit, Debbie Buckner was in Atlanta at a hearing on a toxic waste incinerator that might be built in next-door Taylor County, just six miles from the Buckner farm. A few folks think it would be an economic boon, but most residents have banded together in a mighty effort to prevent it, even trying to make Talbot's tiny Prattsburg community, which adjoins the contested area, into a historical site.

"Up to now, about the most dangerous thing we've had around here is someone's worn-out automobile battery," said Talbotton banker Gus Persons, "and we don't want to become someone else's garbage can. Should they decide to put the incinerator here, we'll put incredible restrictions on hauling the waste through Talbot County and tie them up in court for years."

And Talbot County faces another problem that everyone agrees has to be solved, but, in this case, no action is being taken.

Historically, the population in Talbot County has been more black than white. Historically, too, students living closer to schools in other counties have gone to those instead of traveling to the consolidated school system in Talbotton. But when integration was ordered, a great many white children began attending integrated but "better" schools in adjoining counties, so that, today, the Talbot County system is 99% black.

"Black or white, my job is to see that students receive the best education possible," said black county school superintendent John Terry. "We offer, as do all other Georgia schools, three courses of study: college prep, vocational and general education with stress on computer science. We have 44 computers in the school, more than the state average, and, under an IBM grant, we begin the Writing-to-Read program in kindergarten."

Remarkably, the Talbot schools have a high (97%) attendance rate and a low (1%) dropout rate.

Good, Better, Best

But if timeless Talbot is the most rural of the four counties with the least expensive land, Meriwether, Troup and Harris probably have more to offer. Meriwether's county seat of Greenville (pop. 1,213) has an incredible number of antebellum homes; one road leading out of town is lined with them. And the recent closing of the CSX railroad yards has made the bustling old mill town of Manchester (pop. 4,796) a buyer's market for houses. Meriwether is also home to Franklin D. Roosevelt's Little White House (now run by the state); the nearby Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, where thousands once received treatment for polio in the 88°F waters, is still helping the severely physically disabled.

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