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Celebrating the U.S.A.

Buzz

The 2023-24 Augusta Symphony season offers a patriotic tribute to American music.
For Dirk Meyer, Augusta Symphony music director, the upcoming concert lineup is personal.

“This season is very much influenced by what has happened in my own life,” he says.

Earlier this year, the native of Germany, who has been in the United States for 20 years, got his dual citizenship. In honor of this milestone achievement, the theme of this year’s concerts is American Perspectives.

Symphony Series

The showcase of American artists and music is evident from the beginning of the season, which opens on Friday, September 22 with the first concert in the Symphony series, Welcome to America. Beginning with this performance, a common thread runs through all six concerts in the series.

“In the Symphony Series, each concert features music by an American composer and a composer who eventually became an American citizen,” Meyer says.

A guest artist will perform with the Symphony in each of these concerts as well.

“Our guest artists are local and international soloists,” says Meyer. “They add another dimension to the concerts that are great for the audiences and for the orchestra to have an opportunity to play with them.”

Violinist Anastasia Petrunina performs with the musicians in the opening concert, which features works by Stravinsky and Mahler as well as a violin concerto by Barber.

On Friday, November 17, Symphonic Shorts features Taylor Massey, the principal clarinetist who has been with the orchestra for years, and the Youth Concerto Competition winner.

“This is one of my favorite concerts,” says Meyer. “It has seven different pieces, and each one is 10 to 15 minutes long. I think people will recognize at least five of them, and I hope the others give them an appetite for trying something more.”

In on Saturday, January 6, the orchestra performs pieces including Milhaud’s Le boeuf sur le toit, which resembles Brazilian bar music. Guest artist Darci Gamerl will play the English horn for the world premiere of Courageous Lights by James Lee III.

“It’s an eclectic program that features music that people know and like and a lot of pieces that people have never heard before,” Meyer says.

American Rhapsodies is the title of the Saturday, March 9 performance. This concert includes Dvorak’s American Suite and Symphony No. 2 by German-born composer Kurt Weill, who is known for his satire, social commentary and seminal works in the development of the American musical.

In addition, the program features the Georgia premiere of Boyer’s Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue, with guest artist Jeffrey Biegel on the piano. The pianist conceived this work to celebrate the centennial of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, which the orchestra will perform to conclude the program.

Meyer says Beethoven 5, scheduled for Saturday, April 20, was canceled two years ago because of covid. In addition to Symphony No. 5, the orchestra performs which represents the energy and commerce of the main arteries in cities in general and specifically the main thoroughfare of her hometown Atlanta. Guest artist Paul Huang joins the Symphony on the violin.

This series concludes on Saturday, May 11 with Symphonic Jazz. The four-piece program includes the United States premiere of Wars’ City Sketches. The Polish immigrant, known as the King of Jazz, wrote countless Hollywood scores for film and television.

Pops! Series

From country to swing, holiday songs to popular ’80s tunes, the Pops! Series is a source of patriotic pride.

“All of the Pops concerts are heavily oriented toward American music,” says Meyer.

Country Hits: Songs From Nashville on Thursday, September 28 celebrates country artists past and present. The concert features music by country legends like Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash as well as contemporary stars such as Garth Brooks and Kacey Musgraves. Two of Nashville’s brightest young vocalists also will perform alongside the Symphony and Music City’s most in-demand instrumentalists.

On Thursday, October 19, the Symphony takes a nostalgic look at the dawn of the MTV era with Decades: Back to the ’80s. This concert promises a power-packed evening featuring some of the decade’s No. 1 hit songs. Think “The Power of Love,” “Time After Time,” “Material Girl,” “Another One Bites The Dust,” “Footloose” and “Addicted to Love.” Fans of Madonna, Debbie Gibson, Huey Lewis & The News, Phil Collins, Queen and Joe Cocker will delight in the repertoire.

For the first time in years, the Symphony revives an old favorite with the Holiday Pops concert, Sounds of the Season, on Thursday, December 7. The orchestra plays alongside Joe Gransden and His Big Band, and concert-goers can ring in the season with classics from “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” to “Silver Bells.”

“With Sounds of the Season, we’re hoping to bring back a holiday tradition for Augusta,” Meyer says.

The Symphony showcases another bygone era with The Great American Swingbook on Thursday, February 15. With her four-octave range, vocalist Dee Daniels performs a century of hits featuring music by Swing legends Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong.

In the final Pops performance, the musicians offer a choreographed 3D celebration of the country’s national parks and major cities in America’s Wonders on Thursday, March 21. Striking imagery will be displayed on a giant screen as the Symphony guides the audience through beautiful American landscapes and cityscapes.

“We’ve never done a 3D experience before,” Meyer says.

Family Concerts at Columbia County

Holidays With the Symphony on Sunday, December 10 brings the return of the popular Family Concerts at Columbia County. Instead of its annual Halloween concert, however, the orchestra performs Animals With the Symphony on Sunday, March 10. From buzzing bees to braying donkeys, this work by French composer Camille Saint Saens is a humorous musical suite of 14 movements.

These concerts are 45 to 50 minutes long, and Meyer gives a verbal introduction to each piece.

Throughout the season, he hopes audience members enjoy works they know and love as well as music that may be new to them.

“I believe they will get a kick out of the programs,” he says. “I’ve been here long enough that I hope people trust me now.”

The family concerts begin at 4 p.m. at Hardin Auditorium. All of the other performances begin at 7:30 p.m. at Miller Theater. For more information, visit augustasymphony.com.

AU Ranks No. 5

LIFE + STYLE

BestColleges has ranked Augusta University No. 5 in the country on its list of universities with the best return on investment.

To determine the universities with the best financial outcomes for graduates, the website reviewed the average cost of attendance, federal grant aid awarded to students and future expected earnings.

AU found itself in heady company, sandwiched in the Top 10 between Georgia Tech, which claimed the No. 1 ranking, and Stanford University, which garnered the 10th spot.

Last year, the Third Way think tank also ranked AU in the top 5% of universities nationwide for improving economic outcomes for lower- and moderate-income graduates.

Over the past seven years, AU has bucked national trends by continuing to increase its enrollment and by becoming a destination of choice for students across the state and the nation.

The growth is expected to continue for the coming academic year, as the university expands its variety of degree programs that meet student and employer demand.

The school offers almost 100 undergraduate majors across 10 schools of study.

Border Bash

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The Georgia – South Carolina football rivalry dates back to 1894, and the two teams have clashed 75 times since then. This year marks another milestone in the rivalry with the 30th annual Border Bash on Friday, September 15.

The event, which takes place on the eve of the football game, will be held rain or shine at SRP Park in North Augusta.

Gates open at 5 p.m. Fans can don their red and black or garnet and black gear to meet the teams’ mascots and cheerleaders and to listen to live music by The Mason Jars and the Mike Veal Band. Vendors and concessions will be set up throughout the park as well.

General admission is $15 in advance and $20 at the gate. Kids 12 and under are free with a ticketed adult.

VIP tickets for those 21 and older are $100 in advance and $125 at the gate. VIP tickets for those under 21 are $25, and they’re free for children 3 and under with a ticketed adult.

For more information, visit borderbash.net.

Go on ‘Holliday’

Georgia

Photos courtesy Griffin + Spalding Business and Tourism Association

The Wild, Wild West is headed east to Griffin, Georgia for the annual Doc Holliday Festival.

Although the infamous dentist-turned-gunslinger made his name at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, he was born in the town that’s about 40 miles south of Atlanta.

The Festival

Food and beverages, arts and crafts vendors and family activities are the backdrop for this festival. However, one of the highlights is the reenactment of the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral in which Aces and Eights will perform three 30-minute shows for history enthusiasts and fans of the Wild West.

Evening entertainment will feature a performance by Mainstream Band Ga.

Another major draw of the weekend is the BBQ Competition, which is organized by the Georgia Barbecue Association and expected to have about 30 professional teams participating.

The barbecue teams will be set up in the ballfield inside Griffin City Park, and the general public will have the opportunity to purchase a sampler platter from 12 of the teams, known as the People’s Choice. Not only will guests get to enjoy delicious barbecue, but they will also have the chance to vote for their favorite team, with a trophy awarded to the winner.

Guests are encouraged to bring their own chairs, although some bleacher seating will be provided in the park.

The Legend

John Henry “Doc” Holliday was born in 1851 to Henry Burroughs Holliday, a doctor, veteran and public servant, and Alice Jane (McKey) Holliday. In 1864 the family moved from Griffin to Valdosta to escape Sherman’s March to the Sea. Two years later, Holliday’s mother, who doted on the son who was born with a cleft palate, died of consumption, or tuberculosis, when he was 15 years old.

After graduating from Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1872, Holliday returned to Griffin to establish a dental practice that earned him the nickname, “Doc.” Shortly after he began his career, however, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

Given just months to live, Holliday followed the advice of a physician who told him to go west where the dry air might prolong his life.

He moved to Dallas and set up another dentistry practice in 1873 during the waning days of the American frontier. As dentists who were prone to fits of coughing up blood weren’t in high demand, however, Holliday had to find another way to make a living. He turned to gambling and quickly developed a reputation as a gambler with a temper – and a gun.

After a saloon altercation led to a shooting, Holliday was charged with attempted murder. The jury called it self-defense, but he left Dallas for rougher towns in West Texas and beyond.

In 1877, Holliday arrived in Fort Griffin, Texas, where he met rogue lawman Wyatt Earp. Although details surrounding their meeting vary, the two men became the most feared duo in the Wild West.

Holliday followed Earp from Texas to Dodge City, Kansas, and eventually to Tombstone, Arizona, where they burnished their infamous reputations at a street fight near the O.K. Corral in 1881. Thirty shots were fired in a 30-second shootout that left three “cowboys” dead.

While Holliday supposedly killed scores of people during his short lifetime, most of the accounts cannot be verified.

Hoping its hot springs would improve his health, he moved to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, in May 1887, but he died of tuberculosis six months later at age 36. On his deathbed, Holliday took a shot of whiskey, looked down at his bare feet and said, “That’s funny” because he always thought he would die with his boots on.

The Gravesite

While there’s no dispute about Holliday’s death, his final resting place is open to debate.

Apparently, he originally was buried in Linwood Cemetery in Glenwood Springs, but the interment could have been temporary because an early winter made it hard to reach his assigned plot. Instead, he was buried elsewhere on the grounds. There is a fenced-in “grave” in the cemetery, along with a headstone, and a marker reads, “This memorial dedicated to Doc Holliday who is buried someplace in this cemetery.”

His hometown claims that Holliday and his father are buried side by side in unmarked graves in Griffin’s Oak Hill Cemetery. The conjecture goes that, since Holliday was the only son of a prominent Southern family, his relatives quickly and quietly made arrangements to bring his body back to Georgia. Because of his reputation and growing fame as a Wild West folk hero, his family left his grave unmarked so it would not be disturbed.

A marked grave of his father also has never been located even though he was a wealthy landowner and one-time mayor of Valdosta. Headstones for the rest of the family can be found, lending credence to the theory that Doc and his dad are spending eternity together in anonymity.

There is a historical marker of twin graves at Oak Hill at burial plot 11, but it, too, is clouded in uncertainty by posing the unanswerable question – “Doc” Holliday Final Resting Place?

If You Go:
What: Doc Holliday Festival and BBQ Competition

When: 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. Saturday, September 9

Where: Griffin City Park

How Much: Free admission

More Info: dochollidayfest.com

Murmur — R.E.M

Listen To This

As the brutal sun tips its sweat-drenched hat to another Southern summer, autumn’s oak and acorn aromas are brewing an olfactory overload of new sensations.

Music has a way of stirring sensory seasonal recollections, and 40 years ago, R.E.M., a fledgling band from Athens broke the mold, defined a genre and broadcasted a new sensation in popular music with its album, Murmur.

According to lore, R.E.M. was born with a fateful encounter at the local record store along with recruiting mutual UGA friends and acquaintances from distant hometowns to fuel the void of college boredom. After playing a gig for a friend’s birthday party, the rest is rock ’n’ roll history.

R.E.M.’s official full-length debut, Murmur, is still considered one the greatest records of all time with its obscure jangle-pop Americana vibe and non-conventional approach to mixing.

Stemming from a rebellious departure from the late ’70s mainstream, it defied the odds and trenched an underground genre of music coined “college rock,” which years later became “alternative rock.”

Their mashup of influences ranged from The Velvet Underground and Pattie Smith to Hank Williams Sr. and The Banana Splits.

Every track on Murmur has a distinct flavor that connects a warmly familiar vibe to time, place, season and sensory memory. As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of this iconic album, it’s still the perfect soundtrack for autumn’s holler.

Chris Rucker

Taking the Stage

LIFE + STYLE

Broadway in Columbia County is back for its third season, and this year theater lovers can expect new twists on familiar stories.

“The lineup is similar in some ways to the lineup we had last year, and last year’s season performed very well,” says Josh Small, the PAC general manager. “We’re really excited about the upcoming Broadway season.”

The season opens with the hit musical comedy, Mean Girls, on Thursday, November 30. Based on the 2004 movie, Mean Girls follows the story of Cady Heron, a home-schooled teenager who grew up on the African savannah and now must learn how to navigate a new jungle – a suburban Illinois high school full of social cliques and teenage drama – after she moves back to America.

Although it follows the original storyline, the show features updated dialog, a catchy musical theater score and energetic dance numbers.

“Mean Girls is a newer show,” says Small. “It will appeal to a broad audience and to a younger audience as well.”

On Wednesday, January 24, STOMP will take the stage. “Everybody knows STOMP. It’s been around for a long time,” Small says.

In this popular performance, the eight-member troupe uses matchboxes, wooden poles, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters, hubcaps – everything but conventional percussion instruments – to create show-stopping rhythms.

However, with updated, restructured sections and two new full-scale routines that employ props like tractor tire inner tubes and paint cans, the performers bring additional surprises as well.

On Tuesday, February 20 audience members will be transported back to the aftermath of September 11, 2001 in Come From Away.

This musical tells the remarkable true story of the travelers who were stranded in Gander, located on the Canadian island of Newfoundland, after their flights were grounded.

The 7,000 passengers and flight crew members from around the world, along with a number of cats and dogs, nearly doubled the population of the small town, but the local residents sprang into action to aid the people in need.

Although cultures clashed and nerves ran high, unease turned into trust and gratitude grew into lasting friendships. Irene Sankoff and David Hein interviewed residents, passengers and crew members to write the show.

“Come From Away is not as well-known as the other shows, but it’s a great story,” says Small. “It won several 2017 Tony awards.”

The season closes with To Kill a Mockingbird on Tuesday, April 30 and Wednesday, May 1. “To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic,” Small says. “We’ll have two shows to make it available to more people.”

While the show is based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1960 novel, this Aaron Sorkin adaptation is no carbon copy of the book or the 1962 movie starring Oscar winner Gregory Peck.

Set in a small Alabama town in 1934, To Kill a Mockingbird tells the story of attorney Atticus Finch as he defends an innocent black man, Tom Robinson, who was accused of raping a white woman.

The play, which is seen through the eyes of Finch’s young daughter Scout, is true to the original tale. In this version, however, Robinson and the story’s other black character, the Finch family housekeeper Calpurnia, have a larger presence and a more contemporary voice.

“Our first two seasons have been very successful, and we want to keep that going,” Small says.

All of the shows begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia County Performing Arts Center. For more information, visit thecenterofcc.com.

Top Place to Live

Buzz

Once again, Columbia County has been recognized as a top place to live.

Stacker, which produces data analysis from authoritative sources and subject matter experts, recently compiled a list of the 25 best counties to live in Georgia using rankings from Niche, and Columbia County ranked seventh.

Niche ranks counties by a variety of factors including public schools, educational attainment, cost of living and housing.

According to the list, Columbia County has a median home value of $203,400 (of which 80% are owned) and a median household income of $82,339.

The Wager by David Grann

Literary Loop

From bestselling author David Grann comes a grand tale of shipwreck, survival and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth.

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were 30 emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of HMS the Wager, which had wrecked off the coast of Patagonia.

The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than 100 days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The 30 sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes at all.

As accusations of treachery and murder flew, a court martial was convened to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death, for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

“A tour de force of narrative nonfiction,” says the Wall Street Journal.

“A brisk, absorbing history and a no-brainer for fans of the author’s suspenseful historical thrillers,” says Kirkus.

Walk Around the Moon — Dave Matthews

Listen To This

As the final act of summer’s seasonal sweat soiree begins, the air is thick with the revving engines of returning routine and grind. Smells of new backpacks start filling the air, and the soundtrack of life transitions from beach mix-tapes into backyard sultry sounds.

The latest release by the Dave Matthews Band, Walk Around the Moon, is the perfect mist pump of evening tunes to drip us into August. With signature layers of mellow grooves and punchy hooks, the album is steeped in a classic DMB vibe with some welcomed departures of sound and attitude.

For diehard fans, this album will fly perfectly under the radar of commercial fanfare into a cult classic. For those discovering DMB for the first time, it’s a glimpse of what it felt like in the early ’90s to stumble onto Matthews’ genius ensemble of riffs, picks, brass and poetry.

There are many highlights, but the chords of pure awesome can be plucked from the weightless bounce of “Monsters” and soul-fire of “After Everything” to the neck-popping groove of “The Only Thing” and raw funk of the album’s title track.

Dave Matthews has a knack for connecting galactic-sized arrangements with raw, relatable charm, all launched in a capsule of atmospheric awesome. Take a walk around the moon, shall you?

– Chris Rucker

Inaugural Paddle Race

Sports

Whether you are a serious water warrior or a laid-back recreational paddler, bring your thirst for fun to the inaugural Serene 18 Paddle Race on Saturday, August 26.

While called a race, it’s really all about community camaraderie, enjoying nature and raising finds to benefit the animals of Stallings Island.

The race will begin at Betty’s Branch at Riverside Park, and the route will follow the six-mile loop around Germany Island. It will be the first in a series of Serene 18 Paddle Races.

The event also will include lunch, prizes and a meet-and-greet with intrepid “oar-acles,” Redford and Benny, aka the master guides of the Serene 18 Paddle Trail.

For more information, check out visitcolumbiacountyga.com or the Serene 18 Facebook page.

Get the Bug

Buzz

Every little bit counts in the effort to document pollinator populations.The Great Georgia Pollinator Census, launched in 2019 to invite Georgians to document pollinator populations statewide for two days in August, has a new name.

Now called the Great Southeast Pollinator Census, the endeavor will document the numbers and types of pollinators in three states in an effort to expand its outreach and generate more data for researchers.

South Carolina joined the census in 2022 when participants uploaded counts from 17 counties, and North Carolina also will take part in the effort this year.

This year’s pollinator count is scheduled for August 18 and 19. Counting events are held by UGA Cooperative Extension agents, master gardener groups, schools, youth groups and project partners such as Phinizy Swamp Nature Park.

Individuals also can count at home with their families or at work with their co-workers.

The annual project encourages residents to create sustainable pollinator habitats and to learn about the many types of pollinators.

In addition, schools have used the initiative to teach science, technology, engineering and math, and the no-cost STEM program offers resources to educators to make the project easy for classroom use.

For more information about the census, visit ggapc.org or phinizycenter.org.

Building by Mark Ellison

Literary Loop

In Building: A Carpenter’s Notes on Life & the Art of Good Work, visionary carpenter Mark Ellison shares indelible stories on building a life worth living, revealing powerful lessons about work, creativity and design through his experience constructing some of New York’s most iconic spaces.

For more than 40 years, Ellison has worked in beautiful homes, specializing in rarefied, lavish and challenging projects — a Park Avenue apartment renovation; the makeover of a Central Park West aerie; a deluxe beaux-arts town house by the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and a penthouse that Interior Design magazine designated “Apartment of the Decade” of the 2010s.

Some of his building projects have included the homes of David Bowie, Robin Williams and others whose names he cannot reveal.

Now, in this book reminiscent of Robert M. Pirsig’s classic metaphysical contemplation Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Ellison shares his own story of an unconventional education, and how fulfillment can be found in doing something well for decades.

Blending Ellison’s musings on work and creativity with immersive storytelling and original sketches, photos and illustrations, Building is a meditation on crafting a life worth living, and a delightful philosophical inquiry beyond the facades that we all live behind.

New AU Sports Training Center

Sports

A gift from Harlem business owner Alvin Harris and his wife, Yvette, will pave the way for a new sports training center for student-athletes at Augusta University.

The Alvin and Yvette Harris Performance Center will be constructed in the upper mezzanine on the south side of Christenberry Fieldhouse.

It will replace the current weight room and other training areas the university has outgrown and serve as a hub for all student-athletes – basketball, volleyball, softball, baseball, golf, track and field, cross country, tennis and cheer.

From Keyboarding to Coding

Buzz

Columbia County schools are collaborating with community members to .
Children learn computer and technology skills at younger and younger ages, and in the upcoming 2023-24 academic year, the Columbia County School District will introduce a cyber education initiative called NexGen to kindergartners through 12th graders.

The Greenbrier cluster of schools, which includes Parkway and Greenbrier elementary schools, Greenbrier Middle School and Greenbrier High School, will implement the standards in a pilot program, and the curriculum will be offered in all county schools beginning in the 2024-25 school year.

Faculty members who teach core classes in English and language arts, math, science and social studies will provide the instruction.

“If it’s happening in the core classes, then we know that all students are getting the content,” says Kellye Bosch, associate superintendent for the division of curriculum assessment and instruction.

While elementary school students will learn keyboard skills and basic computer terminology, middle and high school students will receive instruction in more sophisticated coding and script writing skills.

“There are natural ways to embed concepts into what the children are already learning,” Bosch says. “Each nine weeks, at least two activities or lessons in two grades and two subject areas will be incorporated. By the end of the year, the pilot teams and schools should be well-versed in any standards.”

The NexGen framework includes six key areas: collaborative learning, computing/systems security, digital citizenship, critical consumers, innovative problem solving and computational thinking.

“We want to ensure that all students understand how the cyber world impacts them daily and to teach them skills they need to be successful in this world,” says Bosch. “We’re exposing them to concepts and knowledge and teaching them how to apply it to be contributing members of society.”

The program was launched after Steven Flynt, superintendent of schools, followed up with Major General Paul Stanton, commanding general of the Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon, about an article he wrote regarding the need to offer cyber education to students before they were ready to enter the workforce.

A task force made up of personnel from the school district, Fort Gordon, the Cyber Center and National Security Agency, along with other community members, started developing the curriculum in August 2022.

“This has been a great example of how you can do great things when people come together,” says Bosch. “There is a commitment to leverage partnerships between the school district and external partners in our community, and everybody is working together for the betterment of all.”

Take a Hike

Sports

Outdoor fun is afoot on a collection of Columbia County trails.

Columbia County has always been a great place to enjoy outdoor recreation, but now it’s even better with the launch of the Bombasin Land Trail.

The Bombasin is a collection of eight land trails on the sub-basins of the Savannah River, and the scenic routes are ideal for biking, hiking, walking or running. They include:

Bartram Trail
Level: All
Length: 22.5 miles
Activities: Backpacking, hiking, mountain biking, running, walking, camping

Lake Springs Loop
Level: Beginner
Length: 3 miles
Activities: Camping, hiking, fishing, mountain biking, running, walking

Keg Creek Loop
Level: Advanced
Length: 9 miles
Activities: Hiking, mountain biking, running, walking

Rock Dam Trail
Level: Advanced
Length: 6.25 miles
Activities: Hiking, mountain biking, running, walking

Blanchard Woods Cross Country Trail
Level: All
Length: 2.8 miles
Activities: Biking, hiking, mountain biking, running, walking

Augusta Canal Tow Path
Level: All
Length: 7.85 miles
Activities: Biking, fishing, mountain biking, walking

Euchee Creek Greenway
Level: All
Length: 8 miles
Activities: Biking, hiking, running, walking

Evans To Locks Multi-Use Trail
Level: All
Length: 6 miles
Activities: Biking, walking, wheelchair accessible

Like the Serene18 Paddle Trail, this land trail system, which offers views ranging from scenic forests to urban landscapes, was developed to attract visitors to Columbia County. Of course, the trails are great for residents, too, whether they’re looking for solitude or family time.

For more information or a free guide, visit BombasinTrail.com.