NewcomersGuide_2017_SpringSummer_-web

BY REBECCA ROGERS
Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Augusta Canal Discovery Center
I WOULDN’T BLAME NEWCOMERS FOR THINKING AUGUSTA HAS A BIT
OF AN IDENTITY CRISIS. Just what, exactly, do we call ourselves around here?
Is it Augusta, Greater Augusta, Augusta-Richmond County, or, that mouthful of
dissonant consonants and vowels, the CSRA?
So here’s an explainer for both newbies and townies:
The original colonial town founded in 1736 by Englishman James
Oglethorpe. Named for a European princess who never set foot in Georgia.
In 1995 Augusta and the county of Richmond
consolidated as one government. There’s still some confusion about what to call
it, though. We’re protected by the Richmond County Sheriff, our fires are doused
by Augusta-Richmond Fire Rescue trucks, and we are governed by Augusta
Commissioners. And, just to keep it interesting, there are two little towns - Blythe
and Hephzbah- that didn’t join the party and consolidate with the rest of the
county.
An old nickname for Augusta, dating to the days when wellto-do
Northerners vacationed in town and built homes with resplendent gardens,
some of which can still be seen in the area called the Hill or Summerville.
or Central Savannah River Area: Back in 1950 the city paper threw a
contest to come up with a regional handle. And the winner was…drumroll, please…
The Central Savannah River Area, which was almost immediately reduced to the
sibilant set of syllables, the C.S.R.A. Catchy, ain’t it? Recently there’s been a push
to start using “Augusta’s River Region” instead. This hasn’t caught on, but we can
hope.
Columbia is the second largest county in the CSRA (and
gaining fast) Today it’s primarily a bedroom community where most of its residents
earn their livings in nearby Augusta (or Augusta-Richmond County, if you please),
Fort Gordon, or the Savannah River Site.
COMMUNITY
Not an official place, it’s an area generally referred to as south
of Augusta’s Gordon Highway. Recent rebranding effort underway to label it as
SOGO, as in South of Gordon.
A real place. And not in Augusta, or even in Georgia. North
Augusta, South Carolina is just across the Savannah River from downtown
Augusta, located in Aiken County. It is it’s own town, with a mayor and all of that.
But, whatever you choose to call our region, we’re glad you’ve decided to call it
home.
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