Peter Clenott

Thomas County and its county seat of Thomasville share a history that is surprising and unique and punctuated with ironies large and small. Deep in rural southwest Georgia and only fifty miles from the Gulf of Mexico, Thomasville seems almost typical--an attractive southern town with a dignified, well-designed courthouse. Trains pull slowly past the pleasant, brick-paved streets of a nineteenth-century downtown, and tree-shaded neighborhoods gradually give way to a rolling, red-hill countryside of pine forests broken here and there by well-tended fields of cotton, peanuts, and soybeans. Look a bit closer, however, and one will discover a truly remarkable place--a stunning visual landscape, both natural and man-made, historically populated by a cast of clever and industrious local citizens symbiotically collaborating with wealthy and influential northerners who came south for a visit and stayed for generations. Thomasville and Thomas County have flourished by successfully adapting to whatever challenges lay before them. Through the efforts of the Thomas County Historical Society and Thomasville Landmarks, Thomasville has become recognized as a leader in state and national preservation efforts. Successes are evidenced not only by signature standards such as the architecturally significant Lapham-Patterson House but also by increasing affordable and attractive housing in lowerprofile neighborhood renovations. Thomasville: Unique History, Elegant Homes, and Southern Hospitality is a testament to the collective hard work and determination of a great southern city's will to survive and flourish for generations.