Proudly known as the real Buckhead, this quiet lakeside town offers a relaxing contrast to Atlanta’s more famous Buckhead neighborhood.
Incorporated in 1908 as a railroad stop between Atlanta and Augusta, a visit to Buckhead today reveals a downtown suspended in time, with historic buildings offering a snapshot into the past.
Beyond the preserved architecture lies the sparkling shores of Lake Oconee. Enjoy long summer days on the water by setting sail from one of Buckhead’s two marinas and reeling in a big one with an expert fishing guide.
Art enthusiasts will find a hidden gem in the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art. Dedicated to the works of German-born artist, Steffen Thomas, it stands out as one of less than twenty “single artist” museums in the United States. Often playing host to temporary exhibitions featuring world-class artists and competitions, visitors can also admire the museum’s permanent collection of over 800 works including sculptures, mosaics, paintings and works on paper.
History of the Land
Long before Buckhead became a town, this land along the Oconee and Apalachee Rivers was home to Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Beneath the waters of present-day Lake Oconee lies the Joe Bell site (9Mg28), one of the most significant archaeological sites in the region. Archaeological evidence shows the area was inhabited as early as 8,000 BCE, during the Early Archaic period, when small indigenous groups established camps and relied on abundant wildlife and natural resources, including white-tailed deer, turkey, and freshwater mollusks.
The site continued to be occupied periodically for millennia. Between the 14th century and 1500 CE, the area supported a small village during the Lamar period, with communities closely connected to the Oconee River. Nearby at the Sweetgum site, located close to present-day Buckhead, offers further insight into Indigenous life during the late Mississippian period. Dating from 1520 to 1580 CE, the site reveals a Lamar-period farmstead likely associated with the Ocute Chiefdom. Ceramic analysis confirms long-term occupation and highlights the importance of the Oconee River valley as part of a broader prehistoric Oconee province, where Indigenous groups moved seasonally through a landscape rich in resources.
The most extensive documented occupation occurred from 1600 to 1675 CE, during the Bell phase of the Lamar period. While society became less complex in the following centuries — likely due to the impacts of European disease and colonization — archaeological findings show continued adaptation, including the presence of European trade goods such as glass beads and peach pits. These communities maintained a diverse, year-round diet drawn from hunting, gathering, and river resources.
By the late 18th century, the land remained part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s homeland. Prior to 1805, white settlers from neighboring Greene County began surveying and occupying the area without legal authority. Local memory shares that Booth Fitzpatrick trespassed onto these Muscogee (Creek) hunting lands across the Apalachee River from Greene County to explore. Finding the land fertile and abundant with game, he along with several men camped at a spring and a branch, shot a huge buck and hung the head on a tree branch. He called the branch “Doe Branch” and the spring “Buckhead,” leading to the city’s current name. Booth shared the news that quickly led to white settlement of the land including by his brothers Rene and Benjamin Fitzpatrick.
Early accounts suggest that around 1796, the Muscogee (Creek) people tolerated this unauthorized presence for a time, before treaties and state actions later transferred the land. Georgia’s land lottery in 1805, the first of its kind in the United States to redistribute land, which in this case was gained from the Yazoo and Pine Barren Land Frauds as well as land cessions from the Muscogee (Creek) Nations, ultimately redistributed Muscogee (Creek) land to white settlers, formalizing earlier settlements and reshaping the region.
A notable settlement was that of Benjamin Fitzpatrick, born in 1748 in Goochland, VA. Benjamin served as a private in the American Revolution, following his brothers to settle here in the late 1700s and in the 1805 land lottery won a fraction of a lot in current-day Morgan County, located along the border of Greene County. He now lies in a private family cemetery in Buckhead, GA.
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Proudly known as the real Buckhead, this quiet lakeside town offers a relaxing contrast to Atlanta’s more famous Buckhead neighborhood.
Founded in 1908 as a railroad stop between Atlanta and Augusta, a visit to Buckhead today reveals a downtown suspended in time, with historic buildings offering a snapshot into the past.
Beyond the preserved architecture lies the sparkling shores of Lake Oconee. Enjoy long summer days on the water by setting sail from one of Buckhead’s two marinas and reeling in a big one with an expert fishing guide.
Art enthusiasts will find a hidden gem in the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art. Dedicated to the works of German-born artist, Steffen Thomas, it stands out as one of less than twenty “single artist” museums in the United States. Often playing host to temporary exhibitions featuring world-class artists and competitions, visitors can also admire the museum’s permanent collection of over 800 works including sculptures, mosaics, paintings and works on paper.
History of the Land
Long before Buckhead became a town, this land along the Oconee and Apalachee Rivers was home to Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Beneath the waters of present-day Lake Oconee lies the Joe Bell site (9Mg28), one of the most significant archaeological sites in the region. Archaeological evidence shows the area was inhabited as early as 8,000 BCE, during the Early Archaic period, when small indigenous groups established camps and relied on abundant wildlife and natural resources, including white-tailed deer, turkey, and freshwater mollusks.
The site continued to be occupied periodically for millennia. Between the 14th century and 1500 CE, the area supported a small village during the Lamar period, with communities closely connected to the Oconee River. Nearby at the Sweetgum site, located close to present-day Buckhead, offers further insight into Indigenous life during the late Mississippian period. Dating from 1520 to 1580 CE, the site reveals a Lamar-period farmstead likely associated with the Ocute Chiefdom. Ceramic analysis confirms long-term occupation and highlights the importance of the Oconee River valley as part of a broader prehistoric Oconee province, where Indigenous groups moved seasonally through a landscape rich in resources.
The most extensive documented occupation occurred from 1600 to 1675 CE, during the Bell phase of the Lamar period. While society became less complex in the following centuries — likely due to the impacts of European disease and colonization — archaeological findings show continued adaptation, including the presence of European trade goods such as glass beads and peach pits. These communities maintained a diverse, year-round diet drawn from hunting, gathering, and river resources.
By the late 18th century, the land remained part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s homeland. Prior to 1805, white settlers from neighboring Greene County began surveying and occupying the area without legal authority. Local memory shares that Booth Fitzpatrick trespassed onto these Muscogee (Creek) hunting lands across the Apalachee River from Greene County to explore. Finding the land fertile and abundant with game, he along with several men camped at a spring and a branch, shot a huge buck and hung the head on a tree branch. He called the branch “Doe Branch” and the spring “Buckhead,” leading to the city’s current name. Booth shared the news that quickly led to white settlement of the land including by his brothers Rene and Benjamin Fitzpatrick.
Early accounts suggest that around 1796, the Muscogee (Creek) people tolerated this unauthorized presence for a time, before treaties and state actions later transferred the land. Georgia’s land lottery in 1805, the first of its kind in the United States to redistribute land, which in this case was gained from the Yazoo and Pine Barren Land Frauds as well as land cessions from the Muscogee (Creek) Nations, ultimately redistributed Muscogee (Creek) land to white settlers, formalizing earlier settlements and reshaping the region.
A notable settlement was that of Benjamin Fitzpatrick, born in 1748 in Goochland, VA. Benjamin served as a private in the American Revolution, following his brothers to settle here in the late 1700s and in the 1805 land lottery won a fraction of a lot in current-day Morgan County, located along the border of Greene County. He now lies in a private family cemetery in Buckhead, GA.
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