BLVD loves keeping up with Athens’ ever shifting trends, its latest digs and the people that rock them. But on a broader scale, BLVD just loves Athens. It is home to all of us, whether Athens is simply a transitory stop along the way or a final place to start a family. But, for all the love we have for this city, for these streets we walk, bike and drive, there is still so much mystery. Though impossible to compile every Athens oddity, we’ve highlighted a few fun facts of Milledge Avenue.

The Richest Tree in Town

We Athenians love our trees. They’ve kept walks shady in summer and red leaved on fall game days for over a century. But, one particular Athenian, William H. Jackson, loved a particular oak tree’s shade so much that, at his death in 1890, he deeded the surrounding land to the tree. Though the 400 year old giant finally toppled in a storm in 1942, one of its acorns was replanted to continue its legacy. This beloved tree can be found today on the corner of Finley Street, known as the “Tree That Owns Itself.”

Thomas-Carithers House

Currently home to the University of Georgia’s Alpha Gamma Delta sorority, this 1896 house is said to be haunted by the lovelorn ghost of Susie Thomas, who hung herself in an upstairs bedroom after her runaway fiancé backed out at the altar. Rumor has it, ladies, that whoever lives in her room is sure to be engaged before graduating UGA. Thought you were here for an MBA degree, girls? More like a “Mrs.”

Hamilton-Phinizy-Segrest House

Built by Georgia’s first millionaire, Thomas Hamilton, the Hamilton-Phinzy-Segrest House, now home to Phi Mu sorority, displays some of the finest ironwork on Milledge Avenue. It’s an interesting mix of Greek, Italian and a little bit of low country New Orleans flair. Rumored to have had the first bath tub in Athens, this house sits proud near the corner of Milledge and Broad streets.

T.R.R. Cobb House

Given in 1844 as a wedding gift from Joseph Henry Lumpkin to his daughter Marion and T.R.R. Cobb, the Cobb House has been home to many. Serving as home to the Cobb’s, then as a fraternity house and later a boarding home, this 1830′s “Plantation Plain” has seen its share of Georgia. When threatened with demolition, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association stepped forward in 1984 and moved the house to Stone Mountain Park, where it sat on cinder blocks for nearly 20 years. “Plantation Even-Plainer,” anyone?

Perhaps that is what keeps our romance with Athens fresh- a bit of new mystery combined with a long running past.

Related posts:

1. Haunted Athens