Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

October 27

1828 Benjamin Parks and a friend were returning from Cherokee lands west of the Chestatee River, where they had found a source of salt for their cattle. By accident, Parks kicked a stone as he was walking through the woods in what was then Hall County (but in four years would become part of newly created Lumpkin County). The stone's color caught Parks' attention, and he bent down to examine what would prove to be gold. Historical records identify five other people who discovered gold near the present site of Dahlonega, Ga. -- but these records do not document the date of those finds. In any event, Parks' is most commonly attributed as the discovery that led to the nation's first gold rush, which according to Parks was underway before the end of the year.

Not generally known is that the 1828 discovery of gold in Georgia was not the first time gold was found and commercially mined in America. In 1799, a farmer's son found a large 17-pound gold nugget in a creek in Cabarrus County, N.C. It was three years before the farmer found that it was actually gold. Other farmers also found gold -- and by 1804 some commercial mining was underway. But, word of the discovery of gold in North Carolina never spread, so Georgia is credited with the nation's first gold rush.

1862 Educator and author Lawton B. Evans was born in Lumpkin, Georgia. After experiencing the wandering life of his father, a Methodist minister, Evans settled in Augusta, Georgia for the remainder of his life after graduating from college. He graduated from Emory College in 1880, completing his studies in only three years. He was valedictorian of his class, despite also being the youngest at age seventeen. After completing a master's degree at the University of Georgia in only one year, Evans began teaching eighth grade in Augusta. In November 1882, he was elected Richmond County school superintendent, a position he held until his death on April 6, 1934. During his tenure all Richmond County schools were consolidated into a single system, and by 1920 all public schools in the county had kindergartens, plus nine centers for training kindergarten teachers.

Evans' abilities as an educational leader were recognized statewide, and he was appointed to a commission charged with developing a normal school curriculum for teachers. The result of this commission was the opening of the State Normal School in Athens in 1892. Evans was offered its presidency, but he declined in order to stay in Augusta. Besides being an active educator, Evans was a prolific author who wrote, among many other works, a series of books for young people and textbooks on Georgia history which were used by both grade schools and high schools until 1938.

1960 After his imprisonment had quickly become an issue in the 1960 presidential campaign, Martin Luther King Jr. was released from Georgia State Prison after a $2,000 bond was paid in his behalf. Although sentencing judge Oscar Mitchell said that King's release was mandatory under state law, many Georgia blacks believed that John and Robert Kennedy had been instrumental in behind-the-scenes maneuvering

1963 Marla Maples was born in Dalton, Georgia. In December 1993, the model and occasional actress would gain national fame when she married multi-millionaire Donald Trump.

1973 Gladys Knight and the Pips' "Midnight Train to Georgia" reached number one on the popular music charts.

1976 Jimmy Carter received a warm welcome from thousand of New Yorkers at a campaign parade and rally. Speaking to the crowd Carter told them that their presence was a vote of confidence in the future of America "The strength of our country lies in us. If we are unified we can do anything. . . ." With its 41 electoral votes, New York was still considered too close to call for the upcoming presidential election.

1981 Former Ga. Congressman and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young was elected mayor of Atlanta. Reelected in 1985, he would hold the office of mayor through 1989.

1991 In the seventh and final game of the World Series, the Minnesota Twins beat John Smoltz and the Atlanta Braves 1-0 in the tenth inning.

1999 Trailing 0-3, the Atlanta Braves entered the fourth game of the 1999 World Series in a do-or-die situation against the New York Yankees. No team in the history of the World Series had battled back to win the series after trailing 0-3. Moreover, the game was being played at the Yankees' home stadium. In a series billed to decide the "team of the decade," the Braves fell to the Yankees 4-1. For the second World Series in a row, the Yankees won 4-0. The win also gave the Yankees their second World Series victory against the Braves in the 1990s. [Click here for a summary of the game.]

2006 At 7:30 am, workers produced their last Taurus at the Ford assembly plant in Hapeville. After 60 years of assembling cars and trucks, the facility closed its doors as part of a cost-saving move by Ford Motor Co.

Georgia cities and towns first incorporated on acts approved on Oct. 27:

1870 Colquitt (Miller County) and Eastman (then Pulaski now Dodge County)

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1742 Of the many problems facing the early Georgia colony, one was a group of people who opposed the Trustees' restrictions, taking aim in their anger at the colonial officials representing the Trustees. William Stephens, the Trustees' secretary, wrote of this group of "Malcontents" and their failure to sway the Trustees:

"This day about Noon arrived Capt. Avery who was very welcome, Informing us of Many things, in a particular manner, relating to the Proceedings in Parliament, and the happy Event it produced, in Vindicating the Trusts Honour against the vile attempt of those, whose Impotent Malice thought to stain it. . . ."

Source: E. Merton Coulter (ed.), The Journal of William Stephens, 1741-1743 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1959), pp. 130-131.

1862 In Columbus, Ga., planter and former lawyer John Banks wrote of the progress of the Civil War in his journal:

"This is my 65th anniversary day. Am old and paralysed so much that I get about slowly with the aid of a stick. My general health is good.

"The war still progressing. The Abolitionists making great preparations to crush us this winter along the coast and rivers. Willis [one of seven sons who would fight for the Confederacy] was taken by the Abolitionists while sick at Glasgow, Ky., paroled and now at home. Elbert [another son] has gotten back to Knoxville, after going through Kentucky in Bragg's army. Having accomplished but little."

Source: John Banks, Autobiography of John Banks, 1797 - 1870 (Austell, Ga.: privately printed by Elberta Leonard, 1936), p. 26.

1864 From his plantation near Rockbridge, Thomas Maguire wrote of his first experience with foraging Union troops:

". . . At 10 1/2 o'clock some 30 Yankees rode up. Took Phillips's wagon and two horses, all our meal and flour, one keg of syrup and several articles from the house that I do not know of, one bu. grain, the last we had. They stayed some 15 or 20 minutes and put back over the [Yellow] river. They also took John E's saddlebags and a large tin cup."

Source: Franklin M. Garrett, Atlanta and Its Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1969 reprint of original 1954 volume), p. 648.