Sylvania is a city in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Screven County,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, United States. The population was 2,634 in 2020.

History

The area was inhabited for thousands of years by various cultures of

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

. By the time of European encounter, it was occupied by the

Yuchi The Yuchi people are a Native American tribe based in Oklahoma, though their original homeland was in the southeastern United States. In the 16th century, the Yuchi lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley. By the late 17th century, they had ...

peoples, but some Creeks, the Uchee's allies, moved into the area during Colonial times. The town of Sylvania was founded in 1790 by settlers migrating to the area after the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. The word "Sylvania" comes from the Latin word ''

sylvan Sylvan or Sylvans (from the Latin ''silva'': "forest, woods") can have one of the following meanings: A countryside scene The term "A Sylvan Scene" is used to describe a beautiful and idealised scene in the countryside. Historical reference: J ...

'' or '' sylva '' which means "forest land" or "place in the woods." Sylvania was part of the Black Belt of Georgia, developed for cultivation after the invention of the

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

made it easier to handle short-fiber cotton. Cotton was the most important commodity crop until late in the 19th century. Planters imported many enslaved African Americans to cultivate the crops. By 1830, the county was filled with people. The county seat was moved from Jacksonborough to Sylvania in 1847. As part of the projects of the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

, federally commissioned murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the

Section of Painting and Sculpture Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section s ...

, later called the

Section of Fine Arts Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

, of the Treasury Department. In 1941,

Caroline Speare Rohland Caroline Speare Rohland (April 15, 1885 – June 12, 1964) was an American artist and muralist who created three post office murals, as part of the art projects for the New Deal's Section of Painting and Sculpture. In addition to the three mural ...

painted a mural for the post office of Sylvania. The scene depicted was of a farming family and their African American farm hand. In the 1980s, complaints from the local

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

chapter resulted in the removal of the mural. It was found in a closet of the post office in 1995 and restored. The mural is now on permanent loan from the federal government and is held by

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (informally known as Southern or Georgia Southern) is a public university, public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The largest campus is in Statesboro, Georgia, Statesboro, with ...

in Statesboro.

Sherman Sherman most commonly refers to: *Sherman (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname ** William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891), American Civil War General *M4 Sherman, a World War II American tank S ...

's army moved through the area during the Civil War. Sylvania calls itself the "Azalea and Dogwood City" and the "Welcome Station City."

Geography

Sylvania is located at .

U.S. Route 301 U.S. Route 301 (US 301) is a spur of U.S. Route 1 running through the South Atlantic states. It runs from Biddles Corner, Delaware, at Delaware Route 1 to Sarasota, Florida, at U.S. Route 41. It passes through the states of Delaware, ...

and

Georgia State Route 21 State Route 21 (SR 21) is an state highway that travels southeast-to-northwest through portions of Chatham, Effingham, Screven, and Jenkins counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. The highway connects the Savann ...

are the main routes through the city. U.S. 301 runs north–south as a western bypass of the downtown area, leading northeast 29 mi (47 km) to Allendale,

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

and southwest 23 mi (37 km) to Statesboro. GA-21 runs along the western bypass of the city concurrent with U.S. 301, leading southeast 34 mi (55 km) to Springfield and west 19 mi (31 km) to Millen. Additionally,

Georgia State Route 73 State Route 73 (SR 73) is a state highway in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. It connects Glennville with the South Carolina state line, via Claxton, Statesboro, Dover, and Sylvania. Except for a brief portion in t ...

runs through the downtown area upon splitting from U.S. 301 south of downtown, but rejoins that route north of the city. The city is located roughly halfway between the major cities of

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

and Augusta. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , all land. Sylvania's elevation is 230 feet and is slightly higher than most of the land throughout Screven County. The city's flora include pine, oak, and most notably, dogwood, thus the slogan "The Dogwood City." Although

Spanish moss Spanish moss (''Tillandsia usneoides'') is an Epiphyte, epiphytic flowering plant that often grows upon large trees in tropical and subtropical climates. It is native to much of Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Central America, South America (as far ...

is not as prevalent as in nearby Savannah, it can still be seen in Sylvania and the surrounding countryside.

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,634 people, 1,092 households, and 672 families residing in the city.

Arts and culture

Annual events

Sylvania hosts an Annual Livestock Festival in April.

Education

The Screven County School District holds grades pre-school to grade 12 and consists of one elementary school, a middle school and a high school. The district has 186 full-time teachers and over 3,130 students. Dr. Jim Thompson is the superintendent.School Stats
Retrieved June 26, 2010.

Notable people

* William Lovett Anderson, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral and Navy Cross recipient * Bob Waters, American football player, coach and college administrator

References

External links

City of Sylvania Georgia
Portal style website, Government, Business, Library, Recreation and more

Comprehensive Statistical Data and more about Sylvania {{authority control Cities in Georgia (U.S. state) Cities in Screven County, Georgia County seats in Georgia (U.S. state)