ATHENS, GEORGIA. Chosen in 1801 to be the home of the University of Georgia primarily because of its distance from the loose women and alcohol of the big cities, Athens is now a city in own right, and a fun one at that. Rolling Stone magazine’s pick for best college music scene in the nation, Athens bred bands R.E.M. and the B-52s and continues to draw busy college students downtown on Saturday nights. Athens’s downtown is thriving, and filled with eclectic restaurants like The Grit, East West Bistro, and the Demosthenians’s favorite, Little Italy.
Besides being an exciting college town, Athens is known as the Classic City. Indeed, Athens’s rich history and culture can be seen all around, from the antebellum architecture and the double-barreled cannon that graces the lawn of City Hall, to the Georgia Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History. The beautiful 313 acre State Botanical Garden is in Athens, as is “The Tree That Owns Itself,” an oak that was willed its own ownership and the eight feet of land surrounding its trunk. Much of Athens’s claims to fame come from the University of Georgia; every year the prestigious Peabody Award for journalistic excellence is given out on the university’s behalf. And of course, Athens would not be the same without the flood of red and black jerseys that migrate here every fall to watch the Bulldogs destroy their opponents.
No description of Athens is complete without mentioning the University of Georgia. Founded in 1801, UGA is the oldest state-chartered university in the nation.

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