ON THE WEBwww.georgiaushighway27.com
A West Georgia tourism group wants everyone to know that U.S. Highway 27 is more than just a ribbon of asphalt running from the Florida line to Rossville - it's the "Scenic Hometown Highway."
Members of the U.S. 27 Association have settled on a name and now are working on branding the highway in hopes of drawing in more tourists.
"It was important to link the 18 counties together - we needed that brand," said Virgil Sperry, a Walker County resident who is chairman of the association.
Sperry said the name is meant to reflect the natural beauty of the corridor - which passes over rivers, around lakes and through mountains - and the quaint towns it connects.
"When you stop and think about it, most of the towns along 27 are more what we think of as hometowns rather than cities," he said.
The notable exception is Columbus, a city of 190,000, where Peter Bowden is president of the convention and visitors bureau.
He said he loves traveling highways like U.S. 27 rather than on interstates because of the diverse mom-and-pop restaurants rather than the "cookie-cutter" chains.
"Everybody has a different way of cooking fried chicken or meatloaf or potato salad," Bowden said. "That's going to be different everywhere you go. That's what we're selling, is the unique experiences you get."
Sperry credited Bowden with the idea for the name.
Bowden said it's a fitting moniker because of the towns, but also the scenery. He said he recently drove part of the highway near the Florida border and remembered seeing the giant oaks, Spanish moss and lakes.
Sperry credited state Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, for getting a resolution passed in the Legislature naming the highway, which he said will help when it comes time to post signs marking the route.
The entire length of the highway in Georgia already is known as Martha Berry Highway, honoring the founder of Berry College in Rome. Sperry said the new designation would not replace that name.
"We made it very clear that Martha Berry was here long before we were," he said.