Explore America and discover people, places, art, and history that connect to Georgia in the Smithsonian’s collections, held in trust for the American people. The Peach State is the birthplace of Coca-Cola and the cotton gin, as well as writers Alice Walker, Flannery O'Connor, and Margaret Mitchell. Juliette Gordon Low founded Girl Scouts of the USA in Savannah. Bobby Jones co-founded the Masters Tournament, a professional golf championship held annually at the Augusta National Golf Club. The state has also produced one President and one recent Supreme Court justice: Jimmy Carter and Clarence Thomas.
The capital city of Atlanta is home to the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame, where soul music pioneers Ray Charles and Otis Redding are memorialized. Fellow musicians Little Richard and Gladys Knight & the Pips, as well as blues singer Blind Willie McTell, are honored in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon. One of the first alternative rock bands, R.E.M., was founded in Athens.
Atlanta is home to the High Museum of Art and the Georgia Aquarium—the largest in the country. Centennial Olympic Park commemorates the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, which took place in the city. The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park preserves the civil rights leader’s childhood home and legacy.