Locals will tell you that Midway is named because it’s equidistant from the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers on Oglethorpe’s old “river road,” which it certainly is. But others say the small but very historic town is actually named after the Medway River in England.

In any case, we know that in seeking to pacify the local Creek tribe, the Council of Georgia in 1752 granted a group of Massachusetts Puritans then residing in Dorchester, S.C., a 32,000-acre land grant as incentive to move south. After moving into Georgia and establishing New Dorchester, they soon founded a nearby settlement that would later take on the modern spelling of Midway.

Midway’s citizens were very aggressive early on in the cause for American independence. That’s the very reason the area’s three original parishes were combined and named Liberty County in 1777—the only Georgia county named for a concept rather than a person.

Two of Georgia’s three signers of the Declaration of Independence, Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett, resided primarily in Midway and both attended the historic Midway Church. But a key part of Liberty County history is no more: the once-thriving seaport of Sunbury, which formerly challenged Savannah for economic supremacy in the region but is now nonexistent.

Tourism in this area has been made much more user-friendly by the liberal addition of signage for the “Liberty Trail,” a collection of key attractions. When in doubt follow the signs.

Getting to Liberty County

The main highways in Midway are I-95, U.S. 17, and U.S. 84 (also called “Oglethorpe Highway,” which becomes GA 38 or “Islands Highway” east of I-95).