Before I-95 was completed in the 1970s, many a motorist traveling to and from Florida would use US 301 and travel through small towns such as Ludowici. If you want to see how I-95 practically "killed" Ludowici, then read this article from Georgia Public Broadcasting's "Georgia Stories".

What the producers (and Ludowici's locals) fail to mention, however, is how this southeast Georgia town was infamous as both a "speedtrap" and for its "clip joints", both used to "milk" unsuspecting tourists of their hard-earned money. When Lester Maddox was Georgia's governor, he even had the following billboard posted on US 301 to warn motorists accordingly...



Above photo from Georgia Archives, Vanishing Georgia Collection

A couple of years ago, Mary and I traveled through Ludowici on our way up US 25/84/301 rom Waycross to Savannah.




These days, Ludowici has a 4-lane highway thanks to Georgia's Governor's Road Improvement Program (GRIP) US 84 widening project, but I doubt that Ludowici will ever see the same level of benefit that their legitimate businesses enjoyed back in the day. For the sake of the honest, hardworking residents of Ludowici and Long County, I hope that their civic leaders can use the GRIP corridor as a selling point for attracting (and keeping) industry to their community. IMHO, American companies need to start looking at building and maintaining domestic factories to stimulate economic growth and for national security. Could you imagine what this nation would be like if there wasn't much industry at the time Pearl Harbor was attacked? Think about it.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading and please come back often.

 

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