PECANS AND GEORGIA: A HISTORICAL MATCH

ATLANTA - Long before Europeans arrived on these shores, native Americans were enjoying the pecans that grew wild from Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, sometimes called the Mississippi Valley.

Pecans: A Staple of the American Indian's Diet
Native Americans are believed to have pounded pecan kernels, added them to boiling water and used the mixture as a seasoning for food. During the winter months the nuts were the main staple of their diet because there was little else available. Eventually, they introduced pecans to the early settlers of Georgia, one of the original thirteen colonies, and began exchanging the nuts for tools and trinkets.

For years, the popular nuts were called "Mississippi nuts" or "Illinois nuts" until the native American name, pecans, gained widespread use. President Thomas Jefferson, a recognized horticulturist and food connoisseur, was fond of pecans and had trees imported from Louisiana for planting at Monticello. But, it was a Louisiana slave named Antoine who was the first to successfully graft and cultivate pecan trees in 1846.

An Industry Begins To Take Shape
Enterprising landowners saw the potential for profit in the domestic production of pecans. By 1871, several good-sized groves had been planted in most of the southeastern states, including Georgia.

By 1886, the Southern Cultivator reported that several individuals had successfully produced and marketed pecans on a small scale near Savannah, Ga. One man, Nelson Tift, established a 500-tree orchard in 1887, near Albany, Ga. and expanded his orchards to include 2,500 trees within two years. By 1889, there were still only 97 acres of pecans planted throughout Georgia compared with 1,000 acres in Mississippi and 2,000 acres in Louisiana.

The Golden Years of Horticulture
The years 1880 through 1900 were often considered the "Golden Years" of horticulture in the South. The pioneers of the pecan industry in Georgia included: G.M. Bacon of DeWitt; S.W. Peck of Hartwell and; James Tift and J.P. Gill of Albany. In addition, H.P. Stuckey's research on pecans while serving as director of Georgia's Agricultural Experiment Station, helped to establish the pecan industry.

Incidentally, many of the trees in Southwest Georgia were not planted to produce nuts, but rather as an investment in real estate. Between 1910 and 1925, real estate organizations and promoters planted thousands of acres in pecan trees. One company sold 25,000 acres of such orchards in five and ten acre units in Dougherty and Mitchell counties. The resulting production of pecans increased from approximately 27,000 pounds in 1900 to 2.5 million in 1920.

Georgia Becomes Number One In Pecans: An $80 Million Industry
Pecan production is centered in Dougherty County - around Albany - with orchards ranging in size from a few acres to several thousand acres. The area is known as "the pecan capital of the world," because of the large concentration of pecan trees in the area. In 1901 (95 years ago), the establishment of the Southern Nut Growers Association (later known as the National Nut Growers Association) in Albany, is credited with advancing the Georgia pecan industry.

By the 1950s, Georgia's pecan industry was well established and the state was number one in production. Today, the industry contributes $80 million annually to the state's economy.

Georgia's 1997 pecan production was 90 million pounds. Other top producers in 1997: Texas, 70 million lbs; New Mexico, 40 million lbs; and Oklahoma, 18 million lbs.

In 1996: Georgia Pecan Wood Becomes Part of Olympic History
Georgia pecan growers donated 60 pecan trees to the Atlanta Committee for Olympic Games (ACOG). They were used to produce the handles for the more than 10,000 Olympic torches carried in the 15,000-mile U.S.A. relay and in the lighting of the Olympic flame at the Olympic stadium in Atlanta.

Aside from this place of honor in Olympic history, pecan lumber is also a favorite in the manufacturing of furniture, flooring and paneling.