The Old Coffee Road was the first vehicular and postal route in this area, passing here as it ran southwestward from the Ocmulgee River by way of today’s Lax, Nashville, Cecil, Barwick, and Thomasville to the Florida line above Tallahassee. Opened by direction of the State in 1823 under the superintendence of General John Coffee and Thomas Swain, it provided a short route from the older middle and eastern sections of the State into Southwest Georgia. Much of its former course remains in daily use.