The former Sunbury Road crossed here as one of the longest vehicular thoroughfares of post-Revolutionary Georgia. Laid out in the early 1790s, it ran from Greensboro by way of present-day Sparta and Swainsboro to Sunbury, a port on the Midway River in Liberty County. The Jefferson and Johnson county line follows this early route. The road lost its arterial importance when Sunbury, once a leading port, declined in commercial significance. From northern Emanuel County southward, much of the route remains in daily use.