Hopeton Plantation, of which Altama is a part, lies about 1.4 miles west of here. A model rice and sugar plantation of the early 19th century, described in books by several travelers from Europe, Hopeton is best remembered as the home of James Hamilton Couper. A pioneer in the agricultural and industrial development of Georgia and the South, James Hamilton Couper was an archaeologist, a geologist, a conchologist, architect, and historian whose abilities and accomplishments would be recognized in any time.