Year Erected: 1962

Marker Text: According to local tradition, Spanish priests traveled from San Augustín (St. Augustine, Florida) on the Atlantic coast along trails into northern Florida and southern Georgia, where they established a network of Indian missions during the 1600s and early 1700s. In 1825, Lowndes County was created, and early county settlers used the mission trail to haul supplies from the coast. Later the trail became a stagecoach road. The settlement of Troupville was along the road and was a stopping point on the stage route north to Macon. Travelers could replenish supplies and stay at one of the town’s three hotels before moving on. The road later intersected with the Coffee Road going east to west, giving the area access to Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia, and Tallahassee, Florida. Remnants of the road remain and still function as part of the access road from Valdosta into Interstate 75.

Re-erected by the Georgia Historical Society in 2024

Tips for finding this marker: In Valdosta just west of I-17 on St. Augustine Rd