Homerville RSVP Introduction

There is truly no place like Homerville, Georgia. A small town with a big heart, Homerville is defined by the city’s 2,344 welcoming residents. Situated at the heart of Clinch County near the world-famous Okefenokee Swamp, Homerville is a place of tradition and hometown pride. Homerville is “fit to bursting” with Southern hospitality and neighborly warmth. Athletic excellence and school pride run deep in Homerville, home to the “Triple Crown”–winning Clinch County High School Panthers. Homerville offers the city’s diverse residents a wholesome and inviting place to raise a family, grow a business, and put down roots. With a palpable small-town sense-of-place and booming industries, Homerville holds a special attraction to current and future residents. A strong base of civic-minded employers, including the Lee Container Corporation, Mauser Packaging Solutions, Conner Holdings, the Great American Cobbler Company, and more give this small town a diversified economy and global impact. Homerville boasts international industries, small business success stories, beloved schools, strong faith, and a truly first-class sense of community. A single visit to this special place would entice any visitor to want to stay a lifetime.

Founded in 1859 on land donated by Dr. John Homer Mattox, Homerville’s early growth was fueled by the development of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad through the area. In 1860, following a lobbying effort by Mattox and other early residents, Homerville was made seat of Clinch County, cementing the city’s growing role as the center of community life. First known as “Station No. 11,” Homerville was renamed in honor of the city’s founder by 1870. Over time, the railroad brought commerce and prosperity to the community, with new residential neighborhoods and commercial buildings radiating from the depot. Historical images of downtown Homerville show the area’s wide streets divided by lush medians and shaded by impressive street trees. Outside of downtown, a thriving timber industry developed in the late 1800s, with lumber mills and a growing turpentine industry. Following the Great Depression, honey and blueberry production began to overtake turpentine as the leading industries in the community. Today, Homerville takes pride in the “Bees, Trees, and Blueberries” this small but mighty community exports across the nation and around the world.

In 1983, the last train left Homerville Depot. In the decades since, many longtime businesses left downtown Homerville or shut down. In the early 2000s, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) began a major project downtown that widened roads and led to the demolition of a significant number of important historical buildings. This project removed angled parking along the city’s key corridors and created a one-way traffic pair along Dame Avenue and Plant Avenue, harming downtown connectivity and encouraging trucks to speed through the area.

Responding to the loss of several important downtown buildings,

community members began establishing major initiatives to improve and grow community life downtown. In 2009, the formerly vacant Homerville Depot was lovingly restored. Today this downtown landmark serves as a vibrant community hub and home to the city’s thriving Main Street Program.

Around the same time, the city completed a major improvement to downtown sidewalks and streetscapes. A $880,000 streetscape improvement project partially funded by the Georgia DOT’s Transportation Enhancement Grant created Empire Plaza, a beautiful public gathering space in the center of downtown. Over 900 commemorative engraved brick pavers at this community space honor local citizens who contributed to the project.

In order to further advance downtown as a community and economic hub, the city’s Main Street Program and dedicated partners have continued to invest in new downtown attractions and incentives to expand economic vitality in the area. Homerville Downtown Development Authority, Main Street Program, and the community’s active and involved local citizens are bringing positive change and development downtown through new tools, including a façade grant program and state designation for Rural Zone Tax Credits. With these developments in mind, local government leaders, dedicated citizens, critical businesses, and the local nonprofit The Lee Family Foundation banded together to enlist the assistance of planning professionals at the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. Step one of the Homerville RSVP planning process began with a public town hall meeting, one-on-one interviews, focus groups, and a community survey in February, 2022. As part of the plan, hundreds of citizens from throughout Homerville and Clinch County shared their opinions, concerns, and dreams for their community. With critical support from the Homerville Downtown Development Authority, Main Street Program, and Georgia EMC, The Homerville Renaissance Strategic Plan (RSVP) captures the vision of hundreds of local citizens to help chart the course for a rejuvenated downtown Homerville.

With representatives from across the city, county, and community organizations, the Homerville RSVP Steering Committee spearheaded planning efforts in the community. This dedicated group of local citizens refined community priorities and helped guide development of the final plan. The Homerville RSVP Steering Committee reviewed the hundreds of individual public responses from step one of the RSVP process to determine the community’s top concerns. The resulting top priorities guided the strategies and designs found throughout this plan. Situated at the heart of Clinch County near the worldfamous Okefenokee Swamp, Homerville is a place of tradition and hometown pride. Homerville is “fit to bursting” with Southern hospitality and neighborly warmth.