Altamaha River User’s Guide Book Talk and Signing

Take a journey down the length of the Altamaha River on Tuesday, April 9, at 7 p.m.

Georgia River Network guidebook author Joe Cook will discuss the Altamaha River and sign copies of the recently released Altamaha River User’s Guide at 7 p.m. at the Ashantilly Center in Darien

The 228-page, full-color, waterproof book serves as a comprehensive recreational guide to the Altamaha River and its primary tributary, the Ohoopee.  But, it is more than the typical guidebook. It delves deeply into the cultural and natural history of the Altamaha and Ohoopee rivers, highlighting points of interest that boaters might see as they travel the rivers.

“This book is built for the armchair boater,” Cook said. “For sure, it tells you where you can get on the river and what to expect when you get out there, but beyond that, it tells the story of the river and the people along it. When you dig into the mud, sand, and muck of a river in Georgia, you uncover our stories because our communities have almost always grown up around rivers.”

At the river talks, Cook will highlight some of the more interesting stories he included in the guidebook: tales of harrowing early 19^th-century river journeys; horrifying stories of Jim Crow-era racial persecution that played out on the river’s banks; comical yarns of the theft of a Confederate steamboat during the Civil War; and the modern-day saga of efforts to restore a polluted river.

The Altamaha River User’s Guide is the seventh in a series of guides written by Cook and published by the University of Georgia Press and Georgia River Network. Books on the Etowah, Chattahoochee, Broad, Flint, Oconee, and Ocmulgee have also been published.

Cook also organizes Georgia River Network’s Paddle Georgia, an annual week-long canoe/kayak journey that will take place June 15-22 on the Altamaha River. The 7-day, 107-mile journey is expected to attract more than 250 participants. The event is the largest of its kind in the country, and Cook will provide details about how to participate in that event.

Having explored Georgia’s rivers extensively since 1995, Cook has traveled by canoe thousands of miles on the state’s rivers. He is currently at work on the Savannah River User’s Guide.

Books will be available for purchase at Ashantilly Center. Books are $25. Joe Cook will be available to sign copies after the book talk.