Petersburg

Overview

A river port that declined a century before the lake

Petersburg occupied the peninsula where the Broad River met the Savannah River in present-day Elbert County. Dionysius Oliver founded it in 1786 around a tobacco inspection warehouse. Planters needed their tobacco inspected before sending it downriver, and the warehouse brought business to the new town.

Wikipedia places Petersburg’s peak between 1800 and 1810, when it ranked behind only Savannah and Augusta among Georgia cities. The New Georgia Encyclopedia estimates about 750 inhabitants by 1800; Wikipedia gives the 1810 census count as 332, including enslaved people. Those figures describe different dates and should not be treated as interchangeable counts.

The river linked Petersburg to Augusta through the flat-bottomed craft known as Petersburg boats. The town also stood opposite two smaller trading settlements, Lisbon across the Broad and Vienna across the Savannah. Tobacco’s decline undermined this economy. Cotton could be shipped without the inspection that had drawn growers into town. Residents moved west, railways passed the region by and steamboats could not negotiate the upper river’s shallow, rocky stretches.

Only three families remained by 1854, according to the encyclopedia and the county park leaflet. Buildings deteriorated and the land returned to farming. The reservoir arrived in the early 1950s, long after Petersburg had ceased to function as a town. Clarks Hill Lake and J. Strom Thurmond Lake refer to the same reservoir.

Video

Petersburg’s shore at low water

A visit from the Fort James and Petersburg markers at Bobby Brown Park down to the shore. With the lake well down, the creator shows brick fragments, mortared foundation stones and glazed pottery sherds at the point near the old townsite. Posted June 3, 2026; the filming date is not given. Water levels and exposed remains may differ when you visit.

Play “The Lost City of Petersburg, Georgia” from YouTube

History

From tobacco inspection to reservoir

1. 1786Oliver establishes the tobacco warehouse and town.
2. 1795A post office begins service.
3. 1805The Georgia and Carolina Gazette starts publication.
4. 1820sFalling tobacco trade and migration accelerate the decline.
5. 1844The Petersburg post office moves to Lisbon.
6. 1854Only three families remain.
7. Early 1950sConstruction of Clarks Hill Lake submerges the remnants.

What remains

Exposure depends on the water

The park leaflet says visitors may see remains from the lakeshore when the lake is down. Wikipedia reports foundations visible at low water, citing a February 2013 newspaper account. A visit video posted on June 3, 2026, the newest dated report, shows the lake well down and brick fragments, mortared foundation stones and glazed pottery sherds along the shore at the point. None of these gives a lake elevation at which particular structures emerge. We cannot promise an exposed street grid, standing buildings or a dry walk to the pin.

The 1906 Crawfordville map labels Petersburg and Lisbon beside the two rivers before impoundment. The 1955 Chennault crop shows reservoir water around the peninsula; the 1980 Clark Hill Lake sheet shows the wider flooded river junction. These are useful before-and-after records. They do not establish the water level or exposed remains on the day you arrive.

The county park is a separate visitor destination beside the old townsite. Its 2025–2026 events page establishes recent park activity, but it supplies no dated townsite-access or ruins-visibility report.

Historic maps

Petersburg on USGS maps, 1906–1980

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19061:125,00019551:24,00019801:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

The map marks the historical townsite, using Wikipedia’s coordinates. The driving routes do not reach that point: both stop on Bobby Brown Park Road about 567 metres away in a straight line. Elberton is 22.8 miles and 38 minutes to that road endpoint; the Augusta starting point is on Hickman Road, not downtown, and gives 66.0 miles and 115 minutes. These estimates provide regional orientation only. We have not verified a lawful walk or boat route from the endpoint to the submerged site.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Have photos of Petersburg?

We haven’t added photographs of Petersburg yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.

Visitor reports

Been to Petersburg?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Petersburg

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Georgia index.

• Huguenot4.3 mi NW · Elbert
• Barnett Shoals43.3 mi W · Oconee
• Scull Shoals44.2 mi W · Greene
• Grantville45.6 mi SW · Greene
• Swords51.3 mi SW · Morgan
• Apalachee53.0 mi W · Morgan
• New Savannah54.4 mi SE · Richmond
• Godfrey64.3 mi SW · Morgan

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, Petersburg, Georgia: read October 20, 2026: founding, river trade, peak, census count, post office relocation, decline and coordinates. Its low-water foundation report cites the Augusta Chronicle of February 3, 2013.
2. New Georgia Encyclopedia, Petersburg: edited May 31, 2016: population estimate, tobacco inspection, town institutions, migration, decline and early-1950s flooding. Its old access description is not treated as current permission.
3. Elbert County Bobby Brown Park, Petersburg leaflet: undated text; PDF creation and modification metadata both April 22, 2024. Evidence: “Visitors may be able to see what remains” when lake levels fall. This does not supply a current report or an exposure threshold. Also identifies the two reservoir names.
4. Faded and Forgotten History, "The Lost City of Petersburg, Georgia", YouTube, posted June 3, 2026 (filming date not given): the Fort James and Petersburg markers in the park, the walk to the shore with the lake well down, brick fragments, foundation stones and pottery sherds at the point. Checked against its captions and storyboard frames.
5. Elbert County Bobby Brown Park: read October 20, 2026: park identity, location and 2025–2026 event calendar. Recent events do not confirm access to the old townsite. The park is linked as a contact, not as an operator of a standing ghost-town attraction.
6. OSRM / OpenStreetMap and USGS: routes queried October 20, 2026; both snap 567 metres from the historical point. USGS 3DEP gives current terrain elevation, not a historical town elevation or a live lake gauge. Inspected USGS crops: Crawfordville 1906, Chennault 1955 and Clark Hill Lake 1980.

Photo and map credits

• Area base map, topography and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Crawfordville 1906, 1:125,000; Chennault 1955, 1:24,000; Clark Hill Lake 1980, 1:100,000.