Members of the Seedling Garden Club gathered on the Swainsboro downtown square on Monday, April 27, 2026, at 10 a.m. to decorate the farm wagon located on this site. Using the Pine Tree Festival's slogan for this year's Pine Tree Festival, "Pines and patriotism--growing a stronger tomorrow", the club chose a patriotic theme to decorate the wagon. Pines were placed inside the wagon with American flags lining the outsides. Flag banners were draped on the outer sides. Red, White and Blue flowers were placed between flags. The wheels were decorated with large patriotic bows with the front of the wagon holding two wreaths with patriotic bows. The seat of the wagon held ferns and red geraniums. One side of the wagon held a garland saying, "Happy 250th Birthday America."
This wagon sits at intersection of two historic cross-country routes, U.S. Highway 1, the longest north-south road in the United States, stretches from Fort Kent, Maine to Key West, Florida. Intersecting Highway 1, in the heart of downtown Swainsboro is US Highway 80, which ran from Savannah, Georgia to San Diego, California until 1932 when Dallas, Texas became the western terminus. The intersection of these prominent routes earned Swainsboro the title of "Crossroads of the Great South, " and much of Swainsboro's early development may be attributed to these important highways. The style of the wagon is typical of what citizens used before automobiles became common, often pulling double duty as farm wagons and personal transportation. This wagon was built of local lumber by employees of Interfor Corporation's Swainsboro Division in acknowledgement of this significant landmark.
The club had fun decorating the wagon and making it look festive for the 79th Annual Pine Tree Festival & Southeast Timber Expo to be held in Swainsboro on May 1-2, 2026. Seedling garden club is always glad to help our community in many ways.
Special thanks to One Moore Tree Service for the pine trees, Julia Peacock Zuidema for donating all the flags used and L&W signs for the sign used. We were delighted to have two husbands, Tim Goodman and Bobby Peacock, help with this project.
When the club finished decorating the wagon we crossed over the street and placed American Flags and large patriotic bows on the Blue Star Memorial Highway marker located on Emanual County Court House grounds. This marker is a tribute to the Armed Forces that have defended the United States of America and is sponsored by the Swainsboro Garden in cooperation with Georgia State Highway Department and The Garden Club of Georgia, Inc. This marker was moved to this location and re-dedicated by the Seedling Garden Club. The marker had to be placed on a "Designated Memorial Highway", this location fits that requirement. Seedling Garden re-dedicated the Blue Star Memorial Marker on November 11, 2020.
