Broxton Rocks in Coffee County

The Creek Natives once called this place Alcasakalikie which referenced "a boiling kettle in a creek." After the Indian Removal Act, the first trans-Appalachian pioneers came to live in this area once hunted by it's earlier inhabitants. As early as the 1840's families and church congregations held picnics and baptisms here. The prominent Ashley family had a plantation not far from these outcrops. The rock formation itself is around 13 million years old and is known as "Altamaha Grit", a hardened form of sandstone. In 1906 renowned Naturalist Roland M. Harper visited this area noting, "In the northern part of Coffee County, about nine miles northeast of Broxton, the nearest town of any size, a small creek known appropriately as Rocky Creek breaks through a horizontal stratum of Altamaha grit, tumbles eight or ten feet into a pool, then flows through a winding gorge 50 to 75 feet wide with perpendicular overhanging walls." This place was affectionately known for many years by locals as "The rocks" and became a popular destination. Today, managed by the Nature Conservancy of Georgia, the Broxton Rocks Preserve is among one of the best kept secrets of the Georgia coastal plain. The preserve is diverse in its terrain and provides a home for many different species of flora and fauna such as the threatened Indigo Snake and the Green-fly Orchid. For more information on the site and for upcoming events check out the Nature Conservancy of Georgia's website. https://www.nature.org/…/nor…/unitedstates/georgia/index.htm
Turtleman Chris Adams