Colerain, Georgia

Colerain is an extinct town in Camden County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The GNIS classifies it as a populated place.[1] A variant name was "Coleraine".[1]

History

The community had its start as a small trading post located on the St. Marys River. It served as the first location of the United States trading post for trade with the Creek Indians in the mid-1790s, until the factory was relocated to the newly constructed Fort Wilkinson in 1797. It was also the site of the signing of the Treaty of Colerain between the Creeks and the United States government on June 29, 1796. The treaty expanded the U.S.-Creek border westward, allowed for Fort Wilkinson's construction, and mandated the removal of the factory there.[2][3][4]

According to one tradition, the community was named after "Coleraine", a local Indian chieftain, while another tradition states the name is a transfer from Coleraine, in Ireland.[5]

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Colerain
2. Robbie Ethridge, Creek Country: The Creek Indians and Their World, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), 129.
3. J. Leitch Wright, Creeks and Seminoles: The Destruction and Regeneration of the Muscogulge People (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986), 141
4. "Treaty with the Creeks, 1796," in Charles J. Kappler, ed., Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, Vol. II: Treaties (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904), http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/cre0046.htm Accessed Mar. 25, 2012
5. Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 48. ISBN 0-915430-00-2.