Q: Your Actual Factual Georgia feature on the names of military ships was really interesting and raised a question in my mind. Not long ago I received a Spanish-American War-era U.S. Navy uniform. The ribbon on the hat spells out “U.S.S. Marietta.” Was that ship named after Marietta, Georgia, Marietta, Ohio, or one of the other cities of that name? If it was named after Marietta, Georgia, I might consider donating the uniform to the Marietta history center for display.
—Bob Anstine, Marietta
A: Others also have wondered if the USS Marietta has a connection to our metro Atlanta town as well.
But the ship was named for Marietta, Ohio, said Amy Reed, curator of exhibits and education with the Marietta Museum of History (The one near Atlanta, not Ohio).
She added that about 10 years ago, a man called from New England with a flag he wanted to donate, but they looked into it and couldn’t take it.
The USS Marietta, a gunboat, was active from 1897 to 1919, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command website.
Q: Besides Lake Lanier, what other places in Georgia are named after poet Sidney Lanier?
A: Southwest Georgia's Lanier County, which is northeast of Valdosta, also is named after the poet, musician and novelist who was born in Macon on Feb. 3, 1842.
Lanier graduated from Oglethorpe University — it was near Milledgeville at that time — and served as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War.
He began writing after he returned home from the war.
His poems set in Georgia include “Song of the Chattahoochee” and “The Marshes of Glynn,” which describes the marshes of Glynn County.
As a result, he’s the namesake of Brunswick’s Sidney Lanier Bridge, a 486-foot-tall bridge (the new one opened in 2003) that provides access to Georgia’s islands and views of salt marshes.
Also in Brunswick, there’s Lanier’s Oak, located on U.S. 17 with a historical marker.
Lanier, who had tuberculosis during the Civil War, died at the age of 39 on Sept. 7, 1881, in North Carolina.
Lanier County, which was incorporated in 1920, had 10,403 residents in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened Lake Lanier in 1957.
If you would like to see the home where Lanier was born, you can tour the Sidney Lanier Cottage House Museum (935 High Street, 478-743-3851, sidneylaniercottage.org).
Katie Tiller contributed.
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