Ogilvie, Georgia. Pop: 3,400. Est: 1820 by General Joshua Ogilvie (born 1780, Savannah), philosopher, historian, slave owner, and hero of the War of 1812. While many small southern towns went bankrupt in the sixties, Ogilvie survived and prospered, thanks primarily to its major employer, Ogilvie College, a private liberal arts university of international standing. Located on the Seaboard Coastline Railway between Savannah, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida, the town is a popular destination for tourists who come to see the beautifully maintained Victorian, Georgian, and Greek Revival homes along University Parkway, the wealth of specialty and antique shops on Main Street, and the many acres of gardens and parks. The town’s Independence Day Jubilee and New Year’s Pageant are counted among the most elaborate, well organized, and worth seeing in the South.

A New History of the Oldest Coastal Towns

It’s like a terrarium,” Tony yelled. “Only bigger.”

“You mean a jungle,” Rivera yelled back.

The van’s air-conditioning had whimpered and died as soon as they crossed the Mason-Dixon line, and they had been shouting over road noise and wind ever since.

“No, I mean a terrarium. The place looks like it’s been manicured.” Tony waved his arms to indicate the entirety of the city of Ogilvie spread out before them, which did look, Angie had to agree, like a lovingly kept garden perched in the oxbow of a river that ran toward the sea. Roofs and steeples poked up here and there but overall it was hard to make out much at all.

Rivera said, “It’s only an hour to Savannah by train.”

“Hey, winkie,” Angie said. “We aren’t even there yet, hold it with the big city withdrawal, okay?”

Tony said, “I wouldn’t exactly call Savannah a big city, but it’ll have to do. How far is it to Jacksonville, anyway?”

Rivera poked him in the shoulder and he yelped.

“I was just asking.”

“For Christ’s sake,” Rivera said. “There’s a whole campus of co-eds and professors and staff.”

“But not until September,” Tony said. Then he sat up a little straighter. “Somebody was telling me that Julia Roberts is from around here.”

Angie let Rivera handle that, as her concern about the suspicious sounds coming from the van’s transmission was escalating quickly. She consulted the directions she had taped to the visor and turned onto University Parkway.