Folkston, GA

Folkston is the Charlton County seat in southeast Georgia, two miles from the Florida line and at the northern gateway to the Okefenokee. The 2020 census counted 4,464 residents. The city grew as a rail town in the late 1800s, and that railroad identity is still impossible to miss: the Folkston Funnel brings CSX traffic through a double-track junction, with trains heading toward Jacksonville, Waycross, and Savannah. Folkston's railfan platform turns that working corridor into a destination, while the Suwannee Canal entrance to Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge sends people the other direction—into blackwater swamp, cypress forest, and wildlife country.

ATTRDanTD / CC BY-SA 4.0

Downtown and the Charlton County Courthouse keep the civic side of the town visible, but the local map is really a three-way meeting of courthouse, tracks, and swamp. U.S. 1, 23, and 301 run through the center before splitting toward Florida and south Georgia. Folkston's local scoop is a Georgia county seat where you can watch freight trains funnel south, then trade the rail line for a canoe trail into the Okefenokee.