Gordon, GA

Gordon is a Wilkinson County city that grew out of a railroad depot and now sits in Georgia’s kaolin belt. The Central of Georgia Railway reached the place in 1843, and the town took its name from William Washington Gordon, the railroad’s first president. That connection is still visible in the city’s basic shape: a small municipal center tied to an industrial landscape rather than a courthouse-square story. Kaolin manufacturing remains part of the local identity. Gordon also carries a more recent chapter: an EF2 tornado crossed the city on April 3, 2017, damaging businesses and a local park. The result is a town with a very Georgia mix of rail history, clay country, and resilience.