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State Visitors Center to feature Effingham attractions, artifacts
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The Effingham Chamber of Commerce announces that a press conference will be held on Feb. 10 at 11 a.m. at the Georgia Visitors Center on I-95 North, just inside the South Carolina line. A new display case promoting Effingham County will be unveiled at the center and will house a small group of historical artifacts from Effingham’s beginnings, along with literature on tourism in the county.

“We are excited to have this wonderful opportunity to have our own display case inside the Visitors Center,” said Effingham Chamber President Randy Shearouse. “What a great way to give tourists passing through our area a taste of what Effingham has to offer.”

The display case was custom built by local citizen, Jim Presnell.

Richard Loper and the volunteers at the Historic Effingham Society Museum in Springfield were instrumental in loaning the artifacts on display and providing historical information on them. The artifacts include buttons, buckles and bullets from the Revolutionary and Civil War periods and all found in Effingham County. Early bottles and clay pipes also will be on display. What is now Effingham County was settled in 1734, just a year after Savannah’s founding.

Local re-enactors in period costume will be on hand for the unveiling to add some color and interest for the tourists that will be going through the center at that time.

“We know this is a small step but an important step toward becoming an historical tourism destination here on the coast,” Effingham Chamber Director Rick Lott said. “We will have rack cards in this new display which contain a coupon good for a free sample product from some of our local businesses. The first items available will be samples of our local honey, provided by the Studiers, along with note cards from the Historical Society.”

There are two historical museums in Effingham County, the Museum and Living History Site in Springfield, run by the Historic Effingham Society; and the Georgia Salzburger Museum, located on Ebenezer Road, between Rincon and Springfield. That site is home to the Jerusalem Lutheran Church, built in 1767-1769.

An original Salzburger home is also located on the church grounds. The Historical Society’s Museum is located in the old Jail and Sheriff’s living quarters.