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Petersburg Boat

[Train Whistle] The Petersburg boat was named for the now inundated town of Petersburg, Georgia, located at the confluence of the Savannah and Broad Rivers, 60 miles above Augusta. Adapted from a craft used in eastern North America, Petersburg boats hauled tobacco and cotton on the Savannah River and the Augusta Canal from the 1790s through the early 1900s. The boats ranged from 35 to 80 feet in length with a beam of 6 to 7 feet, and a draft of 10 to 20 inches. Using iron pointed poles, a crew of 6 to 8 men moved the craft upriver at an average speed of 1.5 miles per hour. The downstream run averaged 4 miles per hour. Oars were used in slack water. This reconstruction of a Petersburg boat was completed in 1993. It is 56 feet in length and has a 7-foot beam; it weighs nearly 6,000 pounds. In addition to several trips on the Augusta canal, this boat has completed two round trip voyages from Augusta to Savannah.    [Train Whistle]

Augusta's Story
  1. Paleo-Indians
  2. Stallings Island
  3. The Age of Exploration: The DeSoto Exhibition; 1540
  4. Early Colonial Period; 1685 – 1736
  5. Late Colonial Period
  6. The American Revolution, 1776 - 1783
  7. Antebellum Society
  8. Dave: Enslaved Potter and Poet
  9. Cotton
  10. Civil War; 1861 - 1865
  11. Reconstruction
  12. The Golden Blocks
  13. The Augusta Canal and the Cotton Industry
  14. Petersburg Boat
  15. Industrial History
  16. Mill Life
  17. World War I
  18. The Great Fire of 1916
  19. 1920s
  20. World War II
  21. Savannah River Site
  22. Integrating Augusta
  23. The Augusta Riot
  24. 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s in Augusta
  25. Augusta and the Late 20th Century to Today
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