In its heyday, folks would converge on a town named Jay Bird Springs that sits right outside of Chauncey in Dodge County.
The bones of the town are still standing, but time has passed it by.
Charles Williams is the president of the Dodge County Chamber of Commerce.
“People came from everywhere to take advantage of Jay Bird,” said Williams.
He pulled off a road to show WMAZ where the spring still stands.
“This is the well that actually started Jay Bird. It was an artesian well and they’ve capped it off in the years since,” said Williams. “There was a building here that you could come down and get a drink of water.”
The water is murky these days, but the legend of liquid bursting through the Earth is quite a story and is the namesake of Jay Bird Springs.
“Legend has it there was an older black guy following the train line and he had sores on his legs and he was looking at a jay bird, kind of wandering through the woods for whatever reason. When he stepped in the water, he realized it felt good,” said Williams. “He stayed there a few days and his wounds healed and because of that, people wanted to come and discovered this miraculous power of the water and it was named Jay Bird after the fact.”
Word got out and people came in the 1920s causing a mini resort town to pop up.
“At the time, it was probably the biggest swimming pool in the state of Georgia,” said Williams. “The water was so cold you almost hated to jump in it in May. You’d dive in that swimming pool and you’d turn blue, it’s freezing cold."
Folks could also warm up by playing a little putt-putt golf, burn off some energy in the skating rink, or even take a stroll down Lover’s Lane.
“Lover’s Lane had been built for Jay Bird and it was a special place [where] people would hold hands and walk down and get mineral water and probably get engaged,” said Williams.
Those days are pretty much in the past. Jay Bird is privately owned and not open to the public.
“It could be restored at some point, but this kind of entertainment is probably not at the forefront of people’s idea of entertainment anymore,” said Williams.
But for the people that played in the streets and splashed in the pool, reminiscing about Jay Bird Springs will always cause fond recollections to bubble up.
“The memories of it are still vivid for most of us that grew up here,” said Williams.
Right now, the property is owned by a Christian ministries program that does addiction rehabilitation.