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Goat Rock: Destination for Election Losers.

Goat Rock: Destination for Election Losers

Field review by the editors.

Gainesville, Georgia

In the 1960s, J.W. "Jake" Tolbert lost an election for justice of the peace to Herman Gibbs "Doc" Tankersley -- and then several other Gainesville elections as well. Frustrated, he lamented that he had become the mayor of Goat Rock -- goat in its old meaning of "loser," not its current acronym for Greatest Of All Time.

For some reason Gainesville never forgot Tolbert's sad tale, and so on election day, 2022, it unveiled an official Goat Rock, complete with an explanatory bronze plaque. Members of the Tolbert and Tankersley families attended the dedication.

Gainesville Board of Education member Sammy Smith, who had found the rock at an excavation site, said that he, too, had once been a member of the Goat Rock club, and knew what it felt like to lose.

Taking out your electoral frustrations by kicking Goat Rock would be viewed as poor sportsmanship in Gainesville, and would likely only add a sore foot to your injured pride.

Goat Rock: Destination for Election Losers

Address:
13 1st St., Gainesville, GA
Directions:
Park in the Chicopee Baptist Church lot, then walk north to the rock, which is along the Highlands to Islands Trail between GA-13 and A Ave., just south of its intersection with 1st St.
Save to My Sights

Nearby Offbeat Places

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In the region:
The Big Red Apple, Cornelia, GA - 25 mi.

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