Georgia

The place

One of the original 13 · ratified 1788 · Confederate in the Civil War · Eastern time

Georgia holds the South's contradictions in one place: Atlanta, which rebuilt itself into a Black cultural and business capital and exports hip hop the way Detroit once exported cars, and a rural south that still runs on peanuts, pecans and pine timber. The coast is a chain of barrier islands with almost nothing built on them. Go for Savannah's squares and Athens for the music, but the quiet marvel is Cumberland Island, reachable only by ferry, where wild horses walk on the beach.

Coca-Cola was invented in an Atlanta pharmacy in 1886 and sold nine glasses a day.