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Georgia state symbols

Georgia has about 60 official state symbols, one of the longest lists of any state. The oldest are the seal of 1799 and the Cherokee rose of 1916; the newest, adopted in 2026, include cotton, the marsh tacky horse and Pineywoods cattle. Food is a big part of the list: grits, Vidalia onions, peanuts, pecans, peaches, muscadines, Brunswick stew and cornbread are all official.

60 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

A long and growing list

Georgia’s symbols are written into Chapter 3 of Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia, and the chapter keeps getting longer. A few, such as the right whale, the state seashell and the Georgian’s Creed, rest only on legislative resolutions. Since 2020 the legislature has added a state grape, a riverine sport fish, a nut, a soap box derby, a crustacean, a stew, a bread, a heritage horse, a heritage cattle breed and a fabric.

Rose, oak and thrasher

The oldest of the familiar symbols is the Cherokee rose, adopted in 1916 at the request of the Georgia Federation of Women’s Clubs. The live oak followed in 1937, requested by a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which tied the tree to the coastal settlements of Oglethorpe’s day. The brown thrasher took longer. Georgians treated it as the state bird for decades, and Governor Eugene Talmadge reportedly proclaimed it in 1935, but in 1970 the legislature noted that the attorney general had ruled Georgia had no official bird and passed a resolution to make it official. The same resolution named the bobwhite quail the state game bird.

Bass, shrimp and whales

Georgia’s waters supply several symbols. The largemouth bass became the state fish in 1970, partly because the world-record largemouth, a 22-pound, 4-ounce fish, was caught by George Perry in 1932 in Montgomery Lake, a slough off the Ocmulgee River. The shoal bass, a fish of fast-flowing rivers, became the state riverine sport fish in 2020. White shrimp, which make up most of the value of Georgia’s seafood catch, became the state crustacean in 2024. Off the coast, the North Atlantic right whale, which gives birth in Georgia’s waters each winter, is the state marine mammal.

A Southern menu

No part of the list is longer than the food. The peach became the state fruit in 1995, in a law that calls Georgia “known worldwide as the Peach State.” The Vidalia sweet onion is the state vegetable, the peanut the state crop, with an official peanut monument in Ashburn, and Georgia, the top pecan-producing state, made the pecan its state nut in 2021. Grits are the official prepared food. In 2025 Brunswick stew and cornbread were added. The stew law claims Brunswick, Georgia, as the dish’s birthplace, citing a plaque on an iron pot said to have held the first stew, cooked on St. Simons Island in 1898.

Pogo and other oddities

Some of Georgia’s symbols are unusual. The state’s official ’possum is Pogo, the comic-strip character created by Walt Kelly and set in the Okefenokee Swamp. The state dog is any dog available for adoption from a shelter or rescue, rather than a breed. Georgia is officially both the Poultry Capital of the World and the Purple Heart State, and Colquitt is its first mural city. The state also has an official folk life play, Swamp Gravy, and an official waltz, “Our Georgia.”

The main symbols

The flag, the brown thrasher and the Cherokee rose each have their own page. Use of the state seal beyond official documents requires the governor’s authorization, so it is described here but not shown.

2 1790s 1820s 1850s 1880s 1 1910s 2 1940s 7 1970s 3 3 1 2000s 2 10 2020s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 2020s, with ten.

Flag, seal, song, motto and nickname

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Questions about Georgia's symbols

What is the Georgia state animal?
Georgia's state mammal is the white-tailed deer, adopted in 2015. The state also has an official dog, any adoptable shelter dog, and an official 'possum, the comic-strip character Pogo.
Is the Cherokee rose still Georgia's state flower?
Yes. A 2026 bill to replace it with the native sweetbay magnolia passed the Senate unanimously but did not pass the House, so the Cherokee rose remains the official floral emblem.
What foods are official in Georgia?
The peach (state fruit), the Vidalia onion (vegetable), the peanut (crop), the pecan (nut), the muscadine (grape), grits (prepared food), Brunswick stew and cornbread.
What is Georgia's state fish?
The largemouth bass. The world-record largemouth, 22 pounds 4 ounces, was caught in Georgia in 1932.
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