Six Flags Over Georgia: The Park That Named a Chain

The amusement park just off Interstate Twenty west of Atlanta opened on June sixteenth, nineteen sixty-seven, and drew three hundred thousand visitors in its first month. It was the second park in the Six Flags chain, following the original in Texas, and it introduced to the Southeast something the region had not had before: a large-scale, modern theme park designed around a narrative concept rather than simple rides.

The concept behind all Six Flags parks is the same. The name refers to the six national flags that have flown over the state in question. For Georgia, those are the flags of Spain, France, Britain, the United States, the Confederacy, and Georgia itself. Each section of the park was originally designed around one of those historical eras, with themed food, costumes, and architecture meant to give visitors a sense of movement through Georgia's colonial and American history.

The park was built by the Great Southwest Corporation, a real estate and entertainment development firm backed by Penn Central and Ladd interests. Its Georgia location was selected for its access to Atlanta and its proximity to the interstate highway system, which was still being completed in the nineteen sixties and was already transforming where Americans traveled and how they spent leisure time.

Six Flags Over Georgia became an anchor of the regional entertainment economy. It expanded substantially over the decades, adding roller coasters, water attractions, and eventually becoming the flagship park of the Six Flags Inc. chain, which grew to operate more than twenty parks across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The Dahlonega Mine Train, one of the original nineteen sixty-seven attractions, is still operating, making it one of the oldest continuously running roller coasters in the country.