# US 341: The Golden Isles Highway *peaches to the beaches* US 341: The Golden Isles Highway is a ~225-mile back-roads route from Barnesville to Brunswick on US 341, driven in 2 days, that stays off I-75 / I-16 through the Deep South. - **Drive:** Barnesville → Brunswick - **Distance:** ~225 mi - **Days:** 2 - **Highways:** US 341 - **Avoids:** I-75 / I-16 - **Region:** Deep South - **Themes:** Small Towns, Eats & Institutions, Natural Beauty, Oddities & Roadside Wonders Every March the whole of US 341 turns into a 200-mile yard sale called Peaches to the Beaches, which tells you what kind of road this is: the old Atlanta-to-the-coast main street, still lined with the towns the interstates orphaned. Buggy-making Barnesville, Georgia's oldest peach packinghouse at Musella, harness-racing Hawkinsville, a scrap-built Statue of Liberty in McRae, old-growth longleaf on the Altamaha, and Brunswick's stew-pot claim at the end. Markers: Golden Isles Parkway branding persists; the yard-sale signs bloom every March. ## The drive, segment by segment ### The Peach Act *Barnesville → Perry · ~60 mi* Buggy Days country through Musella's packinghouse porch and the Fort Valley orchards. Stops: - **Barnesville** (Barnesville) · Small Towns — The Buggy Capital of the South, which built thousands a year before Detroit ruined the business; Buggy Days still fills September. - **Dickey Farms** (Musella) · Eats & Institutions — Georgia's oldest continuously operating peach packinghouse, running since 1897; eat peach ice cream on the porch while the line clatters. ### Harness & Liberty *Perry → McRae-Helena · ~60 mi* Hawkinsville's trotters, Eastman's stub-of-a-railroad towns, and McRae's homemade Lady Liberty. Stops: - **Hawkinsville Harness Facility** (Hawkinsville) · Oddities & Roadside Wonders — Standardbred trotters winter and train here on the historic track; the spring Harness Festival is rural Georgia's Saratoga. - **McRae's Statue of Liberty** (McRae-Helena) · Oddities & Roadside Wonders — A 1986 Lions Club Liberty built at one-twelfth scale from local scrap and stubbornness, torch aloft on the square. ### Pines to the Port *McRae-Helena → Brunswick · ~105 mi* The Altamaha's old growth at Moody Forest, Jesup's drive-in, and the shrimp port at the end. Stops: - **Moody Forest** (Baxley) · Natural Beauty — Old-growth longleaf and cypress on the Altamaha, the country Janisse Ray wrote into Ecology of a Cracker Childhood one county over. - **Jesup Drive-In** (Jesup) · Cult Classics & Pop Lore — A working mid-century drive-in still throwing double features under the Wiregrass sky. - **Brunswick's stew claim** (Brunswick) · Eats & Institutions — The town holds hard to its cast-iron claim as Brunswick stew's birthplace; Virginia disagrees. Order a bowl and vote. ## Tips and best time to go - Peaches to the Beaches runs the second weekend of March; embrace the crawl or reroute your life. - Dickey's packing line runs roughly May through August; the porch runs year-round. ## Worth a detour - **Massee Lane Gardens** — The American Camellia Society's home gardens near Fort Valley; January and February are the show. - **Little Ocmulgee State Park** — A CCC-era lodge, lake and golf park just north of McRae; sandhill oddity in the pine flats. ## Frequently asked questions ### How long is US 341: The Golden Isles Highway and how many days does it take? US 341: The Golden Isles Highway is about 225 miles and takes 2 days at a back-roads pace. ### Where does US 341: The Golden Isles Highway start and end? It runs from Barnesville to Brunswick. ### Which highways does US 341: The Golden Isles Highway follow? It follows US 341. ### Which interstate does US 341: The Golden Isles Highway replace? It avoids I-75 / I-16, using US 341 instead. ### How many stops are on US 341: The Golden Isles Highway, and what are the highlights? 7 stops are mapped, including Barnesville, Dickey Farms, Hawkinsville Harness Facility, McRae's Statue of Liberty and Moody Forest. ### When is the best time to drive US 341: The Golden Isles Highway? The atlas’s seasonal note for this route: “Peaches to the Beaches runs the second weekend of March; embrace the crawl or reroute your life.” ## Connects with - [Plains & Andersonville](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/plains-andersonville) — Macon → Plains - [Sherman to the Swamp](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/ga-441) — Dillard → Folkston - [US 41: Dixie Highway & the Atlanta Campaign](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/dixie-hwy-41) — Chattanooga → Atlanta --- Canonical URL: https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/us341-golden-isles Publisher: Dixie Media (Dixie Road Trip, https://dixieroadtrip.com/) Last updated: 2026-10-05