Willacoochee is a tiny town in Atkinson County in south Georgia, where the Alapaha and Willacoochee rivers meet in a landscape of pine flatwoods and cypress swamps. With a population of around 1,200, it is the kind of rural Southern town that most travelers drive through on US 82 between Valdosta and Waycross without stopping.
The town itself is quiet, with a small downtown centered on a few blocks of older buildings. The main reason to pause here is the rivers. The Alapaha and Willacoochee are dark, tea-colored blackwater streams that wind through bottomland forest, and the fishing for largemouth bass, bream, and catfish is good. The surrounding countryside is heavily forested, and hunting — particularly for deer and turkey — is a major part of local life.
If you are passing through, Willacoochee is a reminder of just how rural and sparsely populated south Georgia remains. The nearest town of any size is Douglas, about 15 miles east. The Okefenokee Swamp, one of the largest freshwater wetlands in North America, is roughly an hour to the southeast via Waycross.