Alapaha River

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title: "Alapaha River" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rivers-of-florida", "rivers-of-georgia-(u.s.-state)", "rivers-of-dooly-county,-georgia", "rivers-of-crisp-county,-georgia", "rivers-of-wilcox-county,-georgia", "rivers-of-turner-county,-georgia", "rivers-of-ben-hill-county,-georgia", "rivers-of-irwin-county,-georgia", "rivers-of-tift-county,-georgia", "rivers-of-berrien-county,-georgia", "rivers-of-atkinson-county,-georgia", "rivers-of-lanier-county,-georgia", "rivers-of-lowndes-county,-georgia", "rivers-of-echols-county,-georgia", "bodies-of-water-of-hamilton-county,-florida", "tributaries-of-the-suwannee-river", "subterranean-rivers-of-the-united-states"] description: "River in Georgia and Florida, United States" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alapaha_River" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary River in Georgia and Florida, United States ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Alapaha_River_looking_north_from_Naylor_Landing.jpg" caption="The Alapaha River looking north from Naylor Landing"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Alapaharivermap.png"] ::

The Alapaha River is a 202 mi river in southern Georgia and northern Florida in the United States. It is a tributary of the Suwannee River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico.

History

The Hernando de Soto expedition narrative records mention a "Yupaha" village they encountered after they left Apalachee, "the sound of which is suggestive of the Alapaha, a tributary of the Suwanee." Another reference to a village of "Atapaha" "so closely resembles Alapaha that it is reasonable to suppose they are the same, and that the town was on the river of that name." John Reed Swanton's landmark Indian Tribes of North America places the Indian village of Alapaha near where the Alapaha River met the Suwanee, and also noted that an Indian village of "Arapaja" was 70 leagues from St. Augustine, Florida, probably on the Alapaha River. The Spanish mission of Santa María de Los Angeles de Arapaha was located along the lower reaches of the river from before 1630 until 1656.

In the 1840s a German travel writer, Friedrich Gerstäcker wrote a dime novel called Alapaha, or the Renegades of the Border, giving the name to a noble Cherokee "squaw." A translation of this novel was published in the 1870s as #67 in a series of American narratives published by Beadle.

During the American Civil War, the swamps along the Alapaha River in Berrien, Irwin, and Echols counties became a refuge for a number of gangs of Confederate deserters.

Course

The Alapaha River rises in southeastern Dooly County, Georgia, and flows generally southeastwardly through or along the boundaries of Crisp, Wilcox, Turner, Ben Hill, Irwin, Tift, Berrien, Atkinson, Lanier, Lowndes and Echols Counties in Georgia, and Hamilton County in Florida, where it flows into the Suwannee River 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Jasper. Along its course it passes the Georgia towns of Pitts, Rebecca, Alapaha, Willacoochee, Lakeland, and Statenville.

Near Willacoochee, Georgia, the Alapaha collects the Willacoochee River. In Florida, it collects the Alapahoochee River and the short Little Alapaha River, which rises in Echols County, Georgia, and flows southwestward.

Intermittent river

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Dead_River_Sink.jpg" caption="The Dead River Sink"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/AlapahaRiver2002.jpg" caption="Image of the entire [[surface water]] flow of the Alapaha River near [[Jennings, Florida]] going into a [[sinkhole]] leading to the [[Floridan aquifer]] [[groundwater]]."] ::

The Alapaha River is an intermittent river for part of its course. During periods of low volume, the river disappears underground and becomes a subterranean river. At approximately 2.3 mi downstream from Jennings, Florida the Dead River enters the Alapaha River. It is a usually dry river bed with a number of sinkholes, including the Dead River Sink. During periods of low water flow, the Alapaha River downstream from the confluence of the Dead River and the Alapaha River flows upstream into the Dead River.

A few more miles downstream is a second sinkhole variously known as the Alapaha River Sink, Suck Hole, or the Devil's Den on the western bank of the river. At the latter point during the periods of low water flow, the Alapaha River disappears underground leaving a dry bank for much of the remainder of its course. The Alapaha River later reappears at the Alapaha River Rise, which is about a half mile upstream from the confluence of the Alapaha River and the Suwannee River (). During a period of low rainfall over 11 mi of the riverbed can be dry as the river goes underground.

Variant names

The United States Board of Geographic Names settled on the "Alapaha River" as the stream's name in 1891. According to the Geographic Names Information System, it has also been known as:

• Alabaha River
• Alapa Haw River
• Alapa Hawchu River
• Alla-pa-ha River
• Allallehaw River
• Allapacoochee River
• Allapaha River
• Allapauhau River
• Allaphaw River
• Allappaha River
• Allopohaw River
• Alloppehaw River
• Alopaha River
• Elapaha River
• Lappahaw River
• Lop Haw River
• Lopaha River
• Lopahatchy River
• Loppahaw River
• Low Haw River
• Popaha River

Crossings

::data[format=table]

Crossing	Carries	Image	Location	ID number	Coordinates
	Griffin Road
Buzzard Bridge	Willford Crossing Road
	County Line Road
	Seville Road
	Seville Road
	Seville-Pleasantview Road
	Old Cordele Road
	Flowers Road
	Watson Road
	Dowley Road
Rail bridge	CSX Transportation
Line formerly known as Savannah, Americus and Montgomery Railway
	[[File:US 280.svg	20px]]US 280
[[File:Georgia 30.svg	20px]] SR 30		Pitts, Georgia to Seville, Georgia
	Highway later replaced by [[File:Georgia 159.svg	20px]] SR 159
	[[File:Georgia 159.svg	20px]] SR 159
	Hawkinsville and Florida Southern Railway (Abandoned 1920s)
	[[File:Georgia 112.svg	20px]] SR 112
	Jay Calhoun Road
	[[File:Georgia 90.svg	20px]] SR 90		Rebecca, Georgia
Rail bridge	CSX Transportation
Line formerly known as Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railway
	Hawkinsville and Florida Southern Railway (Abandoned since before the 1920s)
	[[File:Georgia 107.svg	20px]] SR 107
Walker Ford
Flat Ford
	Crystal Lake Road
	[[File:Georgia 125.svg	20px]] SR 125
[[File:Georgia 132.svg	20px]] SR 132
	Tifton and Northeastern Railroad (Line abandoned in the 1960s, defunct)
Lennon Bridge	[[File:US 319.svg	20px]]US 319
[[File:Georgia 35.svg	20px]] SR 35
	5 Bridge Road
McMillan Bridge	[[File:US 129.svg	20px]]US 129
[[File:Georgia 11.svg	20px]] SR 11
Sgt. James E. Jones Memorial Bridge	[[File:US 82.svg	20px]]US 82
[[File:Georgia 50.svg	20px]] SR 50
Rail bridge	CSX Transportation
Line formally known as the Brunswick and Albany Railroad
PVT. George W. Lee Memorial Bridge	[[File:Georgia 135.svg	20px]] SR 135
	Norfolk Southern Railway
Line formerly known as Ocilla, Pinebloom and Valdosta Railroad
Mud Creek Bridge	[[File:Georgia 168.svg	20px]] SR 168
[[File:Georgia 64.svg	20px]] SR 64
	Waycross and Western Railroad (Closed 1925, defunct)
Knight's Bridge
Captain Henry Will Jones Bridge	[[File:US 129.svg	20px]]US 129
[[File:Georgia 11.svg	20px]] SR 11		Lakeland, Georgia to Homerville, Georgia
Carters Ferry/Bridge	(Defunct)		Lakeland, Georgia to Magnolia, Georgia.
Hotchkiss Bridge	Old State Road/Old River/Hotchiss Road (Built 1895, defunct)
	[[File:US 84.svg	20px]]US 84
[[File:Georgia 38.svg	20px]] SR 38		Naylor, Georgia to Stockton, Georgia
Rail bridge	CSX Transportation
Line formerly known as the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad (1856–79)
Lee Bridge	(Defunct)
Howells Ferry/Bridge	Howell Road (Old route, defunct)		Mayday, Georgia
	Howell Road		Mayday, Georgia
Rail bridge	Norfolk Southern Railway
Line formerly known as the Atlantic, Valdosta and Western Railway		Mayday, Georgia
Formally the location of Troublesome Ford	[[File:Georgia 94.svg	20px]] SR 94		Statenville, Georgia
	[[File:Florida 150.svg	25px]] SR 150	[[File:FL Jennings CR 150 bridge west01.jpg	100px]]	Jennings, Florida to Jasper, Florida
Rail bridge	Norfolk Southern Railway
Line formerly known as Georgia Southern and Florida Railway	[[File:FL Jennings near CR 150 RR bridge01.jpg	100px]]
	NW 14th Terrace (Defunct)
	[[File:US 41.svg	20px]] US 41	[[File:US 41 Alapaha River bridge west02.jpg	100px]]	Jennings, Florida to Jasper, Florida
	[[File:I-75.svg	20px]] Interstate 75
	(Defunct)
	SW County Road 751	[[File:FL CR 751 Alapaha River bridge south01.jpg	100px]]	Alapaha River Rise
::

References

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. [http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ The National Map] {{webarchive. link. (2012-03-29 , accessed April 18, 2011)
2. George Ransford Fairbanks, ''History of Florida from its discovery by Ponce de Leon, in 1512 to the close of the Florida War in 1842''. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1871, p. 60.
3. Fairbanks, p. 76.
4. John Reed Swanton, ''Indian Tribes of North America'', p. 147.
5. Hann, John H.. (April 1990). "Summary Guide to Spanish Florida Missions and Visitas. With Churches in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries". The Americas.
6. [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/6612400 Alapaha, the squaw or, The renegades of the border [WorldCat.org]]
7. . (23 February 1865). ["Disgraceful"](http://sgnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/sgnewspapers/view?docId=bookreader/alp/alp1865/alp1865-0010.mets.xml;query=deserter;brand=sgnewspapers-brand#page/n0/mode/1up). *Albany Patriot*.

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