Augusta was first settled about 11,500 years ago by Paleo-Indians. They left behind ceremonial mounds, burial grounds, shell middens and artifacts. One of these middens (trash heaps) was uncovered during excavation of the 12th green at Augusta National Golf Club in 1931. Gold and quartz were also found in the metamorphic rock underlying this area -- rock created from 550-million-year-old water-worn volcanic ash deposited when this region was beneath the Atlantic Ocean.

Augusta and the Augusta National are located in the Sandhills area of the Atlantic coastal plain and the Appalachian Piedmont area that was once the home of giant crocodiles, dinosaurs, and a gigantic marine creature known as a trilobite. More recently this was a crossroads where Cherokee and Creek trading paths converged. The Golf Club is now completed surrounded by the city, although once it was forested and part of plantations. One of the owners of this area was John Milledge, who later became a governor of Georgia (the town of Milledgeville was named for him).

Club property also once included a water-powered gristmill and a cotton gin, both under one roof. The ruins were discovered in the 1980s when the modern dam was built in the creek near the 11th green. Pieces of old millstones can still be found in the area.

The Augusta National Golf Club is an important piece of Augusta's history that envelops much of the area's history within its bounds. But don't let that distract you when you're ready to tee up.