Petersburg, Georgia was an upriver market town located in Wilkes County, Georgia (now Elbert County). Now dead or defunct, it was named after Petersburg, Virginia, and founded by Dionysius Oliver in 1786 to serve the rapidly growing Broad River Valley region of Georgia (Coulter 1965:32). It enjoyed connection via pole boat with Augusta, Georgia, following the Savannah River (Coulter 1965:49). Petersburg gained importance as a tobacco inspection station, vital to local planters in obtaining good prices for their casked produce. During the peak of its prosperity, from 1800 to 1810, it was the third-largest city in Georgia, after Savannah and Augusta (Jones Jr.