Welcome to the Elijah Clarke Chapter, NSDAR

In 1892, the Athens Chapter of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution was established. After a faltering start, the Athens Chapter disbanded for several years. The spirit of patriotism and the purposes of the national organization remained strong in the area, and on February 12, 1901, fourteen local ladies gathered at the home of Anna Camak to reorganize a local DAR chapter. This they did, and they chose to name their new chapter in honor of Gen. Elijah Clarke, a Revolutionary War general who defended the frontier of northern Georgia.

The early members of the Elijah Clarke Chapter, NSDAR, moved quickly to establish a positive presence in the community. In 1904, the chapter presented its first of many gifts to Athens, the handsome monument to General Clarke that now stands in the middle of Broad Street downtown. Over the years, the chapter has marked many historic sites in and around Athens--including the graves of Elijah and Hanna Clarke in nearby Lincoln County, and the graves of Revolutionary War soldiers buried in the Old Athens Cemetery on Jackson Street. Many other monuments and markings are displayed around the area to educate future generations of Americans about the lives and sacrifices of our earliest citizens. Our chapter, Elijah Clarke, promised to collect and preserve documents and records of the Revolutionary War period, and continues to do so.

Elijah Clarke claims two “Dazzling Daughters” who made huge contributions to the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and to their Country.

May Erwin Talmadge was the eighteenth President General of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. 1944-1947. Active in the NSDAR for more than sixty-two years, Mrs. Talmadge was the first President General to be elected from Georgia and the only Georgian to hold that office to date. Her grave at Oconee Hills Cemetery in Athens, GA was marked by the Georgia State Society,NSDAR in 1975.

Moina Michael was an educator and humanitarian who conceived the idea of using poppies as a symbol of remembrance for those who served in World War I. In 1948, four years after her death, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring her life’s achievement. In 1969, the Georgia General Assembly named a section of U.S. Highway 78 the Moina Michael Highway. Conservation and town beautification efforts have long been a focus of chapter work. A white oak tree planted on the grounds of Chase Street School in 1935 to honor retiring Chapter Regent Annie Crawford was the first of many "Regent’s Trees" rooted in Elijah Clarke tradition. Since then, many oaks, dogwoods, and maples have been dedicated to the chapter’s retiring regents at schools and other public sites all over town and at Berry College.

With over a century of service behind them, the ladies of the Elijah Clarke Chapter, NSDAR, will not be content to rest in the twenty-first century. Instead, the nearly 150 local Daughters will continue to look for new and relevant ways to make the national organization’s motto, "God, Home, and Country," even more meaningful to our community and our nation.