WAYCROSS

city, seat (1824) of Ware county, southeastern Georgia, U.S., on the coastal plain. Early white settlers built blockhouses in the area in the 1820s as a protection against Indians. Originally the hub of stagecoach and pioneer trails, Waycross developed as a sawmill, turpentine, and farming community. The city's name signifies its location at the junction of roads and rail lines. The economy is based on tobacco and light industry. Waycross State Forest and the northern entrance to the Okefenokee Swamp Park and Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge are a few miles south. Inc. 1874. Pop. (1991 est.) 16,776.