For four years, a local historian tour guide who goes by the name of âOconee Joeâ has led ecology and history tours of Oconee waterways. People have the option of paddling canoes or kayaks for half a day, a whole day or even a weekend.
One of the half-day tour options is an eight-mile journey that lets paddlers see the last six miles of the Middle Oconee River and the first two miles of the converged Main Oconee rivers.Â
While paddlers, fish and fowl now use the Middle Oconee to traverse the region, Oconee Joe explained that indigenous people such as the Woodland, Mississippian and Creek tribes have used the corridor as a highway for over 10,000 years.Â