Marietta in History
Regina Rambo
1910
In 1910, Regina Rambo was a woman on the move. She entered a "good roads tour," sponsored by the Atlanta Constitution. The Marietta Journal reported that she cut a dashing figure in her tan auto cloak, brown bonnet with rosettes and long streamers of veiling and brown gauntlets. One account says that when she appeared she was greeted by enthusiastic applause – "It was a novel sight."* To prepare for the rigorous trip, she shortened her skirts to three or four inches from the floor.
The roads actually weren't so good – in some places they dwindled to mere paths – but she drove 1,000 miles throughout Georgia in less than ten days in her $2,750 Columbia automobile. She completed her trip with a perfect score and was presented with an engraved loving cup bearing these words:
"Presented to Miss Regina Rambo by the Atlanta Constitution. The first woman to drive an automobile 1,000 miles around Georgia. October 26, 1910."
Glover V, James Bolan; McTyre, Joe and Paden, Rebecca Nash. Images of Marietta 1833-2000.
Knight, Lucian Lamar. Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials, and Legends.*
Temple, Sarah Blackwell Gober. The First Hundred Years.