Over 60 acres of Gay, Georgia hit the market as family prepares to sell piece of historic small town

A sizable portion of the city of Gay in Georgia's Meriwether County is listed for sale at $13.5 million.

A real estate listing says the Summerour family is selling about 60 acres, including 17 buildings, in Gay, which is about an hour south of Atlanta.

The release states the listing includes commercial storefronts, hospitality venues, homes, farm and timber land along with the grounds of the Gay Cotton Fair.

"It's not most of the town. The downtown area, what we call a historical commercial area," said Christopher Walker, the volunteer mayor of Gay.

Walker estimates the property makes up less than 20% of the town.

"On the east side of the highway between the railroad tracks is what we call the fairgrounds. And that has been the home to the Cotton Fair since the mid-70s," said Walker.

The town's roots can be traced back to William Gay. He opened its first store and post office in 1882, according to the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. The town grew after a railroad line came through in 1907 and later thrived on cotton and then peaches.

Descendants of William Gay eventually turned the town's cotton gin and peach packing complex into the fairgrounds, which host the fair on the first weekend of May and October each year.

Walker said the listing includes several historic buildings.

"The 1911 building is the original general store. The hardware store in town, of course, dates from 1911 … and that's where the Towerhouse Brewery is today," he said.

Walker said Gay is a rural town.

"We kind of cater to entertainment and rural country, stuff like that," he said.

The listing agents just announced the sale of this slice of Meriwether County history. You can learn more here.