Cordele is a city and the county seat of Crisp County in south-central Georgia, situated along Interstate 75 roughly halfway between Macon and Valdosta. The city calls itself the Watermelon Capital of the World, a title rooted in the surrounding region's long agricultural tradition and celebrated each year at its Watermelon Days Festival. At the 2020 census, Cordele had a population of 10,220. The city's location on Interstate 75, one of the Southeast's principal north-south corridors, has long made it a waypoint for travelers between the Atlanta region and the Florida line. Cordele also grew around the railroad, and that heritage survives in the SAM Shortline Excursion Train, a vintage rail operation that carries visitors through the surrounding countryside. Just east of the city, Lake Blackshear, an 8,700-acre reservoir on the Flint River, anchors recreation and tourism for the area. Cordele's economy blends agriculture, transportation, and services. Watermelons and other row crops remain important to Crisp County, while the interstate and rail corridors support distribution, hospitality, and retail. Georgia Veterans State Park, situated on the shores of Lake Blackshear, draws visitors for camping, boating, and its military heritage. Public education is provided by the Crisp County School District, which serves the city and surrounding county. The downtown courthouse square anchors civic life, and the surrounding neighborhoods range from older in-town homes to mid-century and newer construction. Cordele's identity as a watermelon-growing center dates to the early twentieth century, when the region's sandy soils proved well suited to the crop, and that title remains a point of local pride reflected in the annual festival.