Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon, Located just before Eatonton on the way to Athens along U.S. Highway 441, and it is located on the Oconee River. The relatively-rapid current of the Oconee here made this an attractive location to build a city. It was the capital of Georgia from 1806 to 1868, notably during the American Civil War. Milledgeville was preceded as the capital city by Louisville, and it was succeeded by Atlanta, the current capital. The population of the town of Milledgeville was 18,757 at the 2000 census. Milledgeville is along the route of the under-construction Fall Line Freeway, an expressway in name only, but still a major Georgia state highway. This highway will link Milledgeville with Augusta, Macon, and Columbus, other Fall Line cities with long histories from Colonial Georgia. Milledgeville is the principal city of the Milledgeville Micropolitan Statistical Area, a micropolitan area that covers Baldwin and Hancock counties and had a combined population of 54,776 at the 2000 census.