Gary-Summer: GA-Atlanta History Center

Showing posts with label GA-Atlanta History Center. Show all posts

Thursday, March 27, 2025

March 27, 2025 - Atlanta, Atlanta History Center

Our AirBnB

Title: March 27, 2025 - Atlanta, Atlanta History Center
Hike Info : Description : Menu : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type:Touring

Description:

I slept well last night and judging by Sherri’s decrease in coughing, so did she.That medicine helped her. The time we spent going to Kaiser yesterday, well worth it. I get up at 7:45. Sherri is about half an hour behind me. For breakfast, I make pancakes-this time for real instead of oatmeal. I finished up on yesterday’s blog writeup. We finally left the AirBnB at 11.

We are to pick up the #110 southbound bus. This means crossing the busy Peachtree Street. We do that at the light. And this is where our morning gets a bit more interesting. A delivery driver, making a left turn, seems to be ignoring that there are people in the crosswalk, crossing with the walk sign. We yell and scream at him and try to get out of his way. About ten feet from us he finally sees us and stops suddenly. He looks very apologetic.

From WW I

Now if that is not enough excitement. When the 110 bus does come, we get on OK. But a man comes on after us and does not pay his fare. He ignores the driver, then argues with her. Then starts calling her ugly names, finally threatening her. I get a little bit under two minutes video and send it to MARTA. He does leave when a MARTA security person comes up to the bus.

We go down Peachtree on 110 until we get to W Paces Ferry Road where we get off. It is a couple block walk to the Atlanta History Center. This place is large, unlike some of the other “town” history places we have been to. These tend to be in a house which was scheduled to be demolished. This is a whole block long, multistory building with a garden on the backside as well. We paid our admission-I asked if a volunteer fire lookout in California qualifies as a first responder. He says no and then gives us a discount. Second time on this trip.

The first area we hit is the Stories of Atlanta area. It starts with a timeline of the city from when there were Native Americans in the city to the current day. It then weaves us through much of the culture of Atlanta. The clothing and factories and how African--Americans were treated. From what I can tell, the Center tells not only of the greatness of the city, but also the warts of its past. This is different from what I was expecting. In many cases a city’s history has been whitewashed to reflect and develop a sense of civic pride. It takes us close to an hour to go through this part.

Then onward to the Civil War. The Center takes us through year-by-year of the War, starting from Lincoln's election in 1860. As a note: Lincoln won only 40% of the popular vote, but won the Electoral College. They show us uniforms, packs, contents of the pack, guns, and ammunition. Each year we are shown what each side wanted to accomplish and then what was actually done. It became evident to me that this was more of a war of attrition and wishful thinking than strategic victories. We spent over an hour here. Very impressive.

It is about 2:40. There is a film which starts at 3 at the Cyclorama. What is that you might ask? It is a gigantic painting in the round. Turns out the film is more of a history of this particular Cyclorama than the contents. This one started by a group of German artists in Wisconsin to depict the North winning the Battle of Atlanta as a money making venture. It then traveled around, until it reached Atlanta. When it got there, the mayor decided that they could not have the North winning this battle, so the blue coasts were painted red and the red blue. Volia! The South won this battle! It was only when Maynard Jackson felt the need to get this into better housing that the deception was discovered. So it was repainted again when it was restored. Then in 2017 it was moved to the History Center.

As I was looking at this Cyclorama, I realized that I had seen another Cyclorama before when I was in high school in Gettysburg. But this is here and now. This is a whole different perspective than just a flat painting of a conflict. As I work my way around it, I am seeing different sides of the battle. Over there is a battle line, up on the hill is Sherman looking at the fighting, while cannons are being destroyed. And then the artists had great detail, including shadowing on faces.

In the 1930’s when Clark Gable came to town for the Premier of Gone With The Wind, he saw the Cyclorama and said it was perfect, except he was not in it. So the mayor at the time, had a dummy made up with Gable's face, dead. Perfect.

Clark Gable, dead in the Civil Ware

Sherri and I were mesmerized by displays about how it was put together. We spent another 20 minutes looking at that until we were told the Center was closing. What so early? It closes at 4pm. Guess we should have gotten there earlier.

Now that it is after 4pm, we are wondering about dinner. We had thought of going over to MaryMac’s for an early dinner, but that is an hour away. Maybe tomorrow when we visit the Carter Library. So we wandered around Buckhead. At a stop light, we asked a young lady about good restaurants in the area. She gives us some tips. Turns out she is from Ukraine. She points us in a direction. So we go towards where she said. Sherri spots a security patrol and asks the same question and he gives us three names.

We came across Taverna first, an Italian restaurant. Apparently there is more than one of these in the South. Sherri has us get a Ceasar Salad which we split. Then she orders a Paglia e Fieno pasta while I have Risotto Saffron and Sausage. Both are good. We are content.

We leave and just miss the bus. So we walk about a third of a mile, passing a couple stops just to stretch our legs. Then we stop and wait for the 110 bus. We talked with another passenger while waiting. We want to be dropped off by Walgreens, but the driver either does not hear the stop requested or ignores it. We ended up at the Brookhaven MARTA station. So we get to walk back. That is OK. We stop at Walgreens and then head back to the AirBnB to lounge around until bedtime, about 10 tonight.

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Pancakes		Taverna

Extra Photo's

Top of the Cyclorama

US Major John Blackjack Logan

Artillery Embankment

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

March 25, 2025 - Atlanta, Oakland Cemetery

Title: March 25, 2025 - Atlanta, Oakland Cemetery
Hike Info : Description : Background : Menu : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type:Touring

Description:

I did not sleep well last night. I lounged around starting about 4:30 and finally dozed off then woke up at 7:30. Sherri got up shortly after I did. She is feeling better and willing to go out again. It looks like we will visit the Oakland Cemetery and the Atlanta Central Library where the Margaret Mitchell papers are held.

But before that, I fix us French toast for breakfast. Then I cleaned up. We do take our time going out the door. Today should be a light day, so there is not much rush, as if there is ever a rush.

Maynard Jackson

We leave after 11:20, picking up the #110 bus in front of Krogers. This will save us a few steps. The bus takes us to the MARTA Brookhaven station where we pick up our favorite train, one which is Gold. We transferred at Five Points onto the Green and I figured to go to the bus at the Georgia State University station. But there is a slight problem-how do we get out of the station? A nice guard at the school told us: get on the train and go down to King Memorial and we will be right there. We have found that Atlantians are soooo very friendly.

We went to the King Memorial station-the same one as last Saturday. Oakland Cemetery is right in back of it. We walked about two blocks and came to the “Visitor Center”. Actually, it is a store. We buy a map of the cemetery and one of the docents shows us where we really want to go, based upon what we said.

When we entered the Cemetery, the oldest part of it was on our left. It also seems to be a bit run down, or maybe just aged.. But after a few more steps, we see our first citizen which we know about, Maynard Jackson, the first Black mayor of Atlanta. I have probably just overstated my knowledge. There is name recognition and I knew that he was mayor, but that is about all. But he has an impressive marker.

Confederate Grave

Also, there is a marker for the Hibernian Benevolent Society of Atlanta-whatever that is. Apparently it is connected with the Irish section of the cemetery.

Then onward. We head due north. After about five minutes of strolling, we came to Mecca. This is the Mitchell-Marsh grave site. On one side of the marker is Margaret Mitchell’s parents. But on the other is the author herself along with her husband. Compared to other gravesite markers, theirs seems to be understated. But from my limited knowledge of the author, she did not like publicity so this would seem to fit into her character. We pay appropriate homage to her before moving on.

There is a section with a high mausoleum density. We observe them. This makes me wonder about the value of such edifices. I will be pondering that for the rest of our time in the cemetery. I see the name of a person whom we know from these parts and wonder if this is his family. He does not think so-I had Facebook Messaged him on this.

Cherry Tree in Bloom

Then it is past the greenhouse which does not have any greenery in it. Then the African-American Burial Grounds. There is a phone tour of this part of the grounds which if we were more prepared, we could have availed ourselves of. Cemeteries used to be more divided than they are now. Each ethnic or religion had there own area. In this case Blacks were not “good enough” to be buried close to Whites-see the YouTube lecture. Even though the Confederate Burial grounds are just catty corner to the African-American place. We do not go over to the Potter’s Field area with its unmarked graves.

Kenny Rogers

To go back to the Confederate Burial Grounds, there are those who had large burial monuments. But then there were hundreds, maybe into a thousand “traditional” gravestones with the person's name, and CSA on them. Some had what company they were with and the regiment. So sad all of the loss and in many ways the animality. I wonder how many more died without anybody knowing their names. Also where were the Union soldiersburied?

We then we went past the Jewish Burial Grounds-they did not look too much different than the rest of the Grounds. Two other “name” sites were on our list. The first was Kenny Rogers who we saw once in Fresno. The other was the golfer Bobby Jones. Particularly Rodgers' grave made me think that why have something so elaborate?

One Margaret Mitchel Sq

This gets me back to that wondering about burial monuments. I wondered how many of those monuments have people who come back and mourn them? Who are these elaborate places for? Are they for the living or more because the dead thought they needed something as grand as their ego’s or maybe during their time, they were great people and those of their time thought they needed to be remembered in this way? I think Margaret Mitchell had it right. Have something which just said I was here and now I am not. If you come by, remember something about me.

We stopped by the visitor center on the way out. Sherri looks and I read outside. Sherri had wondered what some of the symbols on the burial monuments meant. The docent at the center, a different one than when we went in, gives Sherri a bookmark with the various symbols and the reason. Such as a cloth over the monument meant this may be a Jewish person buried here as well as it may also symbolize a parting of the veil between this world and the next.

With GPSMyCity, they have a Gone With The Wind walking tour. Friday we visited two of the sites: the Margaret Mitchell House and the Georgia Terrace Hotel. Today we visited Oakland Cemetery which is the third. The last one is the Atlanta Central Library.

We hop on the Green train and return to Five Points. When we got out of the station, we must have looked like tourists, because a man came up and directed us where to go. An 18 year old homeless guy follows us saying that he is hungry. We give him a bag of almonds.

Carter Books

Shortly afterwards we came to Margaret Mitchell Square. The library is right there. We go in and have a TSA style search. But we passed. We are told that the Margeret Mitchell exhibit is on the third floor. We use the elevator. In looking at the exhibit, which consists of some of her artifacts such as a typewriter and her library card, her reference books and some copies of Gone With The Wind. All of these are behind glass on shelves. After the museum at the Margaret Mitchell House, this is a bit understated. We spent a total of ten minutes there.

We then descend into the Peachtree Station. Descend is the right word as it goes a long way down. But we are able to catch the Gold train back to Brookhaven.

Fox Brothers

By this time it is 4:00pm and we are starting to get hungry. Across Peachtree Station are some restaurants. After pondering for a while, we decided that barbeque is good. We went to Fox Brothers BBQ-apparently it is a local chain as we see others later on. We both ordered a pulled pork sandwich. I had fries and Sherri with Mac&Cheese. Both are good tasting and satisfying.

Then it is a walk back to the AirBnB. We do not do much more this evening, except to plan out the second week of being in Atlanta. We will go to the MLK National Historic Park tomorrow. Then the Atlanta History Center on Thursday and Friday the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. I get to bed a little after 10. Sherri is later than that.

Background

Union Burial Site. Later I found out that the Union soldiers were buried in a National Cemetery in Marietta, GA. There were 13,000 soldiers buried there.

Bobby Jones. The Country Club which I walked by yesterday? Bobby Jones was a member of it.