Georgia > West Central Region > Muscogee County > Columbus

More than 6,000 displays, including “World War II Street,” are included in the $100 million Columbus National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning.

Put yourself in the boots of the infantrymen from the French and Indian War and the American Revolution to events in Vietnam to the sands of the Persian Gulf at this unique historical center and its ever-changing kaleidoscope of more than 6,000 displays.

The new $100 million, National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center sits on 200 acres of majestic pines and hardwoods where Columbus meets Fort Benning, the home of the Infantry. It is the first world-class museum to pay tribute to the U.S. Army infantryman and his 230-plus years of service to America.

Heritage Walk. A 20-foot wide walkway that connects the museum with a five-acre parade field where friends and family can watch loved ones graduate from infantry training. The walk is lined with the flags of all 50 states and custom engraved granite pavers honoring those who’ve served or anyone who has supported a service member.

World War II Street. Visit an authentically re-created company street from the 1940s, featuring a chapel, barracks, mess hall and the headquarters and sleeping quarters once used by General George Patton.

Rifle Range. As kids of all ages try their hand in a weapons firing simulator just like the Army uses, they’ll learn the lessons that freedom is not free.

IMAX 3D Theater at Patriot Park. The area’s only 3D IMAX theater, where award-winning documentaries and Hollywood blockbusters alike are shown on a screen 5 stories high and 70 feet high.

The Fife and Drum Restaurant. Enjoy a fine dining experience with classic American fare served by a professional, dedicated staff well versed in Southern hospitality.

Soldier Store Gift Shop. Stop at the Soldier Store to purchase everything from teddy bears in camouflage t-shirts to hand-crafted art glass pieces.

Links:

• Read more about Columbus National Infantry Museum.
• Read more about other Columbus, Georgia, travel and recreation resources.

Georgia > West Central Georgia > Troup County > LaGrange

By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

The historic Ferrell Gardens at Hills & Dales Estate is one of the best preserved 19th-century gardens in the Southeast United States.

Many people are familiar with Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain. Fewer people are familiar with Hills & Dales Estate in LaGrange, but the Callaway family established both attractions and the historic gardens at Hills & Dales have their own uniqueness and beauty.

Hills & Dales Estate is the home of the historic Ferrell Gardens. Created by Sarah Coleman Ferrell (1817-1903), the formal boxwood garden is among the best preserved 19th century gardens in the Southeastern United States. Since 1912, the extraordinary gardens have been tended and cherished by the Fuller E. Callaway family.

The centerpiece of Hills & Dales Estate is a beautiful Georgian Italian villa, designed by the noted Atlanta architectural firm of Hentz & Reid in 1914. The classically inspired architecture and remarkable craftsmanship have made Hills and Dales one of the most admired homes in the Southeastern United States. Built for Fuller E. Callaway, Sr. and his wife Ida, the home is furnished with family heirlooms and antiques.

Links:

• Read more about Hills & Dales Estate
• Find more LaGrange travel and recreation resources

Georgia > West Central Georgia > Stewart County > Lumpkin

By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

A craftsman shows young Westville visitors the fine points of weaving a traditional cotton basket.

Westville is an outdoor history museum which depicts an 1850 west Georgia village. You may have seen pictures of little towns like Westville. They dotted the 1850s countryside in the southern United States.

Westville has been designed so that visitors can experience a community in the 21st century similar to the ones in which our ancestors lived in the middle of the 19th century. See where the antebellum townspeople worshiped, voted and went to school. Westville has over 30 authentically restored and furnished pre-Civil War buildings: houses, stores, workshops, churches, school, and courthouse. In fact, it has all the ingredients of a functioning town.

Guides and interpreters are in 1850’s dress and will take you through the town and share with you the history of Westville, its people, and their times.

Links:

• Read more about Westville
• Find more Lumpkin travel and recreation resources

Georgia > West Central Georgia > Meriwether County > Warm Springs

By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

The Little White House in Warm Springs was the Georgia home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and is a good place for introducing your child to United States history. 

In 1932 while he was still governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt built a house in Warm Springs, Georgia, so that he could stay there when he came to receive treatment for polio at the Warm Springs Rehabilitation Center. After he was inaugurated as President in 1933, the house became known as The Little White House.

The Little White House is pleasant, peaceful and has a real sense of history. Roosevelt spent a lot of time in Warm Springs during his presidency, which spanned an era from The Great Depression until nearly the end of World War II. You can imagine him pondering the difficulties of both in this serene atmosphere. It is known that he developed many New Deal programs, such as the Rural Electrification Administration, based on his experiences in the small town and Meriwether County. (more…)

By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

Georgia > Coastal Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah

Kids and their parents can participate in all kinds of artistic activities in the ArtZeum Gallery in the Jepson Center for the Arts at Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah. 

The oldest public art museum in the South, Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, is also one of its finest. Founded in 1883 when prominent Savannah philanthropist Mary Telfair left her home and its furnishing to the Georgia Historical Society to be opened as a museum, today’s Telfair consists of three unique buildings: the Telfair Academy, the Owens-Thomas House, and the Jepson Center for the Arts.

Designed in the Regency style by English architect William Jay, the Telfair Academy, a National Historic Landmark, houses 19th- and 20th-century American and European art from the museum’s permanent collection, including paintings, works on paper, sculpture, and decorative arts.

The Owens-Thomas House, also a National Historic Landmark and also designed by William Jay but notably different in style, is considered one of the finest examples of English Regency architecture in the country. In addition to the historic house museum - featuring decorative art ranging from the late 18th to the early 19th century - the site includes rare intact urban slave quarters, an English-inspired parterre garden, and an original carriage house. (more…)

By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

Georgia > West Central Georgia > Troup County > LaGrange

At the Explorations in Antiquity Center, you can experience the food and drink common to the culture of the ancient Middle East at an authentic Passover meal.

Want to do a little archaeological digging around – Indiana Jones style? How about with a real-live Indiana Jones type teacher, showing you authentic archaeological techniques, step-by-step? If this sounds like an exciting way to spend a day, Explorations in Antiquity Center in LaGrange might just prove to be an adventurous and educational destination for you and your family.

Explorations in Antiquity Center is a museum with full-scale archaeological reconstructions of discoveries from the ancient world. This museum shakes off the dust of history and presents it to all ages in unique and unforgettable ways.

You will find four separate Kid’s Dig pits. One, geared to very young explorers, contains dinosaur remains and other fossils. The other three are for older kids and are based on archaeological excavations of actual sites, ranging in time from the 15th century BCE to the second century CE. Real artifacts and replicas—things like coins, pottery shards, oil lamps, ancient fishing equipment, a stone anchor, mosaics and carved stones—are buried in the sand of these pits. One pit, centered in the early Roman era, is for elementary students. A bi-level Iron Age pit is for middle schoolers. The last, which has three strata ranging from late Roman to Byzantine periods, is geared toward high school students.

The Explorations in Antiquity Center is not just for kids, though—it is for people of all ages, customs and faiths who are interested in seeing the lives and practices of ancient peoples brought into fresh interpretation. You can visit a Time Tunnel, where you will learn about ancient worship practices, ranging from Canaanite paganism to Byzantine Christianity and covering a period of roughly 3,000 years. The Garden Walk features Middle Eastern plants, such as 200-year-old olive trees. You will also see authentic Bedouin goat-hair tents and numerous re-creations: pagan and Jewish altars, an olive press, a first-century residence and tomb, a threshing floor, and an area depicting the brutal Roman method of execution, crucifixion.

You can try your hand at bread making in the fashion Middle Eastern shepherds have employed for thousands of years. You also can dine as ancient Israelis did with a recreated Passover meal, featuring skewered and roasted chicken; unleavened bread; nuts; olives; sun-dried fruits; “bitter herbs,” such as radish, parsley and onion; several Middle Eastern dips; wine and water.

Explorations in Antiquity Center is a one-of-a-kind museum and a great destination for everyone.

Links:

• Read more about Explorations in Antiquity Center.
• Read more about other travel and recreation resources in and around LaGrange.

By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

Georgia > Coastal Georgia > Glynn County > Brunswick

Sailing through Sidney Lanier’s “Marshes of Glynn” is just one of the recreational experiences you can have on a family vacation to Brunswick and the Golden Isles. 

Any time of year is a good time to visit the coastal town of Brunswick and the four Georgia barrier islands that are known as the Golden Isles – St. Simons Island, Little St. Simons Island, Sea Island and Jekyll Island.

Take a Georgia family vacation to Brunswick and the Golden Isles for beaches, kayaking, horseback riding, hiking, biking, deep sea fishing, dolphin cruises, historical tours, golf, camping, dining, shopping, museums, galleries and much, much more.

Below are some of the places you can visit on a trip to Brunswick and the Golden Isles.

• Brunswick’s Old Town Historic District
• Georgia Sea Turtle Center
• Jekyll Island Club Hotel
• King and Prince Resort
• Lodge on Little St. Simons Island
• The Cloister at Sea Island

Links:

• Read more about Brunswick and the Golden Isles.
• Read more about all of Georgia’s major barrier islands.
• See an interactive maps showing the Golden Island and all of Georgia’s major barrier islands.

By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

Georgia > Atlanta Metro  > Fulton County > Atlanta

Art is a real hands-on experience at the High Museum’s “Toddler Thursday” workshops in the Greene Family Learning Gallery.

There are numerous reasons to visit the High Museum of Art in Atlanta—everything from the permanent collection “American Art” to the newly opened exhibition “Leonardo da Vinci: Hand of the Genius.” But did you know about the ongoing family programs that the High hosts each week?

Toddler Thursday is just that — on Thursdays between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., you can drop by the Greene Family Learning Gallery (a space designed for children where families can play together in five, fun activity areas) with your 2 - 5 year old to create a piece of art. Remaining projects for Toddler Thursdays this month show parents and little ones how to make collages (October 22) and wearable crowns (October 29).

Often, the High Museum of Art presents programs for families that are an outgrowth of current exhibitions. For instance, in conjunction with its John Portman exhibit, the museum will collaborate with the American Institute of Architects to present the Youth Architecture Fair for students, teachers and families on October 24. (more…)

By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

Georgia > Northwest Georgia Mountains > Bartow County > Cartersville

The Booth Western Art Museum exhibits one of the most important collections of contemporary Western art in the country, including this painting, “Crazy Mountain Saddle Slickers” by Carrie Fell. 

Basically, this is a museum of Western art, but it is also a wonderful place to learn about the West — its people, both Native Americans and cowboys, their culture, and their way of life. In fact, their slogan is “Explore the West without Leaving the South.”

The only museum of its kind in the Southeast and the second largest art museum in Georgia, galleries of Booth Western Art Museum feature primarily Western artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. More than 200 Western artists display work here. Permanent collections include the American West Gallery, the Mythic West Gallery, the Reel West Gallery, and the Cowboy Gallery. Now through October 25 is “Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography” and “Painting the Canyon: Works from Grand Canyon Collections” in the Special Exhibition Gallery and through November 8 is “Route 66 Meets Highway 41: Roadside Impressions by Chuck Middlekauff” in the Theatre Lobby Gallery.

It’s easy to get your child actively involved with the museum’s art by picking up a Saddlebag upon your arrival that is filled with family activities that you can do during your visit. You will also want to spend time in SageBrush Range, a hands-on play area, where they can touch and interact with exhibits. Children can climb in a ¾-scale stagecoach; recreate Native American beadwork; learn about people who explored and settled the West; listen to cowboy songs, poetry and jokes; weave on a real loom; watch vintage Western television programs; or learn to draw a horse or buffalo. They can even experience being a Chuck Wagon cook at a replica of a chuck wagon. (more…)

By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

Georgia > Northwest Georgia Mountains > Bartow County > Cartersville

Amazing stone effigies found during excavation at the Etowah Indian Mounds are on display in the historic site’s museum. 

There are several places in Georgia where you can explore Native American Indian Mounds, but Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site in Bartow County is one of the most interesting.

This is the most intact Mississippian Culture site in the Southeastern United States. From about 1000 A.D. to 1550 A.D., it was home to several thousand Indians. There are six earthen mounds, which were used for a variety of purposes: platforms for buildings, stages for ceremonial events, and cemeteries for the community’s elite. There is also a village area, a plaza, borrow pits, and a defensive ditch on the 54-acre site.

Only nine percent of this site has been excavated, but that excavation has been astounding in the artifacts that have been discovered and what they have revealed about the people who once lived here. Over the years, excavations have unearthed thousands of artifacts, including feathered headdresses, ceremonial axes, pipes and copper plates. The Museum at the site is well worth the trip. There are well-preserved stone effigies and objects made of shells, stone and wood among many other artifacts. (more…)