By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

Georgia > East Central Georgia > Richmond County > Augusta

“Back Porches, Macon, Georgia, 1948″ is one of the paintings currently hanging in the Emil Holzhauer: The Georgia Years exhibition at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta. 

For those who appreciate American Southern art – from the student to the aficionado – the Morris Museum of Art holds wonders. It is the first museum dedicated to the art and artists of the American South. The museum houses a permanent collection of nearly 5,000 pieces consisting of 200 years of Southern American paintings, including antebellum art, Civil War art, African-American art, early Southern 20th century paintings and contemporary works.

The Morris Museum of Art, located on downtown Augusta’s Riverwalk, hosts eight to ten special exhibitions every year. Exhibits for the remainder of this year include:

• Emil Holzhauer: The Georgia Years, August 29 – November 29, 2009
• William Christenberry: Photographs, 1961 – 2005, September 12 – November 8, 2009
• Response and Memory: The Art of Beverly Buchanan, November 21 – January 31, 2010
• Deep Sea: Drawings by William Golding, December 12 – March 14, 2010
• Regional Dialect: American Scene Paintings from the John and Susan Horseman Collection, March 6 – May 30, 2010

Read more about Museums in Georgia, Augusta, and Richmond County, or find other activities in the East Central Georgia Travel Region here at Brown’s Guides.

By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

Georgia > East Central Georgia > Richmond County > Augusta

28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson’s boyhood home in Augusta in a National Historic Landmark and open for tours. 

Woodrow Wilson said, “My earliest recollection is of standing at my father’s gateway in Augusta, Georgia, when I was four years old and hearing someone pass and say that Mr. Lincoln was elected and there was to be war.” Later, in 1865, Wilson would watch as Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, was led through the streets of Augusta in chains on his way to prison at Fortress Monroe.

The Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson was the place where he would spend the formative years of his childhood, years that would affect him for the rest of his life. Woodrow “Tommy” Wilson was one year old when he moved to Augusta when his father, Joseph Wilson, became pastor of Augusta’s First Presbyterian Church and three years old when he moved into the 14-room Presbyterian Manse, residing there with his family until 1870. While living in Augusta, Wilson experienced the hardships of the Civil War and Reconstruction. He also began his education, tasted leadership as president of the Lightfoot Baseball Club, and grounded his deep Presbyterian faith.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as the 28th President of the United States on March 4, 1913. His two-term administration was among the most notable in U.S. history. In 1917, during his second term, the United States entered World War I, and Wilson played an international role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Versailles and the organization of the League of Nations. (more…)

By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

Georgia > East Central Georgia > Richmond County > Augusta

Learning about science and technology is an adventure at National Science Center’s Fort Discovery. 

The National Science Center’s Fort Discovery in Augusta is an incredible exploration of science and technology that the entire family will enjoy.

Your visit begins at Riverfront Plaza and Balcony. From there, you can tour Martian Towers, a 22-foot tall, space-themed climbing structure that features numerous climbing and interactive play areas throughout its multiple levels. The Knox Gallery showcases traveling exhibits, special presentation and programs. In the Math, Motion and Momentum Gallery, you’ll experience the science of motion and have fun with numbers and mathematical probability. In the Power Generation Gallery, you’ll discover the many different ways by which electrical energy can be produced: wind, heat, chemical, solar, free fall weight, and matter. Explore the science of everyday living as you experiment with thermostats, alarms and other sensors in the Everyday Technologies Gallery; and interact with machines that use a variety of technologies to accomplish difficult or unusual tasks in the Robotics Gallery. (more…)

By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

Georgia > East Central Georgia > Richmond County > Augusta

The first black kindergarten in Augusta was started by Lucy Craft Laney at the Haines Normal and Industrial Institute in what is now the Laney–Walker North Historic District.

Augusta is a beautiful, historic town in Richmond County with a significant amount of African-American history. To begin putting it all together, an interesting area to tour is the Laney–Walker North Historic District.

The construction of the Georgia Railroad in 1833 and the building of the Augusta Canal from 1845-47 brought many laborers in need of housing to Augusta and triggered the development of this neighborhood. Until the end of the 19th century, it was a well-integrated, multi-ethnic working-class community associated with three of Augusta’s historic minority populations—Irish, Chinese, and African American.

The district is significant for its wide variety of modest residential, commercial, and institutional buildings dating from the mid-19th through the early-20th century. By that time, Jim Crow “zoning” laws, requiring blacks and whites to settle in blocks designated by race, quickly transformed the district into Augusta’s principal black neighborhood. New companies located in the area to provide service to the black population. One of these, the Penny Savings Bank, was one of the first independently owned black banks when it was started at the turn of the 20th century. (more…)

By SHERRI SMITH BROWN

Legendary baseball player Ty Cobb is just one of the many Georgia natives whose story is told at the Augusta Museum of History. 

From the area’s famous persons to its 12,000-year history, the Augusta Museum of History delivers fascinating permanent and current exhibits that make a visit to this Richmond County city well worth the trip.

Recently opened, “The Godfather of Soul, Mr. James Brown” exhibit features costumes worn by the Augusta native, family photographs, and audio-visual stations with the Godfather of Soul in action on the stage. Baseball legend Ty Cobb’s story is part of the exhibit “From Ty to Cal: A Century of Baseball in Augusta,” and “Remembering the Augusta National” highlights the personalities who have been associated with that celebrated Augusta institution.

The Susan L. Still Children’s Discovery Gallery is thrilling for younger children. They can command a space shuttle mission, fly a plane, and canoe the Savannah River. Children 3 - 16 can take part in the Hunt for History scavenger hunt, looking for the odd and mysterious as they travel through time discovering Augusta’s history from prehistoric to present day. The museum’s summer camp, “Imagination Station: Explorers! History Camp,” is currently registering children ages 9 – 11 for a week long discovery of the region’s explorers, like William Bartram, Blackbeard the Pirate and Astronaut Susan Still.

Read more about Augusta, Richmond County and the Savannah River, or find more activities in the East Central Georgia Travel Region here at Brown’s Guides.