Exploring Atlanta

We drove south and east past the Governor’s Mansion on our way to the Atlanta History Museum. It’s in the affluent north Atlanta suburb of Buckhead. I can’t imagine Jimmy Carter living here after seeing his very modest home in Plains. I’ve read novels set in Atlanta and recall Buckhead being described as very high society. The museum had a Civil War exhibit (of course) and I actually got a better overview of the war year by year. They also had a Bobby Jones and history of golf gallery. He was a native of Atlanta. A green jacket was on display with the explanation that the members of Augusta National Golf Club started wearing them at the 1937 Masters Tournament so people would know Masters Tournament each year and only the current winner is allowed to take the jacket off-site.

Another interesting exchibit was “Folk Arts in a Changing South.” Many examples of handcrafted pottery, woodwork, basketry, weaving, quilting and metalwork illustrated their definition of folk arts being traditionally learned and community-shared. There are several generations of one family that have carried on the tradition of pottery and their work is represented in several museums.

Atlanta was originally called Terminus because it was the end of rail lines. When the Civil War started the population was 9,000 and it was in a strategic location because of the rail lines. Union General Sherman took the City in the summer of 1864 and burned a swath across Georgia to the sea at Savannah. As we learned earlier, he spared Savannah and presented it to President Lincoln as a Christmas present. Atlanta is growing in all difrections and traffic is like Los Angeles.

I’ve been wanting to get some things at the Container Store. The only one in Florida is in Miami and the only ones in Georgia are in Atlanta. We just happened to pass one in Buckhead and we were able to get the hooks to match the other ones we’ve put up in the bathroom.

We drove down Peachtree Street to downtown Atlanta. At Peachtree and 10th we stopped at the Margaret Mitchell house and museum. If you read “Gone with the Wind” you’ll remember Peachtree Street. The house that has been preserved was built by a friend of Margaret’s father and converted to apartments. She and her husband lived here for 7 years and she was living here and working as a reporter for the Atlanta Times-Constitution when she wrote the novel. It took her 10 years to write the book. The success of the book surprised her. Supposedly it is the most read book after the Bible. (I never know where these statistics come from, but it is a popular book.) The house she grew up in was a block away and is not there any more. There is a museum across the street about the movie which was fun to see, particularly all the promotional materials in a multitude of languages. There were 3 women from England in the museum and I think one of them could probably recite all the dialogue from the movie. Learned that this type of fanatic are called “Windies.”

Drove home through backcountry. Passed the Atlanta Country Club. The dogwood and azaleas and cherry blossoms and lilacs against the background of green, green, green is quite beautiful.