City: Atlanta, GA

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (404) 814-4000

Address: 130 West Paces Ferry Rd. NW

Description: Why was Atlanta of such strategic value in the Civil War? What was it like to live on a rural farm in the antebellum South or in an opulent Atlanta mansion in the 1930s? And what was a shotgun house, anyway? You’ll find the answers to these and many more questions at the Atlanta Historical Society’s Atlanta History Center. The society was formed in 1926; in 1966 it acquired the Edward Inman family’s grand 25-acre estate, including the elegant Swan House mansion and most of the original furnishings. Many improvements were made over the years, culminating with the 1993 opening of the 83,000-square-foot Atlanta History Museum. The history center is fun as well as educational. Here are a few of its highlights: Start off at the permanent museum exhibit Metropolitan Frontiers, a walk-through display where you can learn about the Native Americans who once called this region home, the arrival of the railroads, Atlanta’s destruction and renaissance, and the modern city’s achievement of international status. The Centennial Olympic Games Museum, opened in 2006, is the history center’s newest attraction. The 27,500-square-foot, three-story museum traces Atlanta’s dark horse bid for the 1996 Olympic Games and the construction of venues. It presents films and a timetable of events at the 16-day Games. Exhibits include medals dating to the first modern Olympics in 1896, as well as a collection of Olympic torches and gifts to the city from the l97 nations that entered teams. An interactive Sports Lab lets kids and adults test their skills against Olympic athletes. Behind the museum is the Tullie Smith Farm, an 1845 house that was moved to the center from its original site on an 800-acre tract near the present-day North Druid Hills Road and I-85. A costumed guide takes guests through the house and describes the farm family’s daily routine. Outside are a separate kitchen, a blacksmith shop, and other outbuildings. Sturdy and unpretentious, this house is said to be a better example of a typical plantation home than the palatial, white-columned estates usually associated with the South. Farther south is the Swan House, the 1928 mansion built by cotton broker and real estate magnate Edward Inman. Lavishly designed in a classic style, this grand home is one of the best-known examples of the work of famous Atlanta-based architect Philip Trammell Shutze. A guide shows visitors through the classically influenced yet personal home, whose futuristic residents insisted on having the recently invented shower instead of old-fashioned tubs in three of the four bathrooms. The Atlanta History Center’s distinctive star emblem duplicates the pattern on the floor of the Swan House’s foyer. A cascading fountain stretches from the home’s front down across the terraced lawn facing the original entrance on Andrews Drive. The center also includes a Victorian playhouse and 32 acres of botanically labeled gardens. The 3.5-million-item McElreath Hall research facility and archives is free and open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also on the grounds is the Swan Coach House Restaurant, 3130 Slaton Dr. NW, where delectables from chicken salad croissants to crab cakes are served Monday through Saturday in the mansion’s former coach house. While there, check out the attached gift shop and art gallery, where jewelry, infant clothing, and specialty items produced by local artisans are featured at remarkably reasonable prices. You may shop or dine at the restaurant without purchasing a ticket to the history center. Periodically, the Atlanta History Center mounts ambitious exhibitions in the galleries of the History Museum, but there are permanent displays worth noting. As well as being an outstanding general history museum, it is the crown jewel of Civil War museums in the South, and perhaps the nation. Centered around the large Beverly M. DuBose general artifact and the huge Thomas Swift Dickey ordnance collections (we bet you didn’t know anyone actually collected old shells!), both donated permanently to the center, changing exhibits keep the displays fresh and invite even the casually interested visitor back time and again. The current “permanent” Civil War display, Turning Point, leads you through the changing stages of the war, with artifacts carefully chosen and displayed as appropriate and accurate for each year. Multimedia use is extensive, with four films, several sound displays, and many small scenes and dioramas. The sole remaining Union supply wagon is an unusual and unique display. As one curator mentioned, everyone wanted to save the unusual or unique things, but they have a hard time finding the mundane. The Atlanta History Center hosts annual Civil War “encampments,” which provide a better-than-average display of the camp and battle life of the common soldier, grouped around the circa-1845 Tullie Smith Farm. Recent encampments have featured rifle and artillery demonstrations, cavalry and infantry maneuvers, and even mail call and food ration distributions. Shaping Traditions: Folk Arts in a Changing South, a permanent exhibit, opened in May 1996. Crafts, textiles, pottery, music, and more are examined as the means whereby communities build bridges between the past and present. Included in the 5,000-square-foot display are interactive videos and audio presentations of music and stories. There’s also a permanent display of golf memorabilia belonging to golf great Bobby Jones, including one of the only green winner’s jackets awarded at the Masters golf tournament that is held outside of Augusta, Georgia.Thirsty sightseers will find refreshment in the museum’s Coca-Cola Café, a recreation of a ’50s diner. The café is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.The center’s regular hours are Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5:30 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for ages 65 and over, $10 for children 4 to 12, and free for kids under 3. For frequent visitors and Atlanta residents, it is well worth considering a museum membership. There is a large variety of membership “levels” available, one pretty much for any budget.