Andersonville adventure

Every so often, you just got to get away from the house for a day.

We like to get away at least once a month. Take a day trip somewhere and just have a good time. Today, we took an hour drive north to Andersonville. First, we drove through Americus, a town that suffered greatly from the tornadoes that hit here the other day. Apparently, the president was in town 'cause the disaster areas were all closed off. We didn't know that this was the fact, but the folks in town did.

Anyway, in Andersonville (another 10 miles north of Americus) is the Andersonville National Historic site. The site was the home of Andersonville Prison. The largest Confederate prison, where more than 12,000 union soldiers died (40% of the total number deaths of Union prisoners).

The site is moving. It's amazing that such a thing happened here. In America. Makes you thankful that we work so hard today to work things out with words.

Here are just a few photos I took today:


The shot on the left is the north gate of Andersonville Prison. It's imposing up close, but from this distance is kind of quaint. For many prisoners, this was their first encounter with Andersonville Prison. There are two gates here, an exterior gate that opens into a large squared area and then the interior gate opened into the main prison.

The prison was really nothing more than a large, fenced in field. The prisoners slept in pup tents. Their drinking water was from a creek that eventually became contaminated with their own feces and urine. Fortunately, a spring broke through to provide clean water for the prisoners. Hence the photo on the right, which is a monument to the spring, which saved the lives of many of the prisoners.

Directly across the highway from the memorial and cemetery is a Confederate-era village. There are a couple of museums and a "farm" where a there are a lot of period log cabins and other structures. Here, well, I love textures. I couldn't pass this chimney.

All in all, it was a great day. I must pass along a warning though. If you ever find yourself in Americus, GA, avoid the Huddle House on Hwy 19 like the plague. Something possessed us to stop there are we regretted it all day long.