Sounds of beeping buses backing into the parking lot behind the Brown-Stetson-Sanford House continued throughout the day on Monday, May 16. One hundred twenty-eight students from Flowery Branch were in Milledgeville to discover the role the town played in Georgia history. The Brown-Stetson-Sanford House, the Old Governor’s Mansion, Memory Hill Cemetery, the Old Statehouse, and Central State Hospital were sites on their tour.
At the Brown-Stetson-Sanford House, students interacted with costumed volunteers to discover what life was like in a Milledgeville home during the Civil War years. A volunteer in sunhat shared medicinal herbs critical to health and healing from the backyard garden with students as she talked about their growing and collecting. Ladies upstairs engaged the students in a conversation about the women who gathered in homes to sew, knit, and quilt in order to meet the shortages of essential items. Students had an opportunity to examine a haversack and the essentials for life spread across the dining room table that families provided for sons and fathers at war. There were letters written between family members at war and their Milledgeville family members. Finally, a volunteer dressed in black shared her story addressing the status of widows bound by society’s stringent customs during war years and after.
The “War Comes to the Capital” tour is unique. It provides a unique experience that leaves one acutely aware of how the Civil War affected those, especially women, left behind with overwhelming responsibilities to provide for their family members at home and at war. This hands-on, interactive tour continues to be requested by educators, civic and social groups, and those who desire a unique experience when exploring Milledgeville history.
David Wells is President of the Board of Trustees of Georgia’s Old Capital Heritage Center at The Depot, Inc., the non-profit that owns and operates the Brown-Stetson-Sanford House. He had this to say about the May 16 th tour: “We at GOCHC are always excited to host visitors from other parts of the state, and this group of students from Cherokee Bluff Middle School was very happy to learn about all of the historic aspects of Milledgeville.”
– Contributed