Saturday, April 14, 2012

M is for Milledgeville, my home town

My home town of Milledgeville, Georgia was the capital of Georgia when Civil War was declared. Milledgeville has the distinction of being the only city other than Washington, DC to be designed as a capital city. (The capital was moved to Atlanta during reconstruction.)  Here are a few of my favorite houses and buildings there:

- The Old Capitol Building in Milledgeville, Georgia. Shortly after the capital of Georgia was moved to Atlanta in 1868, the building and surrounding grounds were acquired by Georgia Military College. It is still in use for classrooms and offices and is where my sister Jo met her husband.

- The Old Governor's Mansion, c. 1839, home to Georgia's governors until the end of the Civil War. The pink stucco mansion is considered to be one of the finest examples of High Greek Revival architecture in the nation. Designed by architect Charles Clusky, an Irish immigrant, and built by Timothy Porter of Farmington, Connecticut, it was claimed as a "prize" in the "March to the Sea," when General William T. Sherman headquartered in the building on November 22, 1864. It even has a cameo part in E.L. Doctorow's novel, "The March" in which a character in the book can see the Union army inside the house from the windows of her home across the street. In 1973 the Mansion was designated a National Historic Landmark by the Trust for Historic Preservation.

- On the same block as The Mansion, is the Gordon-Porter-Ward-Beall-Cline-O'Connor house, c.1820.  It was built by a General Gordon, "not of Civil War fame." It was leased as a residence for the governor while the Governor's Mansion was under construction. This was the home in town in which Flannery O'Connor lived with her parents when they moved to Milledgeville in 1938 when she was a teenager. It is still owned by the O'Connor estate.

 
- My family's home in Milledgeville is at the junction of where the 20th and 14th corps converged more than 147 years ago. It is easy to imagine 30,000 men camping on property around the bubbling creek that runs through it. 

As you can tell, I love my home town and miss it.  The family home is up for sale now and I am usually just there for estate matters.  I might slide in a few more of those beautiful homes and buildings before the challenge is over.

Thanks for taking this tour with me on Day 13 of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, featuring the letter "M".  We take Sundays off during the challenge - so see you Monday!

31 comments:

Joy said...

Thanks for sharing those beautiful pictures. I can see why you miss it.

Leonora said...

You come from a beautiful home town, obviously steeped in history. My thoughts are with you as you handle estate matters and prepare to sell the family home. I envision myself with this job one day and I know it won't be easy.

happygirl said...

Milledgeville looks wonderful. Thanks for sharing the pic and teaching me more about the war between the states. I've never spent much time in GA. Your blog draws me to it.

Maude Lynn said...

What a gorgeous place!

Changes in the wind said...

Have visted Georgia several times and always enjoyed it....so pretty.

Chatty Crone said...

Pretty area there - my daughter looked at going to college there many years ago. sandie

Donna B. McNicol said...

My daughter did her first two years of college in Milledgeville...it is a beautiful town!

Granny Annie said...

Guthrie, Oklahoma was destined to be the State Capitol of Oklahoma but that was changed to Oklahoma City, Okla. Did you mean that Milledgeville was to have been the US Capitol if the Confederacy had won? I have never heard of Millegeville before and that just seems wrong to not know of such a famous city. Good information! Good letter "M".

Holly Michael said...

Thanks for taking me there! Lovely blog!

Sparkling Red said...

Those buildings are Magnificent! :-)

Lynn said...

Joy -

Thank you for saying so.

Leonora -

Yes - my dad passed away just two years ago and now my mom in February. There's lots of things to straighten out. The house has been for sale for a year and a half. Sigh. We hate to give it away, but we've already dropped the price by 20K.

happygirl -

The college is in the center of town, too - it was a great place to grow up. You could walk everywhere.

Mama Zen -

Thank you - it is beautiful.

Changes in the wind -

I wonder where you live? Hmmm - I'll have to see if I've been there.

Lynn said...

Sandie -

I went there my freshman year and then moved to Atlanta - I finally finished up at Georgia State University.

Donna -

We love the college students - I'm glad you liked it there.

Granny Annie -

I guess they kept moving it around Georgia until they got it right. Milledgeville was actually the fourth capital of Georgia, but was designed to be so. They laid out the streets in perfect city blocks and named the streets after heroes such as John Hancock. It was the capital from 1804 until 1868 when the civil war was over. It was thought that Atlanta was a better choice for the capital, with better rail accessibility and was a symbol of the "new south."

Thank you - I liked doing this M post. I've got to think of something for N. :)

Holly -

Thank you!

Sparkling Red -

And there are many more - all gorgeous. I took it for granted when I was growing up.

Elephant's Child said...

Truly beautiful. Thank you. I live in another 'planned city', Canberra the capital of Australia. And sometimes the planners do get things right and create things and places of beauty.
Thank you for sharing the place which will obviously always be a little bit 'home'.

Tonja said...

The buildings are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Fireblossom said...

I am just going to have to read some Flannery 'Connor.

Susan Kane said...

The feeling of missing the hometown is familiar and painful at times. What a lovely town, painstakingly restored. Thanks for sharing it with me.

Betty Manousos said...

a very interesting post!

those buildings are so beautiful,
i thoroughly enjoyed your photos/post.


hope you have a great remainder of your weekend!
big hugs!

Lynn said...

The Elephant's Child -

Canberra is definitly at beautiful place - seen in a couple of movies and your blog photos.

Tonja -

Thanks for coming by!

FB -

Please read at least one of her stories and let me know if you do. They are amazing - and hard to shake off once you've read them. Definitely not light reading.

Susan -

Someone called me with a job opportunity there - just a couple of weeks ago. I'm torn about the idea of leaving my friends in Atlanta, but I could live in my family's home. Something to think about - I'm sure that job is gone by now.

Betty -

I hope you have good weekend, too!

Ileana said...

The house and mansion are beautiful! What history and beauty fill your old stomping grounds. Yes, show and tell more! :)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Lynn - love the photos and the history .. perhaps it saved Milledgeville. Interesting capital name too ..

Sorry about the potential losing of your family home - I'd like to be still living where we grew up and often thought about it - but it wasn't to be .. cheers Hilary

Claudia Moser said...

What a lovely walk, just dropped via the kinky tool from the challenge and decided to follow :)

Suze said...

This was a lovely post, Lynn.

Brendan Carroll said...

I lived in Georgia for awhile and I loved it. So beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

sage said...

A beautiful town!

Anonymous said...

I truly enjoy learning new things about the U.S.A. And your pics are beautiful. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful place and a bit of its history on your blog. This is cool:)

Lynn said...

Scarlet -

I will - thanks for liking it!

Hilary -

Milledgeville was named for John Milledge, a politician from Georgia. It's OK about the house - I hate to see it go, but we really wish someone would want to buy it.

Claudia -

I did the linky thing this morning - so much fun. Thanks for coming by!

Suze -

Thank you -

F -

Thanks!

Brendan -

Thanks for coming by.

Sage -

I think so, too.

MJ -

I'm so glad you came by!

LL Cool Joe said...

What amazing buildings! Just so traditionally American. :)

Snaggle Tooth said...

What a collection of pretty Architecture n Civil War history. So many huge columns- we have very few here.
I think you'll miss having good excuses to hang out there. Guess the housing slump has slowed down the sale of the house.

Lynn said...

Joe -

They are - very early American anyway.

Snaggle -

My favorite part of the old homes like the Cline house is the fanlight over the front door.

Yes - there are a glut of homes on the market down there and so many people would rather live around the lake. We also have neighbors with rather messy yards (much to my mom's chagrin when she was still living there.) Both have been a factor. We hope one of the messy yard neighbors' friends or family will want to move there.

Jannie Funster said...

I like those style columns in the two buildings, Corinthian I think. Ionic and Dorian, as I recall from my high school history are the other 2 main kinds.

xo

Riot Kitty said...

Those are beautiful buildings. Great photos as always.