Milledgeville, Old Capital of Georgia

Old Georgia State Capitol Building
Secession History made here. Portrait of Jefferson on right

Pretty Georgian Mansion

Original Bed Base with String support

Inside the Brick Restaurant - note huge TV and regular TV further left

Unrenovated Georgian Mansion

Did you know that Atlanta was not always the capital of Georgia, in fact it is the 5th capital? It just so happens that the RV park we decided to stay in, is in the city of Milledgeville, which was the capital of Georgia during the Civil War. In fact, the Old Capital building built in 1807 was the seat of government for the state of Georgia from 1807 - 1868 when Atlanta became the capital. The Secession Convention was held on the second floor of the building in 1861, and I took the photo of that room today, 148 years later!

We took a trolley tour that gave us a view of the various styles of architecture including Gothic, Victorian, Tudor and Federal styles. On a tour of one historic house, the guide showed us the old mattress base which was made of lengths of string that could be tightened as they became slack with use. The saying, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite, originated with this form of bedding as the strings needed to be tight for comfort and the mattress was stuffed with straw which attracted bed bugs. Live & learn.

To find Milledgeville, if you draw a line from Atlanta, Georgia east across to Augusta, South Carolina, then at about the half way point, head south about 40 miles, you would hit the city. For you movie buffs out there, in the movie Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts played the character, Vivian. In the movie, Vivian said she was from Milledgeville. Well, now you know where it is...

For lunch we tried a local popular haunt, The Brick, named for the tasty morsels that come out of their brick oven. There was a huge TV screen, plus numerous other smaller TV screens showing different sport, news and living channels. The staff did not wear any uniform, just shorts or jeans, and the roof was dotted with playing cards. We only had a coke each, but looking at their alcohol menu, I read that they offered beers from nearly all parts of the world - they even had Fosters beer from Australia! Guess it makes the tourists feel at home.

Although our RV park is 4 miles out of the city, the manager kindly offered to drive us into the downtown area and picked us up when we rang him at the end of our day. On our drive back, he detoured to show us an original palatial Southern mansion that has just been purchased for renovation. The house was the summer home of Governor Johnson from 1812-1880. Most houses have been renovated already, so he said it was rare to find one in this original condition, , and with the original old magnolia trees out the front. Travelling around USA has been such a wonderful experience thanks to the warm and generous people we meet along the way.