atlanta news tagged interest

Atlanta, GA, is a huge city, with all sorts of interesting places to see. My wife and I have been to the famed High Museum any number of times; and the Fernbank Science Museum. She has also been to the amazing Fox Theatre, another of Atlanta’s crown jewels, while I have not yet had that opportunity. I would very much like to do so.

We have also both been to the Atlanta Aquarium, but she got the full tour once, whereas I was only there for a special event, and did not experience the full facility. I will have to go back to do that another day.

I had the occasion, several years ago, to visit two more of Atlanta’s jewels, the Tellus Science Museum, and the Booth Western Art Museum, on opposite sides of an exit just north of Cartersville, about 45 minutes north of Atlanta, off I-75.

My wife once worked for the Cartersville Herald-Tribune, so I was familiar with that area, just had not had the opportunity to visit those two museums before. I covered that visit in an earlier column.

They were both amazing places, and I am so glad I finally got to see them! It was because of a round trip I made one weekend, about ten years ago, when I was asked to take three international students from Armstrong State University to a Rotary-sponsored weekend event in Clayton County, which left me with two days of free time in-between. I took them up on a Thursday morning, and brought them back to Savannah Sunday afternoon. (That’s another story.)

The Booth “Western Art” Museum, just north of Cartersville, was especially interesting to me. I have never been to a museum specializing in art about the American West before; it was quite something! The fellow who collected those works (paintings, photos, and statuary, small to large) did an awesome job; I was quite entranced by the entire collection. I was so glad I made it a point to go there that day.

So was the Tellus Science Museum, across the street. Another marvel! I heartily recommend a visit to both museums. They are underrated treasures.

One of the most interesting places we’ve been to in Atlanta proper was the Grant Park Zoo and its Civil War Diorama. I have always been interested in history, and have made several trips to the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield Park –- an awesome place in its own right; and Andersonville Park near Americus. But the Civil War Diorama at Grant Park is a totally different experience.

It’s been a number of years since we’ve been to Grant Park; and the Diorama was closed for a couple of years for repairs and renovation. But the show we saw that day just blew me away.

The diorama itself is a huge, circular painting, with the audience mounted on a revolving stage. The show itself is a 3-D narration of the Battle of Atlanta, in the final months of the American Civil War. The seating area turns, as the battle progresses, and different sections of the diorama are highlighted, and a narrator describe the scenes and the actions.

One can almost smell the smoke of the musket and cannon fire, as you hear the screams of the wounded men and the whinnying of fallen horses. It was the most life-like representation of the smoke and cries of an actual battle that I have ever witnessed. I came out of that two-hour show quite moved.

It was intended to be “live history, re-told,” and it was. I have seen movies of the Yankee chase of the “General” locomotive, out of Chattanooga TN, and video of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, on Atlanta’s northside. But I have never seen anything so singularly moving as that Civil War Diorama show in Grant Park.

One does not have to be a “history buff,” as I am, to appreciate such a performance. This was put together long before the advent of those huge movie screens that offer 3-D movies. It achieved its purpose, and I strongly encourage a visit to this park to see for yourself. I guarantee that you will come away with a much deeper appreciation for the Battle of Atlanta that took place ~160 or so years ago.

Rafe Semmes is a proud graduate of (“the original”) Savannah High School and the University of Georgia. He and his wife live in eastern Liberty County, and are long-time Rotarians.