Old Governor's Mansion - Milledgeville, Georgia

Old Governor's Mansion

One of the finest examples of Greek revival architecture in the nation, Georgia's historic Old Governor's Mansion has been a landmark of Milledgeville for 175 years.

Built of brick faced with stucco, the magnificent old mansion was designed and constructed in the days when Milledgeville was still the "new" capital of Georgia. The Old Capitol Building stands just up the street and the landscape of the charming historic city is dotted with other reminders of its days as capital of the state.

The home was built in 1836-1839 and first occupied by Governor George Gilmer, who moved in as the mansion was completed in 1839.  Other occupants over the years included Governor (and later Confederate general) Howell Cobb and Georgia's noted Confederate governor, Joseph Brown.

Old Governor's Mansion

A less popular temporary resident - General William Tecumseh Sherman - occupied the house for a night during his infamous March to the Sea. Union troops camped in the yards after their occupation of Milledgeville.

The house remained the home of the state's governor until the Reconstruction era when the post-war legislature voted to relocate the capitol to Atlanta. It later served as a barracks for cadets of what is now the Georgia Military College and as the resident for the president of today's Georgia College and State University.

Now a museum, the Old Governor's Mansion has been beautifully restored. Learn more by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/gaoldmansion.

St. Stephens Episcopal Church - Milledgeville, Georgia

St. Stephens Episcopal Church

Built in 1843, Milledgeville's historic St. Stephens Episcopal Church is a unique landmark of General William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating March to the Sea.

A prominent feature of Statehouse Square, St. Stephens was built in the days when Milledgeville was still the capital city of Georgia. The church stands almost in the shadow of the state's beautiful Old Capitol building and its walls once sheltered the worship of some of Georgia's most prominent citizens.

Episcopal churches in the South were major centers of secession sentiment during the years leading up to the Civil War. From the highest level down to the parish churches, Episcopalians heard strong messages from their leaders urging them to support Southern independence.

A Survivor of the March to the Sea

For this reason, Northern troops often desecrated Episcopal churches as they marched through the Southern states. This was the case at St. Stephens.

As Sherman's troops marched into Milledgeville on November 11, 1864, they quickly took note of St. Stephens Church. The pews were burned for firewood. The sanctuary was used as a stable for horses. Molasses was even poured down the pipes of the organ. The greatest damage, however, came as the Federals marched out of Savannah to continue their March to the Sea. The Confederate armories were set fire and a massive explosion caused by the combination of fire and munitions rocked Statehouse Square. The roof of the church was demolished by the blast.

Like most other Southern churches, however, St. Stephens Episcopal Church survived the war, rebuilt the roof in a new style, and remains active today.

To learn more about this historic Georgia church, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ststephens.

Flannery O'Connor Farm & Grave - Milledgeville, Georgia

Grave of Flannery O'Connor

The famed Southern writer and novelist Flannery O'Connor was born as Mary Flannery O'Connor in Savannah on March 25, 1925 and lived much of her sadly brief life in Milledgeville.

The daughter of devout Cathlolic parents (and a devout Catholic herself), O'Connor moved with her family from Savannah to Milledgeville when she was thirteen. She went on to graduate from what is now Georgia College & State University (then the Georgia State College for Women) in Milledgeville before obtaining admission to the exclusive Iowa Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa. She had God given talent as a writer, which was nurtured and encouraged by such noted literary figures as Robert Penn Warren.

The often deadly disease of Lupus, however, was hereditary in her family and in 1951, when she was only 26 years old and living with Robert and Sallie Fitzgerald in Connecticut, O'Connor suffered a life-threatening attack from the disease. She decided to move home to Milledgeville where she could enjoy the comfort and support of family and friends, as well as the peaceful lifestyle of her family's Andalusia farm on the northern outskirts of town.

Flannery O'Connor lived out the rest of her life in Milledgeville and it was there that she completed some of her finest work, including her novels Wise Blood and The Violent Bear it Away. She also wrote many short stories while in Milledgeville, compiling some of her finest into a collection titled A Good Man is Hard to Find. Tragically, she died from from Lupus related complications on August 3, 1964. She was only 39 years old.

To learn more about Flannery O'Connor and the sites associated with her in Milledgeville, including Andalusia Farm and her grave at Memory Hill Cemetery, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/flannery.

Historic Old Capitol Building - Milledgeville, Georgia

Old Capitol Building in Milledgeville

Removed from the crowded streets of Atlanta by 100 miles and a century of time, the Gothic revival architecture of Georgia's Old Capitol Building in Milledgeville is as historic as it is beautiful.

Founded in 1803 and designed using a plan inspired by both Savannah and Washington, D.C., Milledgeville was a planned city intentionally located near what was then the geographic center of the expanding state. The community was only one year old when the Georgia Legislature voted on December 11, 1804, to designate Milledgeville as the permanent state capital of the state.

Old Capitol Building

In 1805 the legislature appropriated $60,000 for the construction of a magnificent new capitol building and work began that same year. The main part of the building was still not finished two years later when military troops escorted a train of wagons from the former capitol in Louisville to the new capitol. Milledgeville would remain the capital city of Georgia for the next 61 years.

The building was expanded in the 1820s and 1830s and given its fascinating Gothic revival design. It is the oldest public structure in the United States of the Gothic revival style and has survived despite several fires, its occupation by Union troops during Sherman's March to the Sea and the movement of the state government to Atlanta in 1868. Sherman's men even held a mock legislative session in the building, "repealing" the state's ordinance of secession and doing thousands of dollars in damage.

The Old Capitol Building is now a treasured landmark located on the campus of Georgia Military College. The ground floor is home to the Old Capital Museum and the beautiful park-like setting is open to the public daily. To read more of the history of this remarkable historic building, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/gaoldcapitol.