This last week we bought a new energy efficient vehicle. We decided it would be a great time for a day trip. Our destination would lead us into places all over Georgia we had no idea existed! My goal was to go to Juliette (where Fried Green Tomatoes was filmed) but when I mentioned to my neighbors, whom are long term Alabamian residents our goal they mentioned a few other places we could travel through. Let me share this journey with you.

As we headed out of Alabama across the border there is a small town called Warm Springs. This cute little place is put on the map because of one of our most famous president’s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who made his vacation home here. There are pools here that are supplied by warm springs which, he believed would aid his polio.So sure was he that the springs were medicinal that he had a vacation home there called “The Little White House”. Of course today it is set up in the Pine Mountain area as a museum. We stopped here and took a trip down historical lane.

Once I got my fill of the pools and his home we moved on to Juliette.  Juliette locals have kept the town set up the same as when the movie was filmed.   According to local information in the early 1900s it “was a booming community along the railroad tracks and the Omulgee River”. It soon became a “ghost town” then producers discovered it in 1991 putting it back on the map. “The river, the railroad and the quaint old buildings provided just the right ingredients for the movie”. And so this was our next stop! I have wanted to go there for a long time.  If you would like to check out more information you can at www.forsyth-monroechamber.com.

That was about as much as we could handle for the first day so we stopped at La Quinta Inn in Warner Robbins. Which is great because we brought our dogs along and La Quinta Inn allows dogs, just an FYI if is important to you.  After a restful night and an early morning walk we decided it was time to travel down to Andersonville where Union soldiers are famed for being prisoners of war during the Civil War. But! What we didn’t know is we would pass through Americus, the home of Habitat for Humanity. (I guess it needed to get its start somewhere.)

I have to say though, as a history student, my goal was going to Andersonville.   My great-great- grandfather spent Fall and Winter of 1864-65 there as a POW. He survived when the war ended in 1865. Andersonville housed 45,000 prisoners-12,920 are buried in there. It was a somber experience.  When my great-great-grandfather was eighty years old his local newspaper wrote an article about his experience whereby he said he “enlisted the 22nd day of July, 1862, at Columbus City, Ohio in the 95th Ohio Infantry. He was in W. T. Sherman’s command”. While his most famed Civil War experience was Andersonville as a POW he also was present at Vicksburg, MS. I was so stoked to be there and experience this family memory.  http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/ms011.htm

And just when I thought I had seen it all we rounded down the road to Plains. Plains is the home of former 39th President of the United States and 2002 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Jimmy Carter. We didn’t get to spend too much time here but it was obvious from the huge fence surrounding his home where he lived. The locals say he is often seen in the local church giving the Sunday sermon. Plains will require a second visit as it has the church, the business where is brother, Billy Carter, had his business, the downtown area, Mr. Carter’s boyhood home, farm and the cemetery where Mr. Carter’s parents are buried. Needless to say it was a great experience.

This was just such a moving experience I couldn’t wait to share it with you. What was really exciting is how close all these sites were to each other. They were all one half hour to and hour to each destination. We spent more time stopped than driving! Great day trip!

Pools of FDR's Warm Springs

Whistle Stop Cafe, Juliette, Ga

Whistle Stop Barbeque pit, Juliette, Ga

Andersonville GA



Andersonville GA



Andersonville GA



Jimmy Carter Visiter Center, Plains GA

2 Responses to “A Trip Through Georgia”