Caching in Americus and Andersonville 2/2/2008

We left early Saturday morning for a trip to Americus and Andersonville to do some caching and to see the historic sites. We started out near Leesburg, GA at an old Town of the Chehaw Indians. The Chehaw's were a friendly agricultural tribe of the Creek tribe who aided our early settlers. The contributed men, food and horses to subdue the hostile Seminole Indians. In 1814 Andrew Jackson, while on his way to fight a campaign against the Creek Indians camped here. Four years later in 1818 the Georgia Militia massacred several of the Chehaw tribe and 7 were killed. In 1912 the DAR erected a memorial monument on the site in remembrance of the massacre.
Then it was on to Americus, GA site of a devastating F3 tornado on March 1, 2007. We started out with a cache that took us to Georgia Southwestern State Univ. which has an enrollment of 2500 students. After leaving there we found caches near WalMart, Lowes, Jameson Inn, La Hacienda Rest and Regional Eye Center. Then it was on to Reese Park and a monument honoring the Confederate Soldiers in the Civil War with an inscription that read "to those who fought in their ragged old suits of gray".
Then we drove by the Sumter Regional Hospital that was completely destroyed in the tornado last year and is just now being started to be demolished. It was amazing to see the site that was ravaged by the storm and to see the utter destruction was really something that is unthinkable. They are now operating a triage center in trailers and other small buildings next door to the site of the old hospital and plan on building a new one.
We visited Oak Grove Cemetery on our way downtown which is a Confederate Cemetery where 129 Confederate soldiers are buried, 45 of them unknown, who all died in Confederate hospitals in Americus. These men served in the Army of Tennessee and some were with General Jubal in the Washington DC raid of July 1864. Others were sent here from Andersonville suffering and dying from the same diseases that beset Federal prisoners there.
Then it was on to downtown Americus and The Windsor Hotel and a cache there. It was built in 1892 to attract visitors from the north who wanted to "winter" in warmer weather. It had 100 rooms and was a five story Victorian structure complete with towers, balconies and a 3 story open atrium lobby. Now, after undergoing a $5.8 million restoration in the 1970's you can stay in any of the 53 period style rooms with all the modern amenities. No two rooms in the Windsor are alike and they all have its own warmth and style. It has been certified as a Certified Haunted Hotel by the Big Bend Ghost Trackers who on August 13, 2006 spent the night in the hotel and monitored several areas that strange sightings had occurred. One of the areas they monitored was the 3rd floor hallway, where legend says that the ghost of a little girl, daughter of a former housekeeper, runs laughing at night. Both the housekeeper and the little girl lived at the hotel and were pushed down the elevator shaft in the early 1900's. Another ghost they encountered was Floyd Lowery, a doorman and elevator man at the hotel for 40 years, After monitoring the areas during the night they came away with several indications that the hotel was indeed haunted including photos of strange balls and lights floating in the 3rd floor hallway. The cache was located under a bench outside the hotel. The rest of the downtown area was a little bit of hometown America again what with all its old buildings and shops that included the Rylander Theatre. It was built in 1919 and had its first live performance of the play Lightin on January 21, 1921. It hosted many live performances and motion pictures and finally closed in 1951. It reopened in October 1, 1999 in celebration of President Jimmy Carter's birthday. The theatre seats 600 and looks exactly the way it did in 1921 except it is equipped with comfortable new seats and state of the art theatrical equipment.
We sat and had lunch in a small park in the downtown area where there was another cache, went to the Americus Train Depot for a cache we couldn't find and then it was on to Andersonville, GA. The first stop was at a small airport, Souther Field, in Americaus where Charles Lindbergh had his first solo flight in 1923. It is commemorated by a statue that was sculpted in 1992. Then on to South Georgia Technical College and another cache located on the wheel of an World War 2 Navy plane.
Then we drove to Andersonville and the sight of the Andersonville National Historic Site and is the only park in the National Park System to serve as a memorial to all American Prisoners of War. It was the deadliest prisoner of war camp during the Civil War with a total of nearly 13,000 deaths. Over 40% of all Union prisoners of war who died during the Civil War died there. The historic prison site is 26.5 acres and was established in late 1863 to provide a site to hold Union prisoners captured by Confederate forces. The first prisoners were brought there in 1864 to help lesen the crowding in other prisons and was originally designed to hold 10,000 but soon was expanded by 10 acres as overcrowding became a problem. By August of 1864 it held 32,000 prisoners and the death rate was a staggering 100+ a day. Also on the site is the Andersonville National Cemetery which was established to provide a permanent place of honor for those who died in military service to our country. The interments began in 1864 from prisoners who died in the nearby prisoner of war camp and today contains nearly 18,000 interments. It was awesome to see all the grave markers and the monuments donated by each state in honor of those who died. We found our virtual cache there and then one outside the site and then drove through the Civil War Village and on back to the RV. We went to dinner at Red Lobster and stopped at WalMart to pick up a few things and boy was that a mistake. It was the first of the month and seing as Albany is 65% African American everybody and there brother was there after cashing there checks shopping and we were there for about an hour when it should have taken us 15 minutes. Well time to say goodbye for now and we love you all and miss you.


Picture List: 1-Old Victorian Historic House in Americus, 2 & 3-Andersonville National Cemetery, 4, 5 & 6- Andersonville National Historic Prison Site, 7-Charles Lindbergh Monument, 8-WW 2 Navy Bomber, 9 & 10-Windsor Hotel, 11-Rylander Theatre, 12, 13 & 14- Oak Grove Confederate Cemetery, 15, 16 & 17-Sumter Regional Hospital tornado damage, 18-Chehaw Indian Tribe Monument, 19-Confederate Soldiers Civil War Monument.