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Since there is little “rush hour” traffic in the Sanford FL area, I got a relatively early departure from the Clark Family Campground in Orange City FL in hopes of avoiding school bus stoppages on the two lane roads leading to I-75. Although the drive to the Albany RV Resort in Albany GA (population 77,434 at the 2010 U.S. Census) was slightly longer than I prefer, about 325 miles and 6 ½ hours, the trip was uneventful. On the way to the coin laundry on Friday, I spotted a sign for tourist information, rounded the corner and made a stop. Dressed in my “I ain’t doin’ nothin’ fancy today” clothes, I learned the
Ray Charles Plaza, which was on my list of attractions, was downstream one block (they both are located on the bank of the Flint River).
After getting the names of a couple of good eateries and a tip for the location of a coin laundry, I walked over to visit Raymond Charles Robinson (1930-2004). Although Charles’ family moved from his birthplace in Albany back to his mother's hometown in Florida when Charles was a mere infant, Albany IS his birthplace. The Plaza is exemplary! Charles, playing his requisite piano,
Well Done, Albany
Ray Charles Plaza – Albany GAis situated on a pedestal of sorts with a fountain surrounding the statue. Speakers emitting continuous raspy Ray Charles songs and lights for nighttime viewing are located within a circular “piano keyboard” and musical symbols are embedded in the surrounding sidewalk. Hands down, this is one of the best “native son” monuments I have seen.
Since two attractions on my list were closed on Sunday, I planned for a “Schoolless Saturday” to visit the
Thronateeska Heritage Center, not realizing that a hootenanny, “Spring Fling: It's an Art and Science Thing!,” was scheduled for this particular Saturday. The attraction was inundated with, actually, quite well behaved children and their parents. Three presentations were offered in the Planetarium – “Earth, Moon & Sun,” “Oasis in Space” and “Fractal Exploration.” I saw the first and learned it was geared to the very young audience – “At one time, many people thought the earth was flat….”
I departed soon after the movie and headed for the
Albany Civil Rights Institute, not realizing that the
Freedom Singers perform on the second Saturday of the month. After paying the admission fee, I was escorted outside and to a short stairway leading to a door into the former Mount Zion
Baptist Church, but my escort remained at the base of the stairs urging me to go ahead and go inside. The last time I had a similar experience was at a shooting incident. Two or three police cars arrived simultaneously with the ambulance. A man on the front porch told the cops to go around back and me and my partner to go through the front door. We followed the armed interference!
Retrospectively, this entire five minutes is hilarious, but at the time I was thoroughly confused and quite apprehensive. I had come to see a museum, while the “gatekeepers” thought I had come FOR the performance by the
Freedom Singers. I entered, selected a seat and learned about the Albany Movement, of which I had been totally unaware, from the performance narrator. History lessons of five minutes or so were inserted between songs performed by another lady sometimes accompanied by the narrator. Most of the songs were reminiscent of southern spirituals and spoke of triumph over strife.
The Albany Movement was a desegregation coalition formed in Albany on November 17, 1961 by local activists, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the National Association for the Advancement
This Piano Provided The Anchor For “Exploring Sound”
Thronateeska Heritage Center & Planetarium - Albany GA of Colored People (NAACP). The organization was led by William G. Anderson, a local black Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. In December 1961, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) became involved in assisting the Albany Movement with protests against racial segregation. The Albany Movement mobilized thousands of citizens and attracted nationwide attention, but failed to accomplish its goals because of a determined opposition; however, it is credited as a key lesson in strategy and tactics for the subsequent successful American Civil Rights Movement.
According to the Albany Civil Rights Institute website, the exhibits “capture the stories of ordinary people who became effective change agents in their community” through the use of multimedia presentations. I could not, however, capture any images since photography is not allowed. I’m amazed! How can two percent of institutions prohibit photography for “intellectual property rights” reasons and the other 98 percent fail to protect those same “intellectual” rights? Is the two percent saying the 98 percent is unintellectual? Does the braintrust not realize that the sharing of photographs will ENCOURAGE friends and family to visit the institution (if, indeed, the photographs depict an exemplary institution)? The web site continues, “On
our walls, in our halls, in our archives and our programs, you will see everyday citizens who changed history with their courage, deeds and strength.” The attraction provides an excellent, well done microcosm of one segment of the struggle for civil rights. Having been to the
National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis TN and the
Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site in Little Rock AR, I anxiously await my next three weeks in Montgomery AL, Meridian MS and Birmingham AL. Then, I will have comparables to be better able to evaluate the Albany Civil Rights Institute.
For some time, I have drawn arbitrary boundary lines in my Rand McNally atlas to create “Tourist Regions” in each state I visit in an effort 1) to make the list of that state’s attractions more manageable, and 2) to determine which “Tourist Regions” to place on my itinerary. Many states define tourist regions as well (which I used when
The Great Adventure began); however, those regions don’t fit my needs, i.e., the driving distances might be unreasonable (Texas) or the region’s shape might be awkward (a Mississippi River Delta region is probably extremely elongated). My inexact “Tourist Regions” are merely a tool, and I generally look at adjacent areas for
nearby, high quality attractions so I can “drive the extra mile” to see something phenomenal. I try to use the same care for cities adjacent to state lines. Those who follow my blog might remember that I visited Johnnie Cash’s birthplace in eastern Arkansas while I was staying in Memphis TN. SOMEHOW, I failed to notice that
Andersonville National Historic Site was just across the arbitrary boundary line separating the Albany “Tourist Region” from the Macon GA “Tourist Region.” Fortunately, my stop at the Albany Visitor Center got me on the right track.
Andersonville National Historic Site actually has three components – the National Prisoner of War Museum (which also serves as the Visitor Center), the site of the former Camp Sumter (also known as Andersonville Prison) and the Andersonville National Cemetery. Two films, shown on the hour and half-hour, provide an excellent introduction to the story of Andersonville Prison and the experiences of American prisoners of war (the staff announces the approach of the starting time of each video, very helpful). The first video I saw was "Voices from Andersonville" (28 minutes and shown on the hour) which focuses on the history of the Andersonville Prison. The second film was "Echoes
of Captivity" (27 minutes and shown on the half-hour) which presents first-hand accounts of some of the experiences of Americans held in captivity from World War II through the early 21
st Century.
The first exhibit gallery in the POW Museum proper answers the question "What is a POW?" The answers given and the distinctions made are very interesting and probably demonstrate “think tank hair-splitting” better than any other example I have seen; however, the answer IS NOT an academic exercise for those held captive. To wit, between November 4, 1979, and January 20, 1981 (444 days),
over 60 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of Iranian students took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. All those hostages were prisoners of an enemy force; however, only the 13 U.S. Marines
on active duty as U.S. Embassy security guards were legally recognized as prisoners of war in spite of the fact that at least a dozen other members of the U.S. Armed Forces were held hostage but were military attaches and, as such, did not receive POW recognition. I underscored “over 60” above since the line between hostage and prisoner blurs the demarcation and makes the “beans
kinda hard to count.”
This very interesting exhibit is followed by exhibit areas exploring the themes of capture; living conditions; news and communications; loved ones who wait; hardship, morale and relationships; and escape and freedom. Throughout the exhibits there are touchable items and exhibit drawers that may be opened to find out more about prisoners of war. I was told that in order to conserve the artifacts on display, the exhibit areas of the museum have reduced or dim lighting which makes reading some of the placards (those without distinct contrast between font and background) almost impossible. The museum is well done and should be seen by all who visit the area if only as an act of respect and support for the sacrifices of America’s POWs/MIAs. You’ll feel better in the morning!
During the Civil War, an estimated 194,000 Union soldiers and 214,000 Confederate soldiers became prisoners of war – more than in any other conflict in the history of the United States. Approximately 30,000 Union soldiers died in Confederate prisons while the death rate was almost as bad in the North with approximately 26,000 Confederate deaths. Since both sides predicted a short war, neither prepared for
large numbers of POWs during the four years of conflict. As prisoners were taken, commanders usually worked out exchanges among themselves. Soon an exchange system was accepted by both governments, but failed to work due to a variety of disagreements that arose. The number of prisoners of war increased and prison facilities on both sides became severely overcrowded. Mismanagement, lack of adequate planning, retaliation and many other factors led to suffering by prisoners on each side. By the end of the war, camps such as Andersonville suffered from a lack of supplies and experienced extremely high mortality rates, as well as death and desertion by many of its guards. The National Park Service has cassettes and DVDs available for free loan to provide the visitor with a commentary during the driving tour of the Andersonville Prison. The site of the former Camp Sumter is interesting but doesn’t provide the impact of the POW museum.
Andersonville National Cemetery has an interesting history. Dorence Atwater (1845-1910) was a Union Army soldier who was captured in July 1863 and found himself among the first batch of prisoners at Andersonville. As prisoners died, they were buried in trenches with only a wooden identification
stake with the prisoner number on it. He was the keeper of an “official” list of the names of the dead. He also made a secret copy of his own, along with whatever additional information he could glean. This secret list allowed him, in cooperation with Clara Barton – okay, boys and girls, Clara Barton was the (drum roll, please) founder of the Red Cross – to put a name with the number for many of the soldiers who are buried at Andersonville. Andersonville National Cemetery contains 13,714 graves, of which only 921 are marked "unknown." As a National Cemetery, it is also used as a burial place for more recent veterans and their dependents.
While researching this blog, I found an interesting YouTube video that explains the
">Missing Man Table which is a memorial to POWs and MIAs universally found at service clubs like the American Legion and the VFW to assure that those comrades are never forgotten.
Having spent a “Schoolless Saturday” at the Thronateeska Heritage Center and the Albany Civil Rights Institute and a “Schoolless Sunday” at the Andersonville National Historic Site, I had one more “school field trip” caliber attraction to visit on a school day.
. The building formerly housing Plains High School is the place all my fellow travelers should start. There is a timeline tracing the life of Jimmy Carter from his days on the farm through his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize. There is a documentary film narrated by Charles Kuralt that recounts the early life of Jimmy Carter. The most memorable snippet in the film is the seminal moment in Carter’s life, days after his father’s death, wherein he reached out to numerous Plains residents asking, “What did my father do to help you?” He asked of himself, “If I were to die tomorrow, how would they answer that question of me?” He decided to resign his commission in the U.S. Navy, to return to Plains and to begin his lifetime of service to others. In another film, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter provide a “guided” tour of the Carter home in Plains which one can drive past but parking is not allowed and stopping is probably not a good idea either – actually, you’ll have to plan well to AVOID driving past the Carter estate!
the Maranatha Baptist Church nearly every Sunday, and President Carter teaches Bible study at 10:00 AM. It is recommended to get to the church by at least 8:30 AM – the pews seat only 300 and half of those seats are reserved for church members. Oh yes, the church has no paid janitor so the members, including the Carters, mow the grass, mop the floors and perform other necessary tasks.
In addition to Plains High School, the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site includes the Plains Train Depot, the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail and Billy Carter's Gas Station. All three are within a block of each other in downtown Plains – 2 or 3 blocks from the high school. The Jimmy Carter NHS - Boyhood Farm is about 3 or 4 miles from Plains and provides some insight into the formative years of the former president. The high school is required, the boyhood farm is highly recommended and the other three sites – well, you’re already here so you might as well. Oh yes, the only students I saw were several very well behaved high school students at the Boyhood Farm.
the only “five-star” attraction I had on my agenda and discovered another premium attraction that had somehow escaped my stringent planning process. The Ray Charles Plaza is worth a stop if merely passing through town. Albany is not a tourist destination, by any stretch of the most vivid imagination; however, it does hold a lot of interesting local history and architecture. Safe travels!
