Finally warmed up a bit and got a little sunny this afternoon. Spent part of that time over at a local state park hiking some of their trails. Nothing very exciting about any of it, saw a couple deer, a few turkeys and several little armadillos. Otherwise it was just a nice pretty day to be out and about. I'm hoping that the weather continues to improve over the next couple of days, I want to head for the coast on Monday and spend some time on a beach. Turns out that there aren't any more lighthouse's in this area that I haven't already seen. Guess I'll just have to go and have lunch at some beach bar, drink beer and eat fresh fish taco's.

   Below are a few photo's from my trip over to the Atlanta History Museum. Most of them are outside shots of this old farm they had on the grounds. There are also a few pictures of the 'Swan House' and grounds and just a couple from inside the museum. The exhibits inside were also very interesting and I spent several hours inside going through them all, but there wasn't much of interest in any of them that I wanted to take a picture of.

Atlanta History Museum and The Swan House - Nov 14, 2012

The museum had what had been a working farm on their grounds and they were using it to tell the story of what life would of been like during the Civil War. The docent who was my guide told me that they were now into the 2nd year of the war and they were explaining what the family and their slaves would be experiencing by that time. Mostly they were running into problems of buying certain commodities because of the Union blockade that was in effect. So people were now relearning how to weave cloth and make their own clothing as well as doing without some foodstuffs such as wheat flour. One thing of interest about the house itself is that they had a 'travelers room' located right off the front porch that any one passing by could use, the door to it was never locked. It seems that it was a very common practice.

A cute homemade bench for the yard. Most yards in the south are actually swept or made up of bare gravel. This is to cut down on the number of snakes and other critters that could hide in the long grass and shrubs.

The family kitchen was actually a separate building to cut down on heat in the summer and to keep a fire from burning down every thing if one started. I took this photo because it shows how a lot of buildings are put together down here. Instead of smaller studs larger 4x or 6x vertical posts are spaced a little farther apart to make up the walls. Angled braces are let into each corner to strengthen the structure and keep it square. On some houses the inside of the walls would be panelled as well as the outside. There was no such thing as insulation in the walls or ceiling down this far south.

This family owned 13 slaves at the start of the Civil War and they were housed in two log cabins like this one. Very little furniture inside and the only amenities were those that they could make themselves or what had been discarded by the owners.

The smoke house was an important building for nearly every farm during this time. Slaughtering would be done late in the year when it cooled down. What couldn't be eaten immediately was cut up and put in a salt trough for from 4 weeks to 6 months. Once the meat had dried out it was taken out rinsed off and hung up on a hook with a smokey fire going in the building. Smoking could also take from a few weeks to several months.

One of the out buildings that has been turned into a blacksmith shop.

I am fascinated by how well made some things could be even though they were made with such simple hand tools. This corn crib shows the half-lap dove tail joint at each corner. Because it was used to store and dry corn the cracks were never chinked like on a cabin. Note the axe marks on the face of the logs made by a broad axe and adz.

The barn and blacksmith shop.

Also on the grounds was this mansion known as the Swan House. The family that owned and built this house are actually the ones who donated it and the grounds to the city to be used as a history museum. Their only stipulation was that none of the land could be sold or developed.

The south and east side of the Swan House. Unfortunately the home wasn't open to the public on this day as they had some other kind of function going on instead.

A view of the Carriage House for the Swan House. A beautiful building in its own right.

Was surprised to see more wood patterns from the Grover Metal and Machinery Company in the museum. Just something about them appeals to me.

The only other picture from inside the museum. This one is of the first fire engine for the city of Atlanta. Like most large cities of that time fire was it's biggest problem. One in the early 1900's actually destroyed more buildings than Sherman's army did when they burned Atlanta during the war. It is certainly a neat old piece of history.