It's easy to find located just off Interstate 75 in Tifton, Georgia and is a real treasure. Yet it isn't as universally known as many tourist hotspots. This was my second visit there and it was never crowded. Considering all it has to offer, I don't know why it isn't thronged with visitors.

One of the museum's cotton exhibits

----------

It has been a fixture in Tifton since July 4^th, 1976 under the name Georgia Agrirama.  About four years ago, the museum and village was struggling. To keep it afloat the 96 acre site was brought under the wing of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. The museum is a living laboratory for the college. But it's so much more. For anyone interested in where their food or any other crops come from and how they are grown, the museum is a visual encyclopedia. It's filled with implements and farm machinery from Georgia's farming past. From a peanut picker –no it's not a guy in overalls, it's an impressive machine- to an old hand plow, you will find farming treasures. All together there are over 2,000 artifacts housed in the museum. Naturally, there is an old cotton gin.

Garret Boone explains the use of old farming machinery

This museum appeals to young and old alike. It's like stepping back into a 19th century town and watching life as it was in that era. Garret Boone, Museum Director, says "One of the main things we do is providing school tours. We are on about third and fourth generation schoolchildren. We are seeing visitor who came as schoolchildren now bring their children and grandchildren and some even their great-grandchildren."

The Old Davis Gristmill

After you have wandered the museum, hop aboard the only working Vulcan Iron Works 1917 Steam Locomotive in the state and say hello to the friendly conductor. He'll chug you around the village as in days of yore.

A docent cuts a timber at the sawmill

When you step off the train, you can emerge yourself in an earlier era in their Historic Village. It is filled with 35 structures relocated here from different part of the state.

The old turpentine mill

Wandering the village streets is like taking a trip in time into a farming community of the mid to late 19^th century. Stop in and watch costumed docents at a local sawmill.  

The colorful Tift House

You can check out the process of making turpentine or watch corn being ground at the Old Davis  gristmill. It's an authentic watrer powered mill built in 1879  that claims to make the best grits in the state

Our docent displays some of the furnishing in the Tift House

See how folks lived in that time. The Tift House, built for Captain H. H. Tift, founder of Tifton, is a classic home of a well-to-do family in the late 19^th century. Benjamin Cravey House was home to a less affluent resident. The Knight Cabin was a bit farther down the social scale of the times and the Clyatt Cabin reflected the life of a poor sharecropper of the period. As you stroll the dirt street of the village you will not see any cars. You are in a time when people traveled by horseback or on a wagon. You'll see those here. 

"Are you ready for a root beer float?"

It was a time when folks gathered at the local shops such as the Blacksmith Shop, Mercantile, or Drug Store to pass on the latest news and catch up on local gossip. These places were the Facebook and Twitter of the day. If you want a refreshing root beer float or a snack the drugstore is the place to visit.

You could spend hours or even the entire day here enjoying the ambiance of a more peaceful era.

For more Info:

http://www.abac.edu/museum

		American Roads Promote Your Page Too
Tweet		Like us on Facebook	Send us an email to let us know what you like (or don't like)  about American Roads.	Pin us