Historic Columbus, GA

We spent the last two days of my visit in Columbus, GA experiencing the rich history of this Southern town. I was surprised to learn that Columbus was a somewhat major player for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Being on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, Columbus was a center for the cotton, textiles and agricultural trades, had large iron foundries, and was a major ship-building port (many "iron-side" ships were built here).

While Cam was reporting for Airborne School, Cam's parents and I checked out the National Civil War Naval Museum. On display, the museum has the remainder of the hull of the CSS Jackson (one of the largest Confederate ironclad ships) and a huge display of actual flags flown throughout the Civil War on Confederate and Union ships.

After the museum, we headed to Phenix, AL for lunch (and to cross Alabama off my list of visited states). Amazingly enough, AL Whoppers taste very similar to WA Whoppers! We also headed north of Columbus to Calloway Gardens to check out their Country Store, where we found TONS of canned goods, preserves, and butters. We even saw sweet potato butter and pickled watermelon rinds!

On Saturday, Cam's parents, Cam and I toured the historic district in downtown Columbus. We saw several types of architecture, from Greek Rivival to Victorian to log cabins. Most the houses were built in the pre-Civil War days. We also saw the country house of Dr, John Permerton, the pharmacist that created the formula for Coca-Cola. What struck me the most was the large scale use of brick and iron-work on most of the houses. However, those materials were all made locally and probably were very cheap building supplies at the time.

The Rankin house, built 1860-1870 and valued at $18,500 (in 1898)

The Illges House, built 1850

The Bullard House, built 1887. The Bullard family hosted FDR and Generals Patton and Marshall here.