Today we went to the Atlanta History Museum. We first took a tour of the fabulous Swan House near the property. The Swan House is renowned for it's incredibly arcitecture, woodwork and fine details; it's the most photographed object in Atlanta for this reason. During the tour, we saw false doors, 2-foot thick marble walls, incredibly elaborate wooden inlays, and pretty much all the stuff money could buy from old slave money.
The house was built in the early 20th century, and the rich owners were determined to put in modern effects like hot water, electricity, telephone, central heating and flush bathrooms, but didn't want to spoil the classical look. They decided to hide all of these. For instance, the heat came through decorative holes in the floor (which we didn't notice until the guide pointed them out), the radio came out of decorative holes in the windowseat, the telephone was hidden in a private room, and the electric switches were hidden behind effects in the walls. Wow.
After this, we walked through an exhibit on the Civil War. It had one of the most comprehensive collections of Civil War artifacts, including an impressive display of several dozen artillery shells, many larger than basketballs. Talk about ouch!
Another funny artifact was a chestplate manufactured in the beginning of the war. Claiming to be 'bulletproof', soldiers would carry around this many-pound hunk of metal until they learned a musketball would go through it like a hot knife through butter. These were quickly ditched, along with much other useless paraphenalia. The exhibit also included a replication of siege protection that was used by the Confederates at Atlanta and Richmond.
However, the audio tour very extensive in detail. After a while, we decided to read most of the details and take our chances.
After this, we headed to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately, they were closed on Mondays so we had to head home. I hate Mondays.
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