Andersonville, Georgia

I planned out 10 trips for the year based on the distance from home. I've seen a few clubs making trips to Andersonville, so I threw it on the list in complete ignorance of its place in history.


It took Dylan and I about 2.5 hours to get there. We left around 9:00 and the temperatures were nice at that point. We threw four water bottles in the saddle bags and put on a liberal coat of sun screen because I knew the temperatures were going to rise quickly in the afternoon.



We weren't sure where to go once we got into Andersonville, so we stopped at the visitor center in the Civil War Village. After eating lunch, we went back across the train tracks to the National Historic Site.



"Andersonville, or Camp Sumter, as it was officially known, was one of the largest of many Confederate military prisons established during the Civil War. It was built early in 1864. During the 14 months the prison existed, more than 45,000 Union soldiers were confined here. Some 13,000 died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding, or exposure."



This at the site of the prison, which contained many monuments from various organizations. The temperatures reached about 100F that day so we tried to go from shady spot to shady spot.



The prison extended to about as far as you can see in this picture. Dylan was running ahead to see if he could see the stream over knoll.


Our last stop was the National Prisoner of War Museum. We watched a 30 minute video on Andersonville, that gave many first hand accounts and a historical overview of the prison and its place in time. The actual museum centered on all prisoners of war and had displays covering most of the wars America has participated in, as well as American prisoners taken outside of a war environment.


We had to get back to LaGrange by 4:30, so our time was limited and we were running out by the time we hit the museum. Unfortunately, we quickly browsed through the displays and left feeling unsatisfied with the amount of time and attention that we wanted to spend there.



Prior to leaving we rode around the prison site and took a picture at the South Gate.


The ride back was uneventful. My back was sore and Dylan's butt was ready to vacate the back of bike. I decided to take the windshield on the journey because I can write down the directions on a sticky pad and stick them to the windshield. It makes the journey so much easier. I hope to get a GPS for the bike in the future, but until then it'll be sticky pads.