SOUTHEASTERN RAILWAY MUSEUM
December: open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays
January-February: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays
3595 Buford Highway, Duluth
770-476-2013, www.srmduluth.org/
Admission: Adults, $8. Seniors (65 and up), $6. Children (2-12), $5. Children under 2, free. Historic train rides: $3. Park train rides, $2.
Don't miss: Their size and scale make it tough to miss the railroad equipment, but look for the taxis, firefighting equipment and buses on exhibit as well. They're on site because the Southeastern Railway Museum is also Georgia's Official Transportation History Museum.
How much time to allow for touring the museum: 1 1/2 hours
Parking: Gravel parking lot in front of exhibit buildings.
Other things to do in the area: Strickland House is the home of Georgia's first female mayor, Alice H. Strickland. Open Friday and Saturday afternoons, it houses the Duluth History Museum. If your dog is along for the ride, visit the one-acre Chattapoochee Dog Park.
MORE MUSEUMS WORTH THE TRIP
AT&T Telephone Museum
Open Mondays-Fridays, generally during lunch hours.
675 W. Peachtree Street, Atlanta
404-223-3661, tour reservation line. www.attpioneervolunteers.org/Georgia124/Museum/Museum.
Admission: free
The telephone has changed a lot since 1876 when Alexander Bell first received the rights to his invention. This museum covers more than 120 years of history of the development of the phone. You will be led through the museum by a volunteer from the AT&T Telephone Pioneers Organization who is doing this on their lunch hour.
Don't miss: Kids won't believe we once used a rotary dial to call our friends.
How much time to allow for touring the museum: 1 hour
Parking: Metered on street parking or pay parking lot on West Peachtree Street across from AT&T tower.
Other things to do in the area: You're one block from the Fox Theatre and two blocks from the Varsity.
Crawford W. Long Museum
Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays (museum will be closed from Dec. 24 to Jan. 1 for the holidays).
28 College St., Jefferson
706-367-5307, www.crawfordlong.org
Admission: $5 adults, $4 seniors (age 65 and up), $3 military and students, free for children 5 and under.
This museum tells the story of Dr. Crawford W. Long, the doctor who first used ether for surgical anesthesia. That was in 1842. Included are a medical museum, re-created 1840s doctor’s office and apothecary shop. A temporary exhibit on Civil War medicine is also on display.
Don't miss: Dr. Long's medicine bag. This worn leather satchel contained all the tools a 19th-century doctor would use as he traveled to take care of his patients.
How much time to allow for touring the museum: 45 minutes
Parking: Free parking next to museum and around the public square in downtown Jefferson.
Other things to do in the area: Visit the antique stores in the old Jefferson Mills, shop at nearby Tanger Outlet in Commerce or walk through Heritage Village at Hurricane Shoals Park in Maysville.
David J. Sencer CDC Museum
Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays, Fridays; 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursdays; closed on federal holidays.
1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta
Admission: Free. All visitors must show government-issued picture IDs and go through a metal detector. Students under 16 years old do not need to show IDs as long as they are accompanied by adults with IDs.
The permanent exhibit at the CDC museum tells the story of the development of the nation’s public health agency. For those interested in how scientists work to find and prevent disease, it’s a must-see. You can try on a hazmat suit, check out an iron lung and learn how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention solves disease outbreaks. A special exhibit, “Health Is a Human Right: Race and Place in America,” is available through Feb. 28. The exhibit looks at how “race and place” have shaped Americans’ health.
Don't miss: The needleless injectors used in the mass vaccination campaigns that wiped out smallpox, and a guinea worm specimen, another health threat on its way to eradication.
How much time to allow for touring the museum: 1 1/2 hours
Parking: Enter the complex on Clifton Road and go through security checkpoint, where you will show picture ID and have vehicle scanned. Then enter free visitors parking deck. Allow 15 minutes to get through parking security and to show ID again once inside visitor center.
Other things to do in the area: Visit the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University or the Fernbank Natural History Museum.
Douglas County Museum of History and Art
Open 1 -5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and by special appointment.
Old Douglas County Courthouse, 6754 W. Broad St., Douglasville
770-949-4090, www.facebook.com/TheDouglasCountyMuseumOfHistoryAndArt
Admission: Free. Donation box.
The old courthouse dates from the 1950s and is widely visited as an example of the International style of architecture. In keeping with the age of the building, the museum houses a wide collection of mid-20th-century items such as cocktail shakers and lunchboxes. There’s also an exhibit with more than 2,000 items of Coca-Cola memorabilia, and 24 exhibits on the history of Douglas County.
Don't miss: The collection of TV lamps, a creation of the 1950s when television sets were first mass-produced and homes needed special lighting for the best viewing quality.
How much time to allow for touring the museum: 1 hour
Parking: Street parking available in front and all around the block.
Other things to do in the area: Visit the Pine Mountain Gold Museum in Villa Rica, located at the site of a historic gold mine, or the wildlife displays and exhibits on the area's history at Sweetwater Creek State Park in Lithia Springs.
Old Jail Museum and Archives
Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays, 2-5 p.m. Sundays.
326 Thomaston St., Barnesville
770-358-5855, www.lamarcountyga.com/oldjail.html
Admission: Free. Suggested donation: $1.
The Old Jail Museum is housed in the old Lamar County Jail, constructed in 1938. Downstairs, where the sheriff and his family lived, now houses exhibits on agriculture, manufacturing and textiles among many other things. The upstairs jail cells are exactly as they were when the jail was closed in 1992.
Don't miss: The six horse-drawn vehicles on the grounds. These help tell the story of the town once called the "Buggy Capital of the World." The five buggy factories in Barnesville produced a reported 16,000 buggies a year in the early 1900s.
How much time to allow for touring the museum: 30 minutes
Other things to do in the area: Barnesville is home to Gordon State College, established in 1852, and the area is rich in Confederate history with historic markers showing the location of Confederate cemeteries and hospital. Weekend visits also should include a stop at Lamar Arts Art Center and Gallery in the downtown train depot.
Parking: The museum is behind the Lamar County courthouse. Park in the courthouse parking lot.
Metro Atlanta is home to dozens of museums, both large and small, wide-ranging in collection or highly specialized. The big museums are the ones best known, but the smaller, quirkier museums are well worth a visit.
There’s probably one close by you, good to keep in mind with the holidays at hand and kids or visitors at home.
You’ll find the little museums not so crowded. They’re inexpensive or even free, and they’re a great way to spend time with family. Volunteers, passionate about what’s on exhibit, are typical staffers on duty.
Duluth’s Southeastern Railway Museum is just off busy Buford Highway alongside an active rail line. The 35-acre museum houses more than 90 pieces of railway equipment, also known as “rolling stock.” If your household includes among younger members a Thomas the Tank Engine fanatic or, among senior members, someone who remembers when taking the train was the elegant way to travel, the museum will hold them in thrall.
Those historic sites with their “George Washington slept here” signs have nothing on Duluth. The museum owns a private car that was the Air Force One of its day, a 1911 Pullman business car “Superb” used by Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Warren G. Harding. It’s the only mobile item on the National Register of Historic Places and was used to transport Harding’s body as he lay in state.
Visitors can walk through an Army troop kitchen car last used in World War II, a Railway Post Office phased out in the 1960s, passenger cars of every vintage and the business car used to transport Olympic officials when Atlanta was bidding to host the 1996 Games.
It was the invention of the refrigerated railway car that allowed farmers to send their products to destinations more than one day’s ride away. There’s a refrigerated car on display, along with a milk tank car.
Standing next to huge locomotives with their 6-foot-tall drive wheels and 18-foot-high engine cab helps guests understand the power it takes to haul passengers and freight across the country.
Gift shop manager Lallie Morris has been volunteering at the museum for 15 years. She calls it a great hobby and loves the chance to talk with visitors.
“We get people who have a history with trains whether they traveled on trains or someone in their family worked on the railroad. They love to talk about it. And, of course, children are fascinated by trains,” she said.
Her husband, Jim, has the title of assistant operations manager for track. He volunteers two days a week, walking the museum’s mile of track to be sure the ties are holding up and the track hasn’t shifted. That’s essential work because the museum hosts rides on both a historic locomotive pulling a passenger car or caboose and a “park” train that once circled the Birmingham Zoo.
Lallie Morris also helps with birthday parties. On a recent Saturday, the museum hosted three. Adrienne Burnett of Lithonia was there for her son Sean’s third birthday. Twenty-three adults and children enjoyed pizza and birthday cake in the museum’s party car.
She and Sean visit the museum at least once a month, especially for preschool days on the second Thursday of each month. “Each month, they tell us about a different piece of railroad equipment, and the kids get to go all through it. They have crafts and stories, and we ride on the train. We love it,” she said.
Other museums in the area explore everything from telephones to the office of medical pioneer Crawford Long and a local jail.
Check out the accompanying list to find these hidden treasures and enjoy a day of exploring Georgia history.
