Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark of the Georgia
News Network. The Georgia Trust Places in Peril program seeks
to identify and preserve sites threatened by demolition, neglect, lack
of maintenance, inappropriate development, or insensitive public policy. This year,
the Georgia Trust put out its top ten list of
the Places in Peril for twenty twenty five. Included in
that is the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth. Spanning twenty
(00:33):
five acres, it boasts a remarkable collection of rolling stock
that is not only significant to Georgia's history, but to
the broader story of American transportation. Today we're at the
Southeastern Railway Museum with Chuck Douglas, director of the museum,
and right Mitchell, President and CEO of the Georgia Trust.
All right, here we are at the Southeastern Railway Museum
(00:53):
into Luke, Georgia. This is a remarkable place.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Order tree, Yeah, thank you for having us up today.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
This is an amazing place.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, it really is. Before we get to the museum itself,
talk about the place in peril, the twenty twenty five
list of Places in Peril this year, and we'll go
over them at some point we'll explain all of them,
but will focus on this one mainly, but just talk
about what it does every year.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Sure, yeah, John, thank you for having us on and
Chuck for having us up here.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
This fantastic museum in Georgia.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Trust Places in Peril program seeks to identify and preserve
Georgia's endangered historic resources that could be endangered through lack.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Of maintenance, neglect, demolition.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
And sensitive public policy, incompatible development, or in the case
of the Southeastern Railway Museum.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Just a lack of funding.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
So really with the Southeastern Railway Museum, we're trying to
highlight what a great piece of Georgia history we have
here and try and raise awareness of it and get
people to come out and visit.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah. Yeah, they definitely should visit this place. Definitely should.
What have you done over the past few years with
other places in peril? Have you had to success revitalizing them?
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yes, so we have about a ninety percent success rate
with our Places in Peril, and that's loosely defined as
you know, a place not being torn down all the
way from it just remaining standing through totally being rehabilitated
and put back in use. So we have about a
ninety percent success rate in saving our historic places in
(02:36):
danger of historic places.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
And so Digitus is top ten for this year. But
you have just bookoos of submissions every year, right, Well.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
We do ten a year.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Yeah, we've been doing it for I think this is
our twentieth year.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Well, well, this place is amazing, Chuck, I can't, I
can't do it justice. This is great. This is it's
so to my house too. It's great talk about this.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Please thank you both for coming here and especially for
for well for the visit. Yeah, this opportunity and for being.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Place time. The place is in peril. It's very special.
This is this museum. You know, you have to see
it to believe it. I mean you can.
Speaker 6 (03:27):
You know a lot of museums you can walk through history,
but you go walk through history here and touch it
and even write on history and still don't see the
whole thing. And we're kind of a hidden gem. And
I'm very proud of the growth that this museum has
had over its lifespan.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
If you could crystal ball in the sky, I'm going
to get my money, get whatever I get. What what
are you going to do with some of the money
that you get that, you would get to people to
give it to you.
Speaker 6 (03:59):
You know, I'm I'm respectfully envious to the Savoy a
Car Museum in cars Hill, or the Booth Museum. They're
fantastic operations. Well, we'll never attain that level of success.
The goal here is to clean it up, freshen it up,
(04:20):
and protect what we have. So, you know, pie in
the sky and we'd like to fix everything. Pie in
the Sky's not going to happen. So what we have
to do is identify some of the real historical pieces
that are endangered or in peril and at least put
a coat of paint on them and maybe put them undercover.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Let's talk about some of the tafe places you have.
First of all, us talk about where we are right now.
We're sitting in Roosevelt's where you eat. This is an
amazing The Potland.
Speaker 6 (04:54):
Company built six, maybe eight cars named after explorers.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
And Roosevelt.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
President Franklin Roosevelt liked this car, so he adopted Marco
Polo as the one of choice. He used other cars,
I mean they were in pool service, in least service,
but he did I think two hundred and ninety seven
trips in this car a lot too Warm Springs and back.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
To Washington, Okay, and for a while it's set at Washington.
Speaker 6 (05:26):
Norfolk Southern brought the car from a Georgia railroad rebuilt it.
It's not original, it's close, but they used it as
a VIP vehicle in Washington's Union Station and when Norfolk
Southern moved down here to they're beautiful headquarters.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
I don't know if you've seen it. It's worth a visit.
Speaker 6 (05:47):
They brought the car with and let us have it
on I would say a permanent loan or semi permanent loan.
Speaker 5 (05:56):
We're very grateful for their support.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
It's really nice and is part of that. You can
see this when you come to the visit museum too.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
You can see the exterior.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
We keep it closed because it's it's it's ownership is
you know, cross a cross pollinated, and we really need
to take care of it. We do open up on
special occasions. Jason down at the Little White House. He'll
come up Presidents Day weekend and we open it up
(06:26):
for tours.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Then it's amazing talk about some of the other things
that are here. We rode around in golf car today,
that's how big it is. Riding a golf cart to
see all the old rail railroads and every just talk
about what all you have here. We have a lot.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
We have a lot of passenger coaches summer or first
of their series. Some are the soul surviving cars of
their series. We are the most original Pullman car in
the country, according to a gentleman from the Pullman Foundation
in Chicago. We have a couple of partition cars or
(07:07):
in street language they call them Jim Crow cars that
I really believe we need to clean up and open up.
Speaker 5 (07:15):
Out of due respect.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
We've got a diner, We've got a railway post office car.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
We have some freight cars.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
And you wouldn't think freight cars were historically interesting, but
if you look behind you, we have all these lovely
wooden cars.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
We have an autobox car that needs to be restored.
Speaker 6 (07:35):
So we have we have a great series of broad
series of cars and locomotives.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Well, right, you know, you you saw this with me today.
You have to be amazed by this place.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, you know, it is an amazing place.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
And Georgia history.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
You know, the Raireas were crucial to George's history, development
of our social and.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Economic history, establishment of our towns.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Atlanta was a railroad town originally terminus, and so it's
a great way for people to come and connect with
this part of Georgia's history, which is really you know,
other than the occasional train you maybe see going by, people.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Just don't interact with railroad history. And this is a
place where you can.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Come and not only see the locomotives and passenger cars,
but actually go inside.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
And we're sitting in this amazing panel.
Speaker 7 (08:31):
I mean this might as well be a you know,
a room in someone's home. And it's just a way,
as you and I were talking to John, to kind
of go back and experience this era of our history
in a very tangible way.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
And I think it is.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Crucially important for people to understand how important the railroads
were to Georgia and to come out and support the
Southeastern Railway Museum. Bring your kids, your family to what
to grade outing and come and support the museum.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yeah, definitely. And this is one of two presidential cars,
right check, this is one brought down.
Speaker 6 (09:13):
Yeah, we have this car and open over another public
the Poland Car SUPERB, which was Warren Harding's car and
also used by President Hoover.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Oh, Okay, okay, I want to go on there. Go
ahead and name the other places in the in the
places in peril, because they're nine others besides this, and
we'll talk more about this in a minute. Let's go
over them and just talk about them and real briefly,
just to let everybody know where they are. On Edgewood
Avenue in Fulton County. What are you doing with that?
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Yeah, so that's the building that's owned by Georgia State University.
It used to be at Georgia Power or sub station
and hearkens back to an era of electricity in Atlanta
that's now, of course outdated, but Georgia State wants to
tear it down and make it surface parking. So we're
(10:10):
advocating for the preservation of that building.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
And it's you know, back in the day, these.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Public infrastructure buildings were designed in a high architectural style.
So if you go to cities and you think, well,
you know, why would they design it in such a
high style when it's just housing infrastructure, you.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Know, for power, whatever water, or whatever it may be.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
But it takes you back to an era when that
really architecture.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Was very valued as being.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
A fabric the historic fabric of a community.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
The call your tumor, Call your tumor house in.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Savannah, right, So that's got an association with an African
American family in Savannah, was a very prominent African American family,
and it's threatened by incompatible development.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Ve Opera wants to rezone.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
It to commercial.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So you you take these sometimes you'll put them on
this list to keep them safe. I guess it's a
better way to put.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
It, right.
Speaker 8 (11:11):
So our ultimate goal is to see a property not
only you know, save but ultimately there being a preservation
solution for it that puts it back into you.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So it's here at the Railway Museum.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
We'd love to see all these cars rehabilitated accessible to
the public.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
You know, this is obviously with as much stock as.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Y'all have here, because how do you eat an elephant
one bite at a time?
Speaker 5 (11:39):
Right?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
So, yeah, this is a very unique historic resource for
us because there are so many individual pieces here that
are that are historic in and of their own right.
Whereas most of the times when we list something, it's
one site, it's a house, or it's a you know, building,
or it's a cultural lands game.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
So this is.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Really a unique site for us to have on our
places in peril because there are how.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Many pieces of rolling stock do you have there?
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Ninety inch and one of them's listed on the National
Register right, So it is it is historically significant because
of the collection of rolling stock that are here, but
it also really complicates the preservation and the outcome that
we're looking to try and achieve here because there are
(12:32):
so many different pieces that need to be rehabilitated.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
So we want to help the.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Museum find funding to start kind of on a piece
by piece basis restoring their inventory.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
The crossroads Rosenwall School in Dixie, Dixie, Georgia and Brooks County.
I'm very familiar with the US Georgia. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
what are you going to do there?
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Well, I mean, you know, Southwest Georgia unfortunately is kind
of a neglected part of our state. Not many people
know much about it.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Might drive through it kind.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Of going over to until you following down to thirty A.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
But the Rosenwald School is a Rosenwald Schools were it was.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
It was an effort by Julius Rosenwald, who was a
Seers and Robot founder and to create African American schools
in the South and Georgia has a few of these
around the state and this one in particular is in
very bad shape and threatened with demolition by neglect.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Oh man, that got to fix that one up. Yeah,
we had.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
We had very good success with another Rosenwald school up
in Cave Spring, the Fairview Fairview Crossing School. We'd love
to see a similar outcome for Crossroads.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
The guys at home Place in Sponding County.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah, so that's down near Griffin and it is an
interesting home in that it was built.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Kind of right in the I think it's eighteen what
day do you.
Speaker 9 (14:11):
For, eighteen eighteen, twenty seven, twenty seven, right, so you
know Trailer Tiers was eighteen twenty one, so it was
would have been one of the first homes built in
this area of Georgia after the Indian removal.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
And it's designed in a in a very high style.
It's not kind of the rustic frontier home that you
would expect to see at that period of time in Georgia.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
And it's interesting, I think.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Because you you really it was a it was an
era of Georgia where you know, the Indians had just
been removed. Of course they didn't all leave, right, they
were still around. So this was an era when a
period of time when when white settlers were interacting with
Indians on the frontier, and so the gas A is
(15:00):
a great reminder of that time in our history.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Powell Opera House in Blakeley, another Southwest Georgia.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Right, Yeah, so that that was originally back I.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Think it was built in it's been closed up.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Since twenty six and it was originally an entertainment space
for the community, and it'd just.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Really been forgotten.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
It's on the second store of a second story of
a commercial building and had just been closed up and forgotten,
and so Blakely is trying to bring it back and
turn it into anpace entertainment space for the community.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Historic Rock House in Thompson, Georgia difficulty.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Right, So that's a really significant historic resource in Georgia.
The Rock House was built in seventeen ninety seven by
Thomas Ansley, who was a settler, one of the first
settlers in that area. So that would have been before
the Indiana would move act, right, And so Thomas Ansy
(15:59):
was living amongst the Indians at the time, the Creek
Indians in that area. There was a nearby settlement, a
Quaker settlement called Wrightsboro. The Quakers were Pacifists. So how
the Quakers got tapped to settle that part of Georgia's
a little lost on me, but I'm sure they struggled
with it. But it is one of the few remaining
(16:25):
rock houses and houses for that matter in Georgia from
that period of time.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
This one's interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
The Buckhead town Hall and jail in the town of Buckhead, Georgia.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Yeah, not Buckhead in Atlanta, right, there are no Buckhead
in Atlanta. Wanted to become Buckhead, right, they built a
post office and said all right, they applied for a
for a post office certification, said we want to be
called Buckhead, and the US Post Office said, sorry, there's
(16:58):
another community out out out east to here that it's
already got that name, which was Buckhead, Georgia.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
So the real Buckhead.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Is in uh is in is in Buckhead, Georgia out
in the city of Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
And that is just the little.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Old jail that they used there.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
And then it became the town hall and it's in
need of some brick repair.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
That's gonna be that's gonna be a fun and the watch.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, and then finally Southeastern Railway Museum into Luth, Georgia,
where we are. Yeah, that's that's this is a fascinating place.
But let's talk more about that, Chuck, talk about more
about what you can see in here.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
That's just amazing what we saw this morning.
Speaker 6 (17:42):
Well, if I may, I want to credit the Trust
for their work and their leadership on.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
These these issues. It's the experience.
Speaker 6 (17:54):
And I don't know if you have these some of
the buildings, but I've seen this in theaters and even
here at the museum. You get a second grader coming
through and they've never seen anything like this, be at
an opera house, a packing plan or or a railroad museum.
(18:18):
And to have these kids come up and say, mister, mister,
this is the coolest railroad museum I've ever seen. It's
likely the only one they've seen. But they're thrilled to
be here and see this kind of history. So the
work of the Georgia Trust is really critical to the
state in society.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
This is it's continuing education.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
You don't even realize you're having continuing education when you
see these things. So I think it's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
It said here, spanning thirty five acres.
Speaker 6 (18:54):
Is that about We're thirty five acres are fun. Yeah,
it's it's not all full.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Of you know, railroad equipment. We do have some space.
Speaker 6 (19:07):
There's a loop with the little sixteen inch gage Zoo train,
and then there's parking, and then there's we include the
the acres that the two.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
Retention ponds that we have to maintain.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
But we have space. You know, if you want to
come out, bring a picnic, fly a kite, throw a
softball around, a frisbee, make a full day of it.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
We're here to be at your convenience.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
I bet school trips should be great because you have
at a.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Vent center here. We have certain things and everything'd be
great for school.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
Trips we host. We host a good deal of school trips.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
There are a lot of fun, there's a lot of
excitement with these kids coming through. We do rent the
building out for private parties uh and and luncheons and meetings,
so that that's helpful to us as well.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
And you're right into Luth. I mean you're right downtown
to Luth. I mean right through downtown to Luth every
day almost and I didn't know you were here.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
I cannot tell you how many times I've heard that. Yeah,
and I've only been here a year and a half.
So yeah, we're kind of a secret. You have to
look for us. But we're trying to improve on our
marketing and our visibility. I mean, we've been going through
sales data. That sounds crassed, but we've been going through
(20:35):
our data to figure out where our visitors come from.
It's seventy two counties in Georgia. You know, people have
visited thirty six thirty six states, eighteen countries. Really yeah, wow?
Speaker 5 (20:54):
So right here on Beutford Highway, right here in Buford Highway.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah, where's your dress? So when do you open?
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Thirty five ninety five Buford Highway in Duluth, three zero
Zara ninety six. Train Museum sorry, train dash Museum dot
com is the website. We're on that thing called Facebook
as well, and we're open Thursday through Saturday, ten to five,
Sundays noon to five. This summer, we're going to open
(21:25):
on Wednesdays as well and see how that goes.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
And you said your weekends pretty good?
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Weekends are okay?
Speaker 6 (21:32):
Yeah, We're we're weather dependent, so if it's raining, forget
about it. That gives it's an opportunity to clean up something.
If it's too hot, forget about it. If it's too cold,
forget about it. But some people come out and.
Speaker 10 (21:48):
Look, and I have to you know, I have to
credit everybody that's worked on this project for fifty Some
audios consider that this has been basically volunteer driven.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
We have people that have been here for thirty years
and they still come almost every Saturday to fix something.
They share their skills with the young kids, and we're
watching a generational shift. The younger crew is learning how
to do all this stuff. So I think it's important.
Speaker 11 (22:21):
Yeah, it's a real testament to grassroots. Yeah, the story
of preservation. It's right, A lot of it's volunteered. They
need more volunteers here. Yeah, so talk about that. That's
that's important to you.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
That's crucial.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Yeah, for our places in Peril to have a successful
preservation outcome, there has to be local interest in support.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
There have to be folks like Chuck and his team.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
That are willing to get their hands dirty and do
the heavy lifting, you know, sitting back and just hoping
that some benefactor.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Comes along and donates a ton of money.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
You know, it's it's a pipe dream.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
That happens occasionally, but in most instances where we see
our places in peril have successes when local folks get
interested in the historic resource and get to work and
raise the money and come out and get their hands
dirty and work on the site.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
And so you know, there are all.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
The makings here for a successful preservation outcome. It's just
we need more folks than we need the public to
come out and visit and support and donate.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Where can people go to get to find out at
Georgia Trust and find out more about these places in peril.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Sure, they can go to our website Georgia Trust.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Dot org and all of our places in Peril are
listed there and more information about our Places in Peril
program and other preservation programs.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
And I should mission that you also owned the hay
House in Making too.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
We do fantastic Italian eight mansion mid eighteen hundreds in Macon, Georgia,
well worth a visit. I put it up against any
house music in the United States.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, but I say it, Chuck, thank you so much.
This has been wonderful. This has been wonderful.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
You're welcome, And if I could plug for the academics,
if you're teaching something consider teaching renovation skills. Sixty minutes Sunday, Well, yeah,
sixty minutes. Did the story on remember Sunday morning, they
did the story on college in Emporia, Kansas, Sali, Yeah, Emporia,
(24:31):
Sorry McPherson. They were so surprised to find the school
teaching a four year degree in automotive restoration. It's a
skill set. That skill set transfers to a lot of things.
So I would hope that you know, schools pick up
on this movement. And as you were talking about right
about volunteering, when you volunteer in an organization like this,
(24:53):
you meet the best people.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
Do you meet the greatest people? So do get involved.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Thank you, Katie, you show us around today.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
My question time, we'll come back back here, come back
to it.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
That's Chuck Douglas who's director of the museum, and right Mitchell,
President and CEO of the Georgia Trust. To find out
about the Southeastern Railway Museum, VI is it train dash
Museum dot com, Train dash Museum dot com. To find
out about the Georgia Trust, you can visit them at
ga Trust dot org. For questions or comments about today's show,
you can email me John Clark at Georgiannewsnetwork dot com.
(25:30):
Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you next week right
here on your local radio station on Georgia Focus
Welcome to Georgia Focus. I'm John Clark of the Georgia
News Network. The Georgia Trust Places in Peril program seeks
to identify and preserve sites threatened by demolition, neglect, lack
of maintenance, inappropriate development, or insensitive public policy. This year,
the Georgia Trust put out its top ten list of
the Places in Peril for twenty twenty five. Included in
that is the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth. Spanning twenty
(00:33):
five acres, it boasts a remarkable collection of rolling stock
that is not only significant to Georgia's history, but to
the broader story of American transportation. Today we're at the
Southeastern Railway Museum with Chuck Douglas, director of the museum,
and right Mitchell, President and CEO of the Georgia Trust.
All right, here we are at the Southeastern Railway Museum
(00:53):
into Luke, Georgia. This is a remarkable place.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Order tree, Yeah, thank you for having us up today.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
This is an amazing place.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, it really is. Before we get to the museum itself,
talk about the place in peril, the twenty twenty five
list of Places in Peril this year, and we'll go
over them at some point we'll explain all of them,
but will focus on this one mainly, but just talk
about what it does every year.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Sure, yeah, John, thank you for having us on and
Chuck for having us up here.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
This fantastic museum in Georgia.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Trust Places in Peril program seeks to identify and preserve
Georgia's endangered historic resources that could be endangered through lack.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Of maintenance, neglect, demolition.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
And sensitive public policy, incompatible development, or in the case
of the Southeastern Railway Museum.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Just a lack of funding.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
So really with the Southeastern Railway Museum, we're trying to
highlight what a great piece of Georgia history we have
here and try and raise awareness of it and get
people to come out and visit.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah. Yeah, they definitely should visit this place. Definitely should.
What have you done over the past few years with
other places in peril? Have you had to success revitalizing them?
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yes, so we have about a ninety percent success rate
with our Places in Peril, and that's loosely defined as
you know, a place not being torn down all the
way from it just remaining standing through totally being rehabilitated
and put back in use. So we have about a
ninety percent success rate in saving our historic places in
(02:36):
danger of historic places.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
And so Digitus is top ten for this year. But
you have just bookoos of submissions every year, right, Well.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
We do ten a year.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Yeah, we've been doing it for I think this is
our twentieth year.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Well, well, this place is amazing, Chuck, I can't, I
can't do it justice. This is great. This is it's
so to my house too. It's great talk about this.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Please thank you both for coming here and especially for
for well for the visit. Yeah, this opportunity and for being.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Place time. The place is in peril. It's very special.
This is this museum. You know, you have to see
it to believe it. I mean you can.
Speaker 6 (03:27):
You know a lot of museums you can walk through history,
but you go walk through history here and touch it
and even write on history and still don't see the
whole thing. And we're kind of a hidden gem. And
I'm very proud of the growth that this museum has
had over its lifespan.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
If you could crystal ball in the sky, I'm going
to get my money, get whatever I get. What what
are you going to do with some of the money
that you get that, you would get to people to
give it to you.
Speaker 6 (03:59):
You know, I'm I'm respectfully envious to the Savoy a
Car Museum in cars Hill, or the Booth Museum. They're
fantastic operations. Well, we'll never attain that level of success.
The goal here is to clean it up, freshen it up,
(04:20):
and protect what we have. So, you know, pie in
the sky and we'd like to fix everything. Pie in
the Sky's not going to happen. So what we have
to do is identify some of the real historical pieces
that are endangered or in peril and at least put
a coat of paint on them and maybe put them undercover.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Let's talk about some of the tafe places you have.
First of all, us talk about where we are right now.
We're sitting in Roosevelt's where you eat. This is an
amazing The Potland.
Speaker 6 (04:54):
Company built six, maybe eight cars named after explorers.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
And Roosevelt.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
President Franklin Roosevelt liked this car, so he adopted Marco
Polo as the one of choice. He used other cars,
I mean they were in pool service, in least service,
but he did I think two hundred and ninety seven
trips in this car a lot too Warm Springs and back.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
To Washington, Okay, and for a while it's set at Washington.
Speaker 6 (05:26):
Norfolk Southern brought the car from a Georgia railroad rebuilt it.
It's not original, it's close, but they used it as
a VIP vehicle in Washington's Union Station and when Norfolk
Southern moved down here to they're beautiful headquarters.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
I don't know if you've seen it. It's worth a visit.
Speaker 6 (05:47):
They brought the car with and let us have it
on I would say a permanent loan or semi permanent loan.
Speaker 5 (05:56):
We're very grateful for their support.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
It's really nice and is part of that. You can
see this when you come to the visit museum too.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
You can see the exterior.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
We keep it closed because it's it's it's ownership is
you know, cross a cross pollinated, and we really need
to take care of it. We do open up on
special occasions. Jason down at the Little White House. He'll
come up Presidents Day weekend and we open it up
(06:26):
for tours.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Then it's amazing talk about some of the other things
that are here. We rode around in golf car today,
that's how big it is. Riding a golf cart to
see all the old rail railroads and every just talk
about what all you have here. We have a lot.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
We have a lot of passenger coaches summer or first
of their series. Some are the soul surviving cars of
their series. We are the most original Pullman car in
the country, according to a gentleman from the Pullman Foundation
in Chicago. We have a couple of partition cars or
(07:07):
in street language they call them Jim Crow cars that
I really believe we need to clean up and open up.
Speaker 5 (07:15):
Out of due respect.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
We've got a diner, We've got a railway post office car.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
We have some freight cars.
Speaker 6 (07:23):
And you wouldn't think freight cars were historically interesting, but
if you look behind you, we have all these lovely
wooden cars.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
We have an autobox car that needs to be restored.
Speaker 6 (07:35):
So we have we have a great series of broad
series of cars and locomotives.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Well, right, you know, you you saw this with me today.
You have to be amazed by this place.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, you know, it is an amazing place.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
And Georgia history.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
You know, the Raireas were crucial to George's history, development
of our social and.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Economic history, establishment of our towns.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Atlanta was a railroad town originally terminus, and so it's
a great way for people to come and connect with
this part of Georgia's history, which is really you know,
other than the occasional train you maybe see going by, people.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Just don't interact with railroad history. And this is a
place where you can.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Come and not only see the locomotives and passenger cars,
but actually go inside.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
And we're sitting in this amazing panel.
Speaker 7 (08:31):
I mean this might as well be a you know,
a room in someone's home. And it's just a way,
as you and I were talking to John, to kind
of go back and experience this era of our history
in a very tangible way.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
And I think it is.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Crucially important for people to understand how important the railroads
were to Georgia and to come out and support the
Southeastern Railway Museum. Bring your kids, your family to what
to grade outing and come and support the museum.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yeah, definitely. And this is one of two presidential cars,
right check, this is one brought down.
Speaker 6 (09:13):
Yeah, we have this car and open over another public
the Poland Car SUPERB, which was Warren Harding's car and
also used by President Hoover.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Oh, Okay, okay, I want to go on there. Go
ahead and name the other places in the in the
places in peril, because they're nine others besides this, and
we'll talk more about this in a minute. Let's go
over them and just talk about them and real briefly,
just to let everybody know where they are. On Edgewood
Avenue in Fulton County. What are you doing with that?
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Yeah, so that's the building that's owned by Georgia State University.
It used to be at Georgia Power or sub station
and hearkens back to an era of electricity in Atlanta
that's now, of course outdated, but Georgia State wants to
tear it down and make it surface parking. So we're
(10:10):
advocating for the preservation of that building.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
And it's you know, back in the day, these.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Public infrastructure buildings were designed in a high architectural style.
So if you go to cities and you think, well,
you know, why would they design it in such a
high style when it's just housing infrastructure, you.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Know, for power, whatever water, or whatever it may be.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
But it takes you back to an era when that
really architecture.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Was very valued as being.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
A fabric the historic fabric of a community.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
The call your tumor, Call your tumor house in.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Savannah, right, So that's got an association with an African
American family in Savannah, was a very prominent African American family,
and it's threatened by incompatible development.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Ve Opera wants to rezone.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
It to commercial.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So you you take these sometimes you'll put them on
this list to keep them safe. I guess it's a
better way to put.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
It, right.
Speaker 8 (11:11):
So our ultimate goal is to see a property not
only you know, save but ultimately there being a preservation
solution for it that puts it back into you.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
So it's here at the Railway Museum.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
We'd love to see all these cars rehabilitated accessible to
the public.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
You know, this is obviously with as much stock as.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Y'all have here, because how do you eat an elephant
one bite at a time?
Speaker 5 (11:39):
Right?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
So, yeah, this is a very unique historic resource for
us because there are so many individual pieces here that
are that are historic in and of their own right.
Whereas most of the times when we list something, it's
one site, it's a house, or it's a you know, building,
or it's a cultural lands game.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
So this is.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Really a unique site for us to have on our
places in peril because there are how.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Many pieces of rolling stock do you have there?
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Ninety inch and one of them's listed on the National
Register right, So it is it is historically significant because
of the collection of rolling stock that are here, but
it also really complicates the preservation and the outcome that
we're looking to try and achieve here because there are
(12:32):
so many different pieces that need to be rehabilitated.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
So we want to help the.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Museum find funding to start kind of on a piece
by piece basis restoring their inventory.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
The crossroads Rosenwall School in Dixie, Dixie, Georgia and Brooks County.
I'm very familiar with the US Georgia. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
what are you going to do there?
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Well, I mean, you know, Southwest Georgia unfortunately is kind
of a neglected part of our state. Not many people
know much about it.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Might drive through it kind.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Of going over to until you following down to thirty A.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
But the Rosenwald School is a Rosenwald Schools were it was.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
It was an effort by Julius Rosenwald, who was a
Seers and Robot founder and to create African American schools
in the South and Georgia has a few of these
around the state and this one in particular is in
very bad shape and threatened with demolition by neglect.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Oh man, that got to fix that one up. Yeah,
we had.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
We had very good success with another Rosenwald school up
in Cave Spring, the Fairview Fairview Crossing School. We'd love
to see a similar outcome for Crossroads.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
The guys at home Place in Sponding County.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Yeah, so that's down near Griffin and it is an
interesting home in that it was built.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Kind of right in the I think it's eighteen what
day do you.
Speaker 9 (14:11):
For, eighteen eighteen, twenty seven, twenty seven, right, so you
know Trailer Tiers was eighteen twenty one, so it was
would have been one of the first homes built in
this area of Georgia after the Indian removal.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
And it's designed in a in a very high style.
It's not kind of the rustic frontier home that you
would expect to see at that period of time in Georgia.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
And it's interesting, I think.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Because you you really it was a it was an
era of Georgia where you know, the Indians had just
been removed. Of course they didn't all leave, right, they
were still around. So this was an era when a
period of time when when white settlers were interacting with
Indians on the frontier, and so the gas A is
(15:00):
a great reminder of that time in our history.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Powell Opera House in Blakeley, another Southwest Georgia.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Right, Yeah, so that that was originally back I.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Think it was built in it's been closed up.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Since twenty six and it was originally an entertainment space
for the community, and it'd just.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Really been forgotten.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
It's on the second store of a second story of
a commercial building and had just been closed up and forgotten,
and so Blakely is trying to bring it back and
turn it into anpace entertainment space for the community.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Historic Rock House in Thompson, Georgia difficulty.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Right, So that's a really significant historic resource in Georgia.
The Rock House was built in seventeen ninety seven by
Thomas Ansley, who was a settler, one of the first
settlers in that area. So that would have been before
the Indiana would move act, right, And so Thomas Ansy
(15:59):
was living amongst the Indians at the time, the Creek
Indians in that area. There was a nearby settlement, a
Quaker settlement called Wrightsboro. The Quakers were Pacifists. So how
the Quakers got tapped to settle that part of Georgia's
a little lost on me, but I'm sure they struggled
with it. But it is one of the few remaining
(16:25):
rock houses and houses for that matter in Georgia from
that period of time.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
This one's interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
The Buckhead town Hall and jail in the town of Buckhead, Georgia.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Yeah, not Buckhead in Atlanta, right, there are no Buckhead
in Atlanta. Wanted to become Buckhead, right, they built a
post office and said all right, they applied for a
for a post office certification, said we want to be
called Buckhead, and the US Post Office said, sorry, there's
(16:58):
another community out out out east to here that it's
already got that name, which was Buckhead, Georgia.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
So the real Buckhead.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Is in uh is in is in Buckhead, Georgia out
in the city of Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
And that is just the little.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Old jail that they used there.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
And then it became the town hall and it's in
need of some brick repair.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
That's gonna be that's gonna be a fun and the watch.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, and then finally Southeastern Railway Museum into Luth, Georgia,
where we are. Yeah, that's that's this is a fascinating place.
But let's talk more about that, Chuck, talk about more
about what you can see in here.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
That's just amazing what we saw this morning.
Speaker 6 (17:42):
Well, if I may, I want to credit the Trust
for their work and their leadership on.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
These these issues. It's the experience.
Speaker 6 (17:54):
And I don't know if you have these some of
the buildings, but I've seen this in theaters and even
here at the museum. You get a second grader coming
through and they've never seen anything like this, be at
an opera house, a packing plan or or a railroad museum.
(18:18):
And to have these kids come up and say, mister, mister,
this is the coolest railroad museum I've ever seen. It's
likely the only one they've seen. But they're thrilled to
be here and see this kind of history. So the
work of the Georgia Trust is really critical to the
state in society.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
This is it's continuing education.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
You don't even realize you're having continuing education when you
see these things. So I think it's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
It said here, spanning thirty five acres.
Speaker 6 (18:54):
Is that about We're thirty five acres are fun. Yeah,
it's it's not all full.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Of you know, railroad equipment. We do have some space.
Speaker 6 (19:07):
There's a loop with the little sixteen inch gage Zoo train,
and then there's parking, and then there's we include the
the acres that the two.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
Retention ponds that we have to maintain.
Speaker 6 (19:21):
But we have space. You know, if you want to
come out, bring a picnic, fly a kite, throw a
softball around, a frisbee, make a full day of it.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
We're here to be at your convenience.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
I bet school trips should be great because you have
at a.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Vent center here. We have certain things and everything'd be
great for school.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
Trips we host. We host a good deal of school trips.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
There are a lot of fun, there's a lot of
excitement with these kids coming through. We do rent the
building out for private parties uh and and luncheons and meetings,
so that that's helpful to us as well.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
And you're right into Luth. I mean you're right downtown
to Luth. I mean right through downtown to Luth every
day almost and I didn't know you were here.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
I cannot tell you how many times I've heard that. Yeah,
and I've only been here a year and a half.
So yeah, we're kind of a secret. You have to
look for us. But we're trying to improve on our
marketing and our visibility. I mean, we've been going through
sales data. That sounds crassed, but we've been going through
(20:35):
our data to figure out where our visitors come from.
It's seventy two counties in Georgia. You know, people have
visited thirty six thirty six states, eighteen countries. Really yeah, wow?
Speaker 5 (20:54):
So right here on Beutford Highway, right here in Buford Highway.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Yeah, where's your dress? So when do you open?
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Thirty five ninety five Buford Highway in Duluth, three zero
Zara ninety six. Train Museum sorry, train dash Museum dot
com is the website. We're on that thing called Facebook
as well, and we're open Thursday through Saturday, ten to five,
Sundays noon to five. This summer, we're going to open
(21:25):
on Wednesdays as well and see how that goes.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
And you said your weekends pretty good?
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Weekends are okay?
Speaker 6 (21:32):
Yeah, We're we're weather dependent, so if it's raining, forget
about it. That gives it's an opportunity to clean up something.
If it's too hot, forget about it. If it's too cold,
forget about it. But some people come out and.
Speaker 10 (21:48):
Look, and I have to you know, I have to
credit everybody that's worked on this project for fifty Some
audios consider that this has been basically volunteer driven.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
We have people that have been here for thirty years
and they still come almost every Saturday to fix something.
They share their skills with the young kids, and we're
watching a generational shift. The younger crew is learning how
to do all this stuff. So I think it's important.
Speaker 11 (22:21):
Yeah, it's a real testament to grassroots. Yeah, the story
of preservation. It's right, A lot of it's volunteered. They
need more volunteers here. Yeah, so talk about that. That's
that's important to you.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
That's crucial.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Yeah, for our places in Peril to have a successful
preservation outcome, there has to be local interest in support.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
There have to be folks like Chuck and his team.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
That are willing to get their hands dirty and do
the heavy lifting, you know, sitting back and just hoping
that some benefactor.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Comes along and donates a ton of money.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
You know, it's it's a pipe dream.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
That happens occasionally, but in most instances where we see
our places in peril have successes when local folks get
interested in the historic resource and get to work and
raise the money and come out and get their hands
dirty and work on the site.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
And so you know, there are all.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
The makings here for a successful preservation outcome. It's just
we need more folks than we need the public to
come out and visit and support and donate.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Where can people go to get to find out at
Georgia Trust and find out more about these places in peril.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Sure, they can go to our website Georgia Trust.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Dot org and all of our places in Peril are
listed there and more information about our Places in Peril
program and other preservation programs.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
And I should mission that you also owned the hay
House in Making too.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
We do fantastic Italian eight mansion mid eighteen hundreds in Macon, Georgia,
well worth a visit. I put it up against any
house music in the United States.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, but I say it, Chuck, thank you so much.
This has been wonderful. This has been wonderful.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
You're welcome, And if I could plug for the academics,
if you're teaching something consider teaching renovation skills. Sixty minutes Sunday, Well, yeah,
sixty minutes. Did the story on remember Sunday morning, they
did the story on college in Emporia, Kansas, Sali, Yeah, Emporia,
(24:31):
Sorry McPherson. They were so surprised to find the school
teaching a four year degree in automotive restoration. It's a
skill set. That skill set transfers to a lot of things.
So I would hope that you know, schools pick up
on this movement. And as you were talking about right
about volunteering, when you volunteer in an organization like this,
(24:53):
you meet the best people.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
Do you meet the greatest people? So do get involved.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Thank you, Katie, you show us around today.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
My question time, we'll come back back here, come back
to it.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
That's Chuck Douglas who's director of the museum, and right Mitchell,
President and CEO of the Georgia Trust. To find out
about the Southeastern Railway Museum, VI is it train dash
Museum dot com, Train dash Museum dot com. To find
out about the Georgia Trust, you can visit them at
ga Trust dot org. For questions or comments about today's show,
you can email me John Clark at Georgiannewsnetwork dot com.
(25:30):
Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you next week right
here on your local radio station on Georgia Focus
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