BUGGYSHOP MUSEUM 74 Main St., Senoia Open the third Saturday of each month and during Senoia events.
This unique museum, housed inside the former Baggerly Brothers buggy building, is operated by descendants of Rev. Francis Warren Baggerly, one of Senoia’s earliest settlers. Inside you’ll find six generations of antiques, circa 1890-1930, including a model T Ford, buggies and wagons from the late 1800s, an extensive arrowhead collection and other curiosities.
ERSKINE CALDWELL MUSEUM Moreland Town Square, Moreland 770-897-1888 morelandadventure.com Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
The former Presbyterian manse attracts visitors from all over the world as well as Caldwell scholars and family members. Erskine Caldwell remains one of the most widely read authors of the 20th century, with more than 80 million copies of his books sold to readers in 43 different languages. Caldwell, who died in 1987, wrote more than 50 books, including “God’s Little Acre” and “Georgia Boy.” “The Little Manse” contains Caldwell’s books, art and items that belonged to Caldwell or his parents. The Moreland Hometown Heritage Museum will be reopening this year. That museum, which tells the story of Moreland’s history, is located in the Moreland Mill, which faces the town square. An exhibit on writer Lewis Grizzard will also be part of the Hometown Heritage Museum.
COWETA COUNTY HERITAGE MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTER 92 Farmer St., Newnan • 770-304-9111 thecowetacountymuseum.blogspot.com thecowetacomuseum@yahoo.com
This museum tells the story of AfricanAmerican Cowetans in a circa-1900 renovated, shotgun-style house, moved from a nearby neighborhood and restored by the City of Newnan. In addition to showcasing an architectural style typical for Southern black families in decades past, the building is a repository for African-American artifacts and records.
Adjacent to the museum on the site is the Farmer Street Cemetery, which may be the largest slave cemetery in the South. In addition, the museum serves as a genealogy workroom for AfricanAmerican research. The museum is operated by the African-American Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to the documentation and preservation of the African-American history of Coweta County.
MALE ACADEMY MUSEUM 30 Temple Ave., Newnan 770-251-0207 newnancowetahistoricalsociety.com Tues.-Sat. 10 a.m.- noon and 1-3 p.m., Sun. 2-5 p.m.
A charming museum housed in a former boys’ private school dating back to the 1880s and built using timbers from a church four decades older. A peek inside reveals such exhibits as period clothing, Indian artifacts, treasured furniture, a Male Seminary “classroom,” Civil War artifacts, including guns, swords, bayonets as well as early medical instruments. Also included are maps, photos and memorabilia from Coweta’s own country music legend, Alan Jackson, and other local notables. In spring 2014, the museum opened a new studentorganized exhibit on the history of Newnan High School.
McRITCHIE-HOLLIS MUSEUM Corner Jackson/Clark streets, Newnan 770-251-0207 newnancowetahistoricalsociety.com
Located in the classical PenistonThomasson House, which was built in the 1930s, this museum tells the story of an upper class Southern family and their servants in the World War II era. The museum was restored through a bequest from Edgar Baldwin Hollis, a Newnan native who spent most of his professional career in Washington, D.C., working for the National Security Agency. When Hollis died in 2006, he left his collection of period furnishings to the Newnan-Coweta Historical Society to be used as the basis for the establishment of a “high-quality, wellstaffed” museum, according to the terms of his will. The Hollis collection
makes up about 75 percent of what is on display in the museum.
NEWNAN-COWETA DEPOT HISTORY CENTER 60 E. Broad St., Newnan For private rental information, call 770-251-0207
Located in the old Atlanta & West Point Railroad depot, this site preserves and interprets the history of Newnan and Coweta County through collections, educational programs, exhibits and research. The center contains a permanent exhibit on the history of Coweta County as well as a series of paintings with Civil War themes by local artist Martin Pate. Civil War fighting began near the depot that ended in the Battle of Brown’s Mill south of Newnan. The center is operated by the NewnanCoweta Historical Society and is available for special event rental and private tours.
SENOIA AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 6 Couch St., Senoia senoiahistory.org/museum Fri.-Sat. 1-4 p.m. and by appointment
The Senoia Area Historical Society owns a historic house at the corner of Pylant and Couch streets in Senoia. Under the leadership of Jack Humphreys, a group of Senoia residents purchased this home in the 1980s as a museum to house and preserve photos, film, furniture, clothing and memories of Senoia. The society has as its mission “Linking and Protecting Senoia Area History between past and future generations.” The group also enjoys many fundraising events each year, including historic home tours, progressive dinners and other events.
THE WOODBURY SHOPPE MUSEUM 48 Main St., Senoia • 770-727-9394 info@woodburyshoppe.com Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun. 1 p.m.-5 p.m.
Located in the basement of The Woodbury Shoppe, the museum has replicas, set pieces and other memorabilia relating to the AMC cable television network series “The Walking Dead.”
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COMMUNITY
Coweta’s museums offer variety, history