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Photos: Courtesy of Heritage Sandy Springs Museum
S I M P LY NOW
Above: Artifacts in the exhibit include weapons and letters from soldiers camped in Sandy Springs.
Right: Maps of Civil War troop movements guide visitors through the exhibit.
[ F E AT U R E D E V E N T ]
OCCUPIED SANDY SPRINGS HERITAGE SANDY SPRINGS MUSEUM EXTENDS CIVIL WAR EXHIBIT THROUGH SUMMER
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n July 8, 1864, Union troops crossed the Chattahoochee River at Sope Creek (also known as Heards Creek) and invaded Sandy Springs, occupying what was then a small farming community, for five days. The Heritage Sandy Springs Museum’s latest exhibit, The Civil War in Sandy Springs, displays artifacts and letters from that time, detailing the lives of those who lived through the occupation. The exhibit has been extended through Aug. 1, due to popular demand, and admission is free, compliments of the Frances and Beverly Dubose Foundation. The museum staged the exhibit to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, and since the exhibit
opened on April 1, 2014, approximately 11,000 visitors have passed through the space because of its incredible stories. Visitors to the museum will be able to view artifacts from the war that were found in Sandy Springs, such as a mysterious rifle that might have belonged to a Union or Confederate soldier, a “housewife” sewing kit and the previously unpublished letters of Nellie Jett, a young woman who was one of 1,000 residents in Sandy Springs at the time of the invasion. As a wife and mother whose husband left to fight, Jett witnessed between 60,000 and 80,000 soldiers enter the area on their way to Atlanta. “The actual letters are displayed on large panels and you can read them
for yourself, which really puts you in the position to understand this mother who was just left behind for several years when her husband went off to fight this terrible war,” says Carol Thompson, executive director of Heritage Sandy Springs, the organization that curates the museum. “That’s what was left of Sandy Springs: the women, the children and the elderly who were not fit to fight. Life as they knew it just completely changed.” According to Melissa Swindell, director of historic resources and education programs for Heritage Sandy Springs, several sites the troops occupied are part of the main fabric of the community today, as the Union troops established camps
in what is now the River Chase neighborhood, Heards Cemetery on Heards Drive and the hill at the end of Edgewater Drive. They also used the area that is now the Huntcliff Equestrian Center as a staging area for the battles of Peachtree Creek and Atlanta. – Jamie Hausman
CIVIL WAR IN SANDY SPRINGS EXHIBIT Heritage Sandy Springs Museum 6075 Sandy Springs Circle Sandy Springs 30328 To make a reservation, call
404.851.9111, Ext. 2 heritagesandysprings.org
June 2015 | Simply Buckhead
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