Traveling Exhibit: Da Vinci and Michelangelo, Side by Side

By Jeff Burns

 

Do you dream of going to Italy and seeing works by Renaissance masters?  Or maybe you want to renew memories of a past visit?  Then, the creators of this exhibit are looking for you.  “Da Vinci and Michelangelo:  Side by Side” is one of those for-profit traveling exhibits that appear in shopping centers and commercial spaces for a few months before moving on to the next stop on the tour, like Bodies or the Titanic exhibit.  While it might seem like a new trend, popping up over the last decade or so, it’s really an idea as old as exhibitions and museums  The creator of modern exhibitionism and showmanship, P.T. Barnum, exhibited George Washington’s 120+ year-old nanny and other dubious “historical” objects throughout his careers.

This exhibit, in Atlanta at the time of this writing, is built on a great concept, focusing on the two greatest creative men of the Renaissance and arguably of all time.  There are reproductions of their most famous works  and lots of informative exhibits.  Several of Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebook designs, foreshadowing inventions that wouldn’t be devised for hundreds of years, come to life as models, several of which are hands-on.  Da Vinci has always been my favorite personality in history, and his notebooks, which were never intended for anyone else to see, contain hundreds of designs ahead of their time that Leonardo never actually built.  Now, you can see them in action and get a sense of just how advanced he was as a thinker.

The exhibit offers free guided tours and has an excellent accompanying audio tour that you can do on your own.  There are also a couple of video stations in the exhibit and a couple of activity areas for kids.  There is a large gift shop of course, and the staff seemed to be enthusiastic. 

For more information and to see if the exhibit is coming to your area, check out the website www.discoverdavinci.com .  Tip: If you want to see this exhibit or any similar exhibit, check out the discount sites like Groupon, Living Social, Travelzoo, etc.  Travelzoo offered a 2 for 1 deal on tickets in Atlanta.

Traveling with History: The Atlanta History Center

By Margaret Duncan, Ed.D.

Do you like to travel?  Do you like History?  Do you like combining both?  One of the places to visit with an eye towards history is the Atlanta History Center—a sprawling complex located on 33 acres in the historic Buckhead section of Atlanta.  The Atlanta History Center’s main mission is to connect people, history, and culture through the Atlanta History Museum, the Centennial Olympic Games Museum, the Swan House, and the Smith Family Farm.  Visitors to the Center can learn all about the Atlanta region's people, from its earliest settlers to the international city it is today. 

Highlights of the Atlanta History Center:

Swan House
For many, the Swan House is the ultimate image of the Atlanta History Center since it is one of the most recognized and photographed landmarks.  It is a mansion built in 1928 for the Edward H. Inman family, heirs to a cotton brokerage fortune. The Swan House allows visitors to glimpse the lifestyle of a prominent Atlanta family during the 1920s and 1930s.  Additionally, thanks to the Hunger Games movie trilogy, special tours called “Capital Tours” of the mansion are also offered.  On these special tours, visitors can sit at President Snow’s desk and even see rooms that are not normally on the tour. 

Smith Family Farm
The Smith Family Farm includes the Tullie Smith House, a plantation house built in the 1840s by the Robert Smith family. The house survived the destruction in and around Atlanta during the Civil War.  Both the house and the detached kitchen were moved to the Atlanta History Center in the early 1970s and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The Smith Family Farm consists of the Tullie Smith House, the separate open hearth kitchen, a dairy, blacksmith shop, smokehouse, double corncrib, slave cabin, and barn, as well as traditional vegetable, herb, field, flower, and slave gardens.  Visitors can get a sense of a working farm during the Antebellum period.  As my youngest daughter was excited to learn, if you visit at the right time of year, and you can even see the sheep being sheered!

Centennial Olympic Games Museum
Thanks to the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, Atlanta became the focus of the entire world for seventeen days.  The exhibit showcases the history of the Olympic games, from its inception in ancient Greece through the modern Olympic Games to the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games and its legacy.  Visitors can stand on the winners platform or sit down and watch key moments from the games.  Also, the museum is America’s only complete collection of Olympic torches and medals.


Down the Fairway with Bobby Jones Exhibit
Bobby Jones is one of the most famous athletes of the 1920s and 1930s, and is the face of modern era Golf.  The exhibit is the largest display focused on the man that many consider to be one of the most important golfers in the history of the game.  The exhibit includes photographs and personal artifacts that follow Jones life, his record tournament wins, his family life, and his help in creating the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club.  The exhibit also includes artifacts from the game of golf from its early history to the modern era.

If you are a fan of Atlanta, the Olympics, Golf or are a Civil War history buff, we recommend taking a tour of the Atlanta History Center. 

Staying Home for the Holidays? Enjoy Local Sites and Traditions

By Nina Kendall

How do you celebrate the holidays? What special events are you planning to attend? There are famous celebrations of the holidays across the United States from parades to Christmas tree lightings.  The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and other holiday events are broadcast on television. The White House has been lighting a National Christmas Tree  for 92 years.  Walt Disney World got into the act when they brought the Osborne Lights to Florida in 1995.

While major events draw crowds, you don't have to travel far to enjoy holiday traditions. Locales across the country feature unique celebrations that reflect local history and geography.  Popular traditions include caroling or sing-alongs, parades, festival of trees, and holiday light shows. 

A few Holiday Traditions with a Local Twist:

Festival of Trees
I love Christmas trees. To me a Christmas tree tells a story. Once a year we take out our treasures, memories , and joys and put them on display. Fernbank Museum of Natural History hosts Winter Wonderland annually. This exhibition is a collection trees and displays sponsored by cultural groups throughout the metro area. Each tree is decorated to reflect the sponsor. You can enjoy the trees, admire the handiwork, and learn about traditions from around the world practice by your neighbors.


Sing-A-Longs
I love to sing along. Secretly, I think everyone does not matter what they think of their voice. The Fox Theater hosted the 9^th Annual Sing-A-Long event, Mighty Mo & More this year.  This free concert is a chance to sing carols, donate to Toys for Tots, hear a local chorus, and enjoy a holiday movie. There is little more cheerful than sing Christmas Carols with others.


Light Shows
Atlanta and surrounding environs have a number of light show destinations.  Lake Lanier, Callaway Gardens, Stone Mountain, and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens all host their own light shows. At Callaway Gardens, you drive through displays tied to the carols broadcast throughout the show. In the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, you walk amongst nature inspired light displays.  Each experience  imbued with a little Christmas magic.


New Year’s Eve Celebration
Atlanta’s Peach Drop is the local New Year’s Eve Celebration. This event takes near Underground Atlanta and is entering its 26^th year.  The Peach Drop is a daylong celebration that draws young and old alike. Venture downtown to enjoy a fairway game, sample festival food, and ring in the New Year with thousands of locals.

Staycation: Exploring the Changes in the Local Food Landscape

By Jeff Burns

            “The best laid plans….”  Our plan to have one lunch per week in a new restaurant or to try a new ethnic cuisine was a good plan, but life got in the way, and we haven’t quite made it each week.  However, we still managed to add some new favorites to our list. Here are a few find from our hunt for the food of a modern land.

            First up:  Villains Wicked Heroes.  Every menu item carries the name of a pop culture villain, from Lucy Van Pelt (Cajun boiled peanuts appetizer of course) to Bluto (a spinach salad) and Goldfinger (a hot brown sandwich hero).  The menu is a lot of fun, and the food is even better.  I enjoyed my favorite Bond villain, Oddjob, and my wife had a Mumm-Ra.

             Second, we visited Sobban- Korean Southern Diner in Decatur, the brainchild of a couple with another very successful restaurant, Heirloom Barbecue.  He’s southern, she’s south Korean, and they discovered that their cultures share many things in common, like a love for barbecue, pork, and pickles.  At Sobban, they’ve masterfully blended the two into many delicious dishes.  We started with a kimchi deviled egg and okara hushpuppies with kimchi  remoulade as appetizers.  (Not okra, okara is a soy pulp, a byproduct of making tofu) Our entrees were a bulgogi beef burger and a fried bologna sandwich – you guessed it, with kimchi – featuring bologna made in house.  It was all great.          





 Finally, we returned to Buford Highway, the most eclectic area of Atlanta.  Within sight at any time might be a Korean, an Indian, a Peruvian, a Mexican, and a Vietnamese restaurant.  We went to the Oriental Pearl, a Chinese dim sum restaurant.  We’ve eaten dim sum at other restaurants, but this was first time at Oriental Pearl.  If you’re not familiar with dim sum, it’s a Cantonese style of cooking bite sized servings on small plates, and servers wheel carts loaded with the offerings around the room.  You tell them what you want, they mark your bill, and the cashier tallies your cost by adding up the plates.  Foods include lots of dumplings and buns stuffed with shrimp, pork, tofu, vegetables, or some combination thereof, squid, chicken feet, and various vegetables.  Most dishes are steamed or fried.  It was a great experience, and I think we’ve found a new favorite dim sum place.

Visiting the Road to Tara Museum

By Margaret Duncan, Ed.D.

In June, I was able to visit and tour the Road to Tara Museum in Jonesboro, Georgia.  Jonesboro is south of Atlanta and the county seat of Clayton County.  Since the 1936 publication of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind, Jonesboro and Clayton have been billed as the “Home of Gone With The Wind.”  Located in Jonesboro’s 1867 Historic Train Depot, the museum is dedicated to Mitchell’s book and the 1939 classic film.  Why Jonesboro?  Margaret Mitchell spent her childhood summers at her grandparents’ home in the area and look closely at the movie and you will see a check listing the bank of Clayton County. 

Within the museum are personal items that belonged Mitchell like her china.  However, much of the museum is dedicated to the GWTW.  There are a number of detailed and accurate reproductions of the famous costumes worn by Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O’Hara), Hattie McDaniel (Mammy), Ona Munson (Belle Watling), Ann Rutherford (Careen O’Hara), and Cammie King Conlon (Bonnie Blue Butler).  There are also a large number of foreign translations of the GWTW book and movie posters.

Many of the items in the museum belonged to local historian and collector, Herb Bridges, who passed away in 2013.  He had one of the largest private collections of GWTW memorabilia.  During his life, he would be happy to attend and speak at many events relating to GWTW.  He also published a book on his collection.  The museum does pay tribute to Bridges.

Although the museum is primarily dedicated to GWTW, there are also exhibits relating to the Civil War.  The Battle of Jonesboro was one of the last battles that took place as part of the Battle of Atlanta on Sherman’s March to the Sea.  As such, Jonesboro doesn’t just have a strong GWTW tie, but is also part of America’s Civil War past.  Exhibits dedicated to the Civil War include an authentic “Sherman’s necktie.” Simply put, this was a section of rail twisted into a loop so it would be useless.  After Sherman’s March, the South was full of these twisted chunks of rail.  Further, the Depot was built for the cotton industry—weighing and then shipping the cotton to the industrial north.  The Depot still has the original Fairbank Scale which was used to weigh the cotton.

The museum is self guided but there are sound stations throughout the museum.  At the stations you will hear the voice of Fred Crane, the actor who played Brent Tarleton in the movie.  Listening to him you will hear several personal stories including being on the movie set and attending the grand premiere at the Loew’s Theater in Atlanta.

If you are a fan of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind or are a Civil War history buff, we recommend taking a tour of the Road to Tara Museum. 

For more information: Road to Tara Museum



 

Touring Historic Sites in Atlanta