History comes alive in Augusta: President’s boyhood home, historic resort ...

Augusta is located only a two-hour drive from North Georgia and is a great destination for a weekend get-away or even a week-long vacation. There is so much to see and do that we you will leave with plans to return and see more of the city.

MUSEUMS

The Augusta Museum of History is one of the most comprehensive I’ve seen with more than 12,000 years of local history depicted. There is so much to see that you can spend hours going through the museum. Every where you turn, you will find something unique and special, including a one-of-a-kind Georgia battle flag from the Civil War, a 1916 steam fire engine, a trolley, ladder truck, Model-T and horse drawn carriage. All of this is on the first floor of the large museum. The second floor has a display on James Brown, as well as displays on baseball and medical facilities in the area.

This month, a new golf display, “Celebrating A Grand Tradition: The Story of Golf,” opened on the second floor. It includes mementoes from golf legends, as well as history of the game and how the Masters came to Augusta.

The Visitors Center is located in the museum and it’s a great place to get information on the area, as well as local souvenirs. Visitors can also take a two-hour driving tour that leaves from the museum at 1 p.m. on Saturdays. The cost for the tour and admission into the museum is only $10.

For more information on visiting, go to www.augustamuseum.org.

The Morris Museum of Art features Southern Artwork with more than 5,000 works of art, including drawings, paintings, watercolors, photographs, prints and sculptures. Artwork from 1820 to the present is included in the collection. Several hundred art pieces are displayed in several themed areas, including the Civil War, landscape, still life, Impressionism and contemporary artwork.

The museum reopened in March after a renovation that included fresh paint, new carpet and lights, interior construction, and rearranging and hanging hundreds of works of art. This is the first time since the Morris opened in 1992 that its renowned permanent collection has been completely reinstalled.

For more information, go to www.themorris.org.

If you’re in Augusta the first Friday of the month, be sure to check out the Artists Row for First Friday event. Augusta has more than 30 art galleries in and around the downtown area. On the first Friday of each month, a celebration is held downtown on Artist’s Row and extends from 7th to 12th Streets. Galleries and studios remain open and street vendors offer artwork. Musicians also perform along the sidewalks adding to the festive evening out.

For more information, go to www.AugustaArtistsRow.com.

WILSON HOME

President Woodrow Wilson lived in Augusta from ages 3 to 14 when his father served as pastor at a Presbyterian church in town. The boyhood home of Wilson is Georgia’s oldest presidential home. The home is open for 45-minute guided tours. Fourteen rooms have been furnished to the 1860s Victorian period. There are no ropes or barriers inside the home and visitors can wander through the rooms getting a close-up view of the lovely antiques. Only a few of the pieces are original to the home but all are period pieces. The grounds also include the original service building with a kitchen and the carriage house where Wilson first developed his leadership skills as president of the Lightfoot Baseball Club.

The house is located at 419 Seventh Avenue at Telfair Street in the downtown historic district. For more information, go to www.wilsonboyhoodhome.org.

While in the downtown historic district, also check out the beautiful Sacred Heart Cultural Center. The grand structure was used as a church for more than 70 years and is now used for community events, including the Garden Festival April 23-25. The building features a barrel-vaulted ceiling, glorious stained glass windows and intricate brickwork. For a schedule of events at the center or information on tours, go to www.sacredheartaugusta.org.

PARTRIDGE INN

The Partridge Inn first opened as a resort in 1910 when wealthy northerners traveled to the south during the winter. It had been a two-story residence of a prominent family and it was sold to Morris Partridge, who began operating it as a small hotel. It was expanded several times before its completion in 1929. The five-story building now has 145 rooms. During the past century, the hotel was the host to many politicians and influential people. It was also the site of annual debutante parties.

In 1978, it was reported that the hotel was likely to be torn down due to structural problems. A prominent Augusta resident, Sam Walton, dedicated to the renovation of the grand old inn and it was completely restored in 1983. In 2006, another multi-million dollar restoration returned the inn to the grandeur of its earlier days. The inn is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Comfortable cozy rooms, a wonderful restaurant and a verandah that is open year-round are among the highlights of a stay at the Partridge Inn. There is also a fitness center, outdoor pool and business center. Southern details, including beautiful verandahs, classic columns and magnolia trees, make it stand out from other properties.

The resort’s restaurant, Partridge Inn Bar and Grill, is a wonderful restaurant. We enjoyed dinner one evening, the breakfast buffet each morning and the amazing Sunday brunch.

For dinner at the Partridge Inn, appetizer options include fried goat cheese and fried lobster tails, both of which were great. Next up came cheddar biscuits which were flaky and light and a BLT salad. There are so many entrees to choose from that all sound delightful. Our group tried the shrimp and grits, sea bass, strip loin and quail and greens. They were all wonderful but I think the shrimp and grits were my favorite. For dessert, my favorite was the peanut butter tart. Other options worth trying are the peach bread pudding and crème brulee.

Each morning, a breakfast buffet is offered and it has Southern favorites such as biscuits, gravy and grits, as well as a wide variety of pastries and fruit. It’s a great place to start the day.

Our weekend ended with Sunday brunch at the inn. It has been voted the best brunch in Augusta for 15 years and it is easy to see why. Oysters on the half shell, huge boiled shrimp, salmon, salads, pastries and fruits were just the start. I started with the plan to try everything but there was no way to do that.

The Partridge Inn, Augusta’s national historic inn, is located at 2110 Walton Way. For more information, call 706-737-8888 or go to www.PartridgeInn.com.

The hotel is located in the Summerville Historic District, which is a lovely neighborhood of historic homes. Tours of the Summerville Historic District are offered.
Our tour was led by Mary Lou Garren, a long-time resident of the neighborhood who led the effort of the preservation of the area.

It was so interesting to hear Mary Lou speak of the early days in the neighborhood which features a wide variety of architecture styles. She refers to herself as a “storyteller” and her recollections are fascinating. She gives you a real feel for the homes and the people who lived there and continue to call Summerville home.

“We are all in love with our neighborhood,” Mary Lou told us during our tour. “It is an important part of Augusta’s history. We do anything we can to preserve it.”

There is so much history in this neighborhood, including three governors buried in the Summerville Cemetery; and Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church where President Dwight Eisenhower attended when he was in Augusta. Part of the Georgia Civil War Heritage Trail is also located in the neighborhood, as well as Augusta State University.

In April, a garden tour is held in the Summerville neighborhood, and in October, a tour of homes is held with eight to 10 of the lovely, historic homes featured.

For more information on the neighborhood, go to www.summervilleaugusta.org.

WHERE TO EAT

Barbecue, Cajun cooking and fine dining are among the dining options to be found in Augusta. Among the stops during our visit were:

•For more than 50 years, Sconyers Bar-B-Que has been offering the best ribs, chicken, pork, tenderloin and beef to be found. As soon as you get out of your car, you are met with the wonderful aroma of barbecue. All plates are served with hash with rice, potato salad or slaw and pickles. The servings are huge and everything is simply wonderful. The barbecue is cooked the old-fashioned way — pit cooked over live oak and hickory coals for 24 hours. All meat is also cut by hand. The restaurant is also known for fast service and huge portions, as well as great prices. The atmosphere is great with old country music playing and a huge, airy sunroom upstairs. Owner Larry Sconyers offers group tours and takes guests into the kitchen. A group of Red Hat ladies had a tour during our visit. For more information, go to www.sconyersbarbeque.com.

•Crums on Central, one of the newest restaurants in town, offers fine dining in a fun atmosphere. Go on Saturday night and catch some wonderful live entertainment during your meal. The menu includes seafood and steak. Great starters are olive tapenade, oysters and portabella fries. The signature entree is the singing shrimp, which is New Orleans style jumbo shrimp sautéed in butter with garlic forest mushrooms and green onions served over rice. Another great option is shrimp and grits, a Southern classic served cream style with mushrooms. Wood-fired pizza is also offered. For dessert, the crème brulee was light and smooth. A great finish to a great meal.

•The French Market Grille offers delightful New Orleans style Cajun food. Start with crusty French bread that is soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Great appetizers include the marinated shrimp and crawfish popcorn. For my entrée, I chose crawfish pie, a generous portion of crawfish tails in a mixture of roux, sautéed vegetables, cream, sherry and seasonings fried in a light pastry. Another good choice is Crepes Louisiana, chopped scallops, shrimp, crabmeat, crawfish and mushrooms wrapped in two crepes topped with a light sauce and served with rice. Don’t forget dessert. There is a reason the French Market Grille has been voted the best dessert in Augusta and it’s the pie — lemon ice box, turtle and peanut butter — that give it this distinction. The restaurant has great atmosphere with New Orleans music and Mardi Gras décor. For more information, go to www.thefrenchmarketgrille.com.

•Bees Knees is a wonderful place for tapas. We tried several selections and found them all to be great. Among our favorites were goat cheese bruschetta, sesame tuna tartare, avocado chop chop, crab and artichoke dip and shrimp and vegetable tempura. It’s a fun, lively spot to for a meal with friends.

For more information on visiting Augusta, go to www.AugustaGA.org or call 1-800-726-0243.

Angela Gary is an editor with MainStreet Newspapers Inc. She can be reached at AngieEditor@aol.com.