Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Georgia State Capitol

  • Atlanta – Georgia State Capitol (John A. Treutlen Bust)

    The bust of John A. Treutlen in the Georgia State Capitol, a German born merchant who became the first post-British Governor in the state. His family’s trip to get to America was an eventful one, with the boat sailing from Gosport in the UK to Georgia. The crew died en route from illness, so another passenger with no sailing experience had to use his knowledge of geometry to get them there. That’s quite a story in itself.

    Treutlen became one of the early revolutionaries who was opposed to British rule over the Americas and he was involved in 1777 with drafting Georgia’s first state constitution. His governorship was a troubled one politically and he made many enemies within the state as factions started to fight each other. He was replaced by John Houstoun in 1778, who was one of the attendees at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Treutlen was killed by a mob in March 1782 and it’s thought that it happened in front of his family.

  • Atlanta – Georgia State Capitol (Jimmy Carter Portrait)

    Around the walls of the Georgia State Capitol are portraits of former state governors. One of the best known of all the governors of the state was number 76, Jimmy Carter, who was the democratic governor from 1971 until 1975. He was the 39th President of the United States, and the only governor from Georgia to go on to hold that role.

  • Atlanta – Georgia State Capitol (Gold on Rotunda)

    A slightly quirky exhibit in the Georgia State Capitol, which is the box which the rotunda’s gold travelled in. The gold was sent from Dahlonega and Lumpkin County in August 1958 and to add some theatre to the proceedings, it was carried in an 1830s train.

    The building’s rotunda wasn’t originally made from gold, it was made from the decidedly less impressive combination of tin and wood. This didn’t last that well and repairs were frequent, so someone had a marvellous idea to use gold instead. Actually, the arrangements weren’t great, as it wasn’t clear that the Governor knew that the gold was coming on an 1830s train and it got a little ignored.

    So, the story ends nicely. Well, it doesn’t quite. The state didn’t quite get the gold to adhere correctly to the rotunda and by the 1970s half of it was missing. In 1979, it was decided to repeat the whole collecting gold and sending by wagon train thing, which worked well. And today the rotunda is safe, with the gold adhering this time, so there might not be a wagon train carrying gold being sent to Atlanta again for some time…..