Sumter County
Sumter County was created in 1831 from a portion of Lee
County and was named for General Thomas Sumter of South Carolina, a soldier of
the French and Indian Wars as well as the American Revolution.
Just 120 miles southwest of Atlanta, come explore the
Victorian secrets and volumes of history in Americus, Georgia. Americus is home
to the Windsor Hotel, a Victorian-era landmark built in 1891; the Rylander
Theatre (c.1921), a fully functional playhouse, and the internationally known
organization Habitat for Humanity's Global Village and Discovery Center. The
Windsor has hosted guests as famous as Franklin D Roosevelt, John Dillinger,
Prince of Morocco, and many others. In 2006 the Windsor was certified as an
Authentic Haunted Hotel and is listed on the National Register. Take a walking
tour or trolley ride through the historic downtown and charming neighborhoods of
Victorian, Classical and Antebellum homes.
Take a scenic ride on the SAM Shortline that traverses
through Pecan orchards and the countryside of southwest Georgia, across Lake
Blackshear, Leslie, Americus, Plains and pulls into your final destination at
Jimmy Carter's boyhood home at Archery. Once in Plains, home of the
39th U.S. President and his First Lady Rosalynn, visit the Jimmy
Carter National Historic Site which includes the Plains Depot used for Carter's
campaign head-quarters, and the Plains High School that has been converted into
a museum.
Less than ten miles northeast of Americus is the
Andersonville National Historic Site. The site is 500 acres of beautifully kept
grounds including the site of the Andersonville Civil War Prison and the
National Prisoner of War Museum, the site of one of the Civil War's largest
prisons where nearly 13,000 Union soldiers died.
Sumter County is also the home of Georgia Southwestern
State University and South Georgia Technical College.
Other Attractions:
Andersonville Civil War
Village
A charming
village with museums and antique shops
Georgia Rural Telephone
Museum
The world's
largest collection of telephone memorabilia
Charles A. Lindbergh
Memorial
Commemorating the first solo
flight of the aviator at Souther Field
Oak Grove Cemetery
Koinonia Farm
Events:
Dogwood Antique Festival in
Leslie (March)
Plains Peanut Festival in
Plains (September)
Taste of Sumter in Americus
(September)
Andersonville Historic Fair in
Andersonville (October)
Georgia Pecan Festival in
Americus (November)
Southeast Electric Flight
Festival
