Class of 2025 History Day
To say I was excited about this day is an understatement. As a local history tour guide, I was ready to learn more about Augusta’s rich and interesting history. These stories were told by our wonderful local professors from Augusta University, Dr. LeeAnn Caldwell and Dr. John Hayes.
The day started with a yummy fall breakfast at the history St. Paul’s River Room. My table was very excited for our first taste of pumpkin spice this fall! Our Co-chair Sarah Childers started the day out with her usual spunk! We missed Al Dallas!
Dr. Hayes made us think “Why does history matter?” His goal throughout the day was for us to realize how history is a story and everyone and everything has a story behind it. And why was it important for us to learn the “story of Augusta?” That was our goal!
We were honored to hear that we would be Dr. Caldwell’s last Leadership Augusta Class. She’s been hosting this program for over 25 years and is ready to hand it over to Dr. Hayes! Dr. Caldwell began the program with a local history quiz! I was pretty stoked to nerd out and see how I did….remember my “drunk history” skit from the retreat? After we turned in our quizzes, Dr. Caldwell started the history story right at the beginning. We walked out the back doors of the River Room to see a beautiful view of the Savannah River, the reason the city of Augusta was founded. I have PLENTY of notes of what she spoke about that I won’t bore everyone with, but if you are interested in learning more, you know where to find me!
After we learned about the founding of Augusta and its Native American history, Dr. Caldwell walked us to the original Fort Augusta marked by the Celtic Cross at St. Paul’s and gave us a brief history of Colonial Augusta and Revolutionary War history.
Then we boarded our bus for a tour of Augusta! Dr. Caldwell pointed out significant historic buildings like 2nd Academy of Richmond County, Old Medical College, First Presbyterian Church, Most Holy Trinity Church, and the Boyhood Home of Woodrow Wilson. She spoke about the preservation work being done at the Augusta Jewish Museum and Mother Trinity CME Church. We traveled up and down Telfair, Greene, Broad until we stopped at Springfield Baptist Church on Reynolds.
The group toured Springfield Park for a few minutes. This park shares a wonderful interpretive history of the African American life in Augusta. There are panels and maps describing the life in Springfield and beautiful public art to enjoy. Then Mr. Wright from Springfield Baptist Church gave us a tour of the 1890s church and original 1801 structure. Many of us didn’t realize that Morehouse College was founded in this church! They are also proud to be the oldest African American Baptist Church still standing in its original location!
As we finished at Springfield, the group boarded the bus for a tour of Harrisburg and Summerville. Dr. Caldwell stopped the bus at King Mill to tell us the story of an Augusta leader, Henry Cumming that envisioned the idea of a canal in Augusta to power factories to bring the city out of an economic depression. This success story is still being told today on Petersburg boat tours along the canal. We learned about the Ezekial Harris house and the foundation of Harrisburg as a tobacco town in the 1790s and then a vibrant mill village in the 1870s.
Then we road uphill…to Summerville! This was the location where wealthy families moved in the summer to avoid the hot, humid, buggy climate on the river. “On the hill” was a milder, safer climate during the warm months. By the late 1800s, Summerville turned into a tourist destination for northern families that enjoyed this warmer climate in the winter months. We know them as “snowbirds.” This is still evident today with the Bon Air and Partridge Inn. We drove by Augusta University and learned its amazing history as the US Arsenal to a Junior College and now a university!
For our next stop, we road back downhill to the Lucy Craft Laney House Museum for a panel of Organizations that Protect and Promote Augusta’s History and the Impact of History. This included Nancy Glaser, Augusta Museum of History; Angela Russo, Augusta Jewish Museum; Karen Lee Davis, Destination Augusta; Erick Montgomery, Historic Augusta, Inc.; Corey Rogers, Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History; Kevin Grogan, Morris Museum of Art. These experts discussed the importance their organization has in Augusta history whether it be preservation, public history, art history, and/or tourism.
After the panel discussion, the class walked down Laney Walker Boulevard to Tabernacle Baptist Church. Personally, this was my first time in this church. I have driven by hundreds of times and awed in its beauty, so I was very excited to see inside and learn it’s deep history in Augusta’s African American culture. We met with several staff at Tabernacle that gave us a history and tour of the building and sanctuary. But I think the part that stuck with us the most was when Dr. Hayes spoke. He is an amazing storyteller and truly brought to life two events during the Civil Rights Movement in Augusta. We sat in a room where meetings took place in the 1960s and 1970s as the African American community was fighting segregation in the city.
The first story was an event in 1960 when Paine College and Georgia College students planned a peaceful protest to the segregation of the lunch counter at HL Greene’s in Downtown Augusta. This “sit-in” turned violent as the local KKK chapter stabbed a protester.
The second story took place in May 1970 known as the Augusta Race Riot. When a young African American was killed in the jail, speculation quickly started on the cause and who was truly to blame. The jailers and police claimed it was a suicide, but after an autopsy it was evident there was more. As the investigation began, a group stood outside the municipal building waiting for the verdict. At this time, the city government and most downtown businesses were all white owned and operated. The African American community wanted a fair investigation that was not happening. As a result, these protesters turned to vandalizing many white owned businesses. These actions were eventually suppressed by the state government. Although it was stopped, this ‘rebellion’ started a wave of attention and activism for the Augusta Civil Rights Movement.
The day ended at the Pinnacle Club on Broad St. There Dr. Hayes spoke about the later 20th century in Augusta history, specifically about the disinvestment of downtown and suburbanization. He presented statistics that proved these claims of change in the 1970s and 1980s. Now as we change in the 21st century we are glad to witness re-investment in Downtown Augusta for local businesses, restaurants, shops and more! We even enjoyed some of this with yummy food and cocktails at the Pinnacle Club and Edgar’s Above Broad!
But I can’t finish this write-up without bragging a bit….my group did score the highest on the history quiz and it was the highest score Dr. Caldwell can remember from any of her classes!!! Leadership Augusta Class of 2025 is truly the best and rocked History Day!!