Southern Museum Visit

Today, we met some friends at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History here in Kennesaw. The museum had a Homeschool Day with special activities in addition to their regular exhibits. We had never been before, and both Cullen and I had a great time!


The special exhibit featured now centers around the Native American Code Talkers of World War II. A guide led us through this area and explained the importance of the native American languages and their speakers in keeping our soldiers safe during the war. Good thing the guide was there to pronounce some of the words for us! Navaho, Choctaw - Hooked On Phonics would have been no help!

A large part of the museum houses items from the old Glover Machine Works which once manufactured steam locomotives. My little train-fanatic found this pretty interesting.

There were a couple of hands-on activities for the kids in the exhibit itself.


One of the highlights was a working telegraph station. Well, actually there were two connected across the room by real telegraph wire on real poles. Big charts with the Morse Code allowed the kids to send messages to each other, when they finally learned not to both tap at the same time. Cullen referred to this as "texting" at one point! I guess it was the original form of sending a text message!


The dress-up rooms were a big hit, too. Our friends, Hannah and Amber, decked themselves out in bonnets and shawls, and Cullen got to learn how to tip his hat to the ladies.


There were a couple of craft options for the kids also. Cullen's dreamcatcher creation doubles as an earring.


We watched a movie on the true story of the Great Locomotive Chase of the Civil War. I had known for years that there was a story, but I'd never actually read or heard it till today. It is an amazing tale! The actual General is here, just a stone's throw from where it was abducted all those years ago - only now indoors.

We bought some little packets of reproduction Confederate money in the gift shop. Cullen was so excited about this! First, he thought it was real, but didn't seem too disappointed that the bills are actually replicas. It's not like he could have spent it anyway. Actually, his word of the day has been "replica" since he read it on the package and asked what that meant. You wouldn't think you could use that word more than once or twice in a regular day, but somehow he keeps managing to slip it in.

This is a place I know we will visit again. There are layers of information that we didn't even get to today. As we get farther along in our history studies, I think Cullen may enjoy this museum even more.