Historic Westville, New Location, Um, Yeah. About That...

[NMVolunteer]

Re: Historic Westville, Georgia's new location... um, yeah. About that... :/

I do not see that as a failure, but then again I wear many hats. There is more to life than our hobby.

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Historic Westville, Georgia's new location... um, yeah. About that... :/

Yeah, I got it. Totally. And I am glad the buildings were saved. But any authentic living history events cannot be done there now like they used to be in Lumpkin. Not until something changes with the city and Federal regs. When it moved, it lost its grandfathered-in status. The attraction was the town was preserved just like it was in history... now, there is too much modernism for that to be true. That history was the main attraction for the site. I think it will have to fail to get better.

[NMVolunteer]

Re: Historic Westville, Georgia's new location... um, yeah. About that... :/

As a museum person, ADA compliance is a point of contention. On the one hand, those ramps are certainly not historically accurate. On the other hand, we want to be as inclusive as possible. Turning away the temporarily or permanently physically disabled is the last thing we want to do. Most professional museums will try to adhere to ADA standards for accessibility and exhibit designs.

As for not lighting fires, that is also more a museum thing. Smoke contains particulates that will damage artifacts and structures. Avoiding damaging particulates is essential for long-term preservation.

- - - Updated - - -

As an aside, I interviewed for a position at Westville, but someone else was hired for it. Not a big loss, because I ultimately found a job out in middle of nowhere in New Mexico. The folks at Westville are committed to historic preservation.

[Johnny Lloyd]

So a few weeks ago, I stopped off at Historic Westville's new location in Columbus, Georgia. It is the 1850's living history village of 30+ original buildings left over from being moved from various sites around rural Georgia in the early 20th century.

Nice site. It is near the Infantry Museum and Fort Benning. It is now owned by the City of Columbus, Georgia.

The buildings were well arranged and look good in their new locations. Only half of the buildings are at their present location. according to some estimates, it will take 10 million dollars more to move the rest of the buildings from the original site in Lumpkin, Georgia.

A few differences now from what we all know and love:

First, the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act regulations had to be brought up to code per federal law and there was no dispensation from this for whatever reason. In the old location, since the buildings were set in place well before the Act was enacted, the site was grandfathered into this, thus preserving the original look of the buildings. Now, wheelchair ramps and banisters abound all over the place, ruining the look of the original buildings.

Second, the city of Columbus Georgia refuses to let anyone light fires in the buildings in working hearths, walk on any of the second level rooms, or stay the night in the site.

The City of Columbus wanted to pave the roads with modern asphalt originally but it looks like this idea has been canceled mercifully in favor of hardening the dirt roads in order that emergency vehicles can get into the site in case there's a fire or other emergency.

So, sorry to say, the site as we knew it will not be the same and, if current rules hold according to the site manager that I talked to, there will be no more Westville living histories (a la Secession Saga) over an extended period of time like there used to be at the original site in Lumpkin.

BUT... The buildings are preserved at least. That is the only good news of this post that I could come up with from my research.

It's my educated guess that the City of Columbus will have to let this site fail before they realize a) their city regulations b) lack of dispensation of modern regulations due to historical constraints c) and other various shenanigans put forth by the city are causing it to fail. The way it is going, this thing is a giant albatross waiting to happen because of City regulations and red tape.

Sorry, but that is the prognosis I have seen and asked about with various sources.

Hopefully, I am wrong.

Mods, please move if necessary. ;)