In conjunction with his upcoming book, Here Is Where: In Search of America's Great Forgotten History, we're following historian and Legacy Project founder Andrew Carroll as he drives, flies, walks, boats, buses, bikes, and hikes to seek out little-known historic sites in all 50 states. Bookmark all of his posts here.
Before arriving in Atlanta, Georgia, I received a call from a local WSB-AM radio reporter named Jon Lewis who wanted to talk about my search for unmarked historic sites throughout the country. I confessed I only had two sites to check out in Atlanta--one of which was already marked, and the second one I had yet to locate on a map. So throughout the day it was Jon who guided me around the city pointing out one fascinating, little-known site after another.
A few highlights:
To date, the worst hotel fire in the United States occurred in what was once the Winecoff Hotel on 176 Peachtree Street, and is now the Ellis Hotel. One hundred and nineteen people were killed on December 7, 1946, in what was supposedly a "fireproof" building--despite the fact it had no sprinklers or fire escapes. (The tragedy prompted cities across the country to enact stronger fire safety measures.) A young graduate student named Arnold Hardy won the Pulitzer Prize--and he was the first amateur to do so--for a picture he took of a woman falling from the eleventh floor. Miraculously, she survived. The building was put on the National Register of Historic Places only earlier this year.
Before arriving in Atlanta, Georgia, I received a call from a local WSB-AM radio reporter named Jon Lewis who wanted to talk about my search for unmarked historic sites throughout the country. I confessed I only had two sites to check out in Atlanta--one of which was already marked, and the second one I had yet to locate on a map. So throughout the day it was Jon who guided me around the city pointing out one fascinating, little-known site after another.A few highlights:
To date, the worst hotel fire in the United States occurred in what was once the Winecoff Hotel on 176 Peachtree Street, and is now the Ellis Hotel. One hundred and nineteen people were killed on December 7, 1946, in what was supposedly a "fireproof" building--despite the fact it had no sprinklers or fire escapes. (The tragedy prompted cities across the country to enact stronger fire safety measures.) A young graduate student named Arnold Hardy won the Pulitzer Prize--and he was the first amateur to do so--for a picture he took of a woman falling from the eleventh floor. Miraculously, she survived. The building was put on the National Register of Historic Places only earlier this year.
Just
down Peachtree near 13th Street (above) is where Gone with the Wind author
Margaret Mitchell was fatally struck by a car on August 11, 1949, while
crossing the street. No plaque marks the spot.Next we went to the State Capitol Building, and Jon took me inside to show me the official portrait of "an eleven-fingered Jimmy Carter." Eleven fingers?
"You don't actually see eleven fingers, but if you look at how the left hand is painted you count--one, two, three, four, five--fingers, but then you have the thumb tucked here. So, six fingers on the left hand, eleven in all."
No tour of
Atlanta would be complete without a mention of General William T.
Sherman, who ordered the city to be evacuated and then torched in
November 1864. I had always assumed that every public structure was to
be burned, but a local priest named Father Thomas O'Reilly pleaded with
Sherman not to destroy the city's five churches--St. Philip Episcopal
Cathedral, Central Presbyterian Church, Trinity Methodist Church,
Second Baptist Church, and the Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception. After initially refusing the request, Sherman finally
relented.Since it was wartime correspondence that sparked my own passion for history, I thought I'd conclude today's post with some excerpts from Sherman's letter to the Mayor and Council Members of Atlanta, who had implored him to spare the entire city. Love him or hate him, he was one heck of a good letter writer.
Gentleman:
I have your letter of the 11th, in the nature of a petition to revoke my orders removing all the inhabitants from Atlanta. I have read it carefully, and give full credit to your statements of distress that will be occasioned, and yet shall not revoke my orders, because they were not designed to meet the humanities of the case, but to prepare for the future struggles in which millions of good people outside of Atlanta have a deep interest. We must have peace, not only at Atlanta, but in all America. To secure this, we must stop the war that now desolates our once happy and favored country. To stop war, we must defeat the rebel armies which are arrayed against the laws and Constitution that all must respect and obey....
I want peace, and believe it can only be reached through union and war, and I will ever conduct war with a view to perfect an early success.
But, my dear sirs, when peace does come, you may call on me for any thing. Then will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter.
Now you must go, and take with you the old and feeble, feed and nurse them, and build for them, in more quiet places, proper habitations to shield them against the weather until the mad passions of men cool down, and allow the Union and peace once more to settle over your old homes in Atlanta. Yours in haste,
W.T. Sherman, Major-General commandingNext week: Nome, Alaska
All photos and text © Andrew Carroll
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Thanks, Andy, for the thoroughtly enjoyable day. And for the mention. You are far too kind.
Sound really interesting, I wonder why this story remained hidden for such a long time.
Hi Andrew..Thanks for posting about Atalanta's hidden history.Its really amazing and i am very surprised reading the story.
Accommodation in Sunshine Coast
Andrew,
Thanks for sharing your Atlanta discoveries. Atlantans and visitors who would like to explore more historical treasures can see many of them on walking tours provided by the Atlanta Preservation Center (www.PreserveAtlanta.com). I'm one of the volunteer tour guides for the Historic Downtown Tour, which includes the Winecoff Hotel you mention above.
Also, there is interesting information about historic Atlanta on the Atlanta Preservation Center's Facebook page http://tiny.cc/APConFB
So while reading that perfect post(which is really brilliant by the way) realized the talent of the publisher and this knowledge of history
!