I saw an ad for this museum in the Georgia magazine and was intrigued to see an exhibit titled, Lasting Light: 125 Years of Grand Canyon Photography. Since we had been there and since we both like the West, we did an overnight trip to Cartersville, GA. The town is about 30 miles north of Atlanta off I-75. The 80,000 square foot Booth Western Art Museum was well worth the trip. They are celebrating their 6th anniversary this weekend. Founded by owners of contemporary Western art, it now boosts main galleries featuring contemporary Western American art. Other galleries feature Civil War art, Presidential portraits and letters, Western movie posters, and Western illustration. A new 40,000 square foot addition opens in October. We were very impressed. We lunched in the cafe and watched the 15 minute film and had an overview of the main galleries with a docent. You don’t have to go West to see great Western art. In fact, some pieces are on loan from other Western museums.
The next morning we drove to the national historic site at the Etowah Indian Mounds. Home to several thousand Native Americans between 1000 A.D. to 1550 A.D., this 54-acre site contains six earthen mounds, a plaza, village area, borrow pits and defensive ditch. This is the most intact Mississippian Culture site in the Southeastern United States. We watched a very informative film, toured the museum and drove around the mounds on a golf cart. The boot on my feet got the golf cart. We were the only people out on the grounds and it was so peaceful along the Etowah river. There is a nice picnic area, a swing and benches overlooking the river. Although it was overcast, the rain held off and we had a very peaceful time exploring.
We stayed with an Evergreen couple who were born and raised in Georgia. It made a nice get-away.