Augusta, Georgia

After leaving New Bern, we headed south for a stop in Holden Beach for a visit with a friend from high school and her husband (hi Kathy and Greg!).  Why didn't I take any pictures?  And then south with a stop in Myrtle Beach (again, no pictures) before we stopped in Columbia, South Carolina.  Our main reason for stopping there for a week was truck and RV maintenance and few points of interest.

We knew that Augusta, Georgia was only 75 miles away and since we love to watch the Master's Golf Tournament, we headed out.  We knew we would not be able to enter the course, but we were hoping we'd be able to see it from the road, see a sign, or even find a shop or two in town that catered to the golf enthusiast.  Unfortunately, we were wrong.

We first drove to the course based on our GPS and ended up here.

No, that's not the course you see but more of a buffer to shield the course from the road.

We drove around what appeared to be from GPS the course boundaries.  We saw a gate or two but no way to access any of them.

Gate 10 - we pondered moving the cones

After driving by Gate 6 several times (no cones), we decided to get bold and drive in.

As we expected, there was a gate and guards.  But we visualized each of the golfers coming in on tournament days.

So we turned around :-(

We felt like we couldn't drive all that way for a few pictures (no signs, no shops, no nothing) so we drove into historic Augusta and found a few things of interest.

The Signers Monument recognizes the state's three signers of the Declaration of Independence - George Walton, Lyman Hall, and Button Gwinnett, all of whom are considered founding fathers of the United States.

The monument, dedicated in 1848, is located at Greene and Monument Streets in front of today's Augusta Municipal Center, which at the time was the location of City Hall.  It is made from granite and measures twelve feet square at the base and tapers to a height of fifty feet.

The remains of Walton and Hall lay beneath the monument, while Gwinnett's have not been located for certain.  But we had seen a monument honoring him in Savannah last summer - you can read it HERE - and seeing these two signers was a BONUS!

We continued and came upon a beautiful church.

There was a car parked in front so I had to crop it out

In 1798, the Methodist Church was incorporated in Augusta and known as the "Augusta Station".  St. John Methodist Episcopal Church was the mother church formed out of this movement and St. James Methodist Church was created in 1854 as an outgrowth of St. John.  St. John secured the lot for the new church in 1855 and by 1856, a two-story brick building was completed at a cost of $9,661.  St. James was named in honor of Reverend James E. Evans, its founder.  In 1886, the church building was enlarged, a belfry erected, and the facade improved.

President and Mrs. Eisenhower worshipped here in 1954.

The marble monument across the street was erected by a St. James Sunday School class in memory of those who had lost their lives in the Civil War.  24 church members and 261 other Augustan's names are inscribed on the monument.  The cenotaph (new word for me - "an empty tomb or monument erected in honor of a person whose remains are lost or interred elsewhere") - was unveiled on December 31, 1873.

One last point of interest in this charming city.

The Old Government House, also called the Old Richmond County Courthouse, was built in 1801 and is one of the oldest buildings in the city.  It was originally a public building and the seat for the local government, but in 1821 the house became an upscale residence.  In 1951 the building was used as a reception facility for the Augusta Junior League and in the 1970s Historic Augusta organization bought it.  Finally, in the 1980s the city bought the historic building to preserve it as well as rent it out as a public building once again.

What started as an interest in a golf course brought us to this historic city.  I guess if we ever hope to see Augusta National Golf Course we'll have to get on a waiting list for tickets or get a lot - and I mean A LOT - better at golf.