Athens, Georgia

We made a deviation from our plans so that we could visit Athens, Georgia as there were a few things we wanted to see.

First up, Alta Vista Cemetery in Gainesville, Georgia which is about 35 miles from Athens.

In case you haven't noticed, we enjoy visiting cemeteries, especially when there is a Civil War general interred there.

That is the final resting place of James Longstreet, 1821-1904.

James Longstreet was one of the foremost Confederate generals of the Civil War and the principal subordinate of General Robert E. Lee, after the death of Stonewall Jackson, who called him his "Old War Horse.

James Longstreet

8 Jan 1821 - 2 Jan 1904

General Longstreet served under Lee as a corps commander for most of the battles fought by the Army of Northern Virginia, and briefly with Braxton Bragg (more on him in a future post) in the Army of Tennessee.  He gave the infamous order to General Pickett to cross the mile-long open field at Gettysburg to attack Union General Winfield Scott Hancock.  Longstreet was against what became known as Pickett's Charge but, reluctantly, followed General Lee's order to cross the field.  The Confederate charge became the high-water mark of the Confederate war against the Union, but they suffered countless defeats after the failure of this charge.

After paying our respects to the General, we moved on to his wife.

Maria Louisa Garland Longstreet

16 Mar 1827 - 29 Dec 1889 

And his son.

Fitz Randolph Longstreet

1 Jul 1869 - 19 Aug 1951

The next morning we headed to the University of Georgia, home of the two most recent football National Championships.  

As is typical at a university, it was difficult to find parking but we were fortunate to find a place within walking distance of both the stadium and the bookstore across the street.

There were lots of National Championship items for sale.

And, of course, HATS!

He might have bought one

As we headed out of town we saw one of the Uga statues in town.

Uga is the official live mascot of the Bulldogs and was introduced in 1956.  Uga XI (Boom) is the current mascot and was introduced as the official mascot prior to the public spring scrimmage on April 15, 2023.

A surprise place of interest was the Ty Cobb Museum in Royston.

Tyrus Cobb (1886-1961) was an American MLB center fielder who spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the last six as the team's player-manager, and finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1936, Cobb received the most votes of any player on the inaugural ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving 222 out of a possible 226 (98.2%); no other player received a higher percentage of votes until Tom Seaver in 1992.  Who knew there was a great museum in the small town of Royston, Georgia where Ty Cobb grew up?

It was a small museum with some great artifacts and we were the only visitors there. 

This trophy, World's Greatest Ball Player 1921, was given to Ty Cobb from Tiger fans.

The family china was on display in the gift shop.

And then on to - you guessed it - another cemetery.

Rose Hill Cemetery, Royston, Georgia

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Cobb Mausoleum

You can see Ty Cobb is interred on the left.  On the right are his parents, Amanda Chitwood and William Herschel Cobb.

I'm so glad we were able to make this detour.  Now back to our original plan.