What to See in Milledgeville - Top Sights and Attractions

Non-profit organization in Hardwick, Georgia. Lockerly Arboretum is a private, nonprofit arboretum located at 1534 Irwinton Road, Milledgeville, Georgia. It is open daily, except Sundays, without charge.

The arboretum was chartered in 1965 on the grounds of the antebellum "Lockerly" (originally "Rose Hill") mansion (1852) constructed by Judge & Mrs. Daniel R. Tucker whose grounds were influenced by their friend A. J. Downing. In 1998, Col. Oliver N. Worley donated an additional 200 acres (0.81 km2) to the foundation for an Environmental Education facility.

The arboretum is a horticultural laboratory, with collections of azalea, camellia, conifers, holly, rhododendron, and viburnum, as well as daylily, iris, and a greenhouse for cactus and tropical plants. The Rose Hill mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.^[3]

Museum in Milledgeville, Georgia. The Old State Capitol is located in Milledgeville, Georgia. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 13, 1970. It is located on Greene Street and is now a museum. Georgia's original state capitol was in Louisville, Georgia. On December 12, 1804, the state legislature voted to designate Milledgeville as the capital of Georgia. In 1805, $60,000 was appropriated to build a capitol building; and a planned city with elements of Savannah, Georgia, and Washington D.C. was proposed, for centrally-located Milledgeville. Jett Thomas and John B. Scott were the general contractors for the construction work.

The Georgia Legislature met in the yet-to-be-completed building for the first time in 1807. The Marquis de Lafayette visited the building in 1825 while on his tour through the United States. Expansions were completed to north and south wings in 1828 and 1834, respectively. East and west porticoes with granite steps were added in 1835.

Georgia's Secession Convention in 1861 was held in the building, and a vote for secession carried on January 19, 1861. Governor Joe Brown worked from the building, conducting the affairs of the state militia and engaging in disputes with C.S.A. President Jefferson Davis from the capitol and the nearby Governor's Mansion.

Brown and others fled the capitol ahead of the arrival of General William Tecumseh Sherman's Union Army. They occupied the city of Milledgeville on November 23, 1864. The Old Capitol building was damaged, while armories and magazines on Statehouse Square were destroyed. In 1868, during Reconstruction, the legislature moved the capital to Atlanta, a city emerging as the symbol of the New South as opposed to Milledgeville, seen as being connected to the Old South.

The statehouse was used as the court house for Baldwin County, Georgia from 1871 - 1879. Then it was used for the Middle Georgia Military and Agricultural College, which became Georgia Military College in 1900. The building remains the center of the college campus and is open for tours.^[4]

Building in Milledgeville, Georgia. Atkinson Hall is a historic building at Georgia College in Milledgeville, Georgia. Atkinson Hall was constructed in 1896. It was saved from demolition in 1978 by alumni, community support, faculty, and students. The building was home to the college's J. Whitney Bunting College of Business and is named for William Y. Atkinson and his wife, Susan Cobb Milton Atkinson. Susan Atkinson was involved in advancing women's education after communicating with her journalist friend, Julia Flisch. Atkinson persuaded her husband, a state legislator from Meriwether County, Georgia, to create legislation establishing Georgia Normal & Industrial College in 1889. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 20, 1972.^[5]

Military junior college in Milledgeville, Georgia. Georgia Military College is a public military junior college in Milledgeville, Georgia. It is divided into the junior college, a military junior college program, high school, middle school, and elementary school. It was originally known as Middle Georgia Military and Agricultural College, until 1900. Although it is a state-funded institution, GMC is not affiliated with either the University System of Georgia or the Technical College System of Georgia.

GMC's main facility is housed in the restored old Georgia state capitol building that was the seat of government for the State of Georgia from 1807–68. The main campus in Milledgeville serves approximately 254 full-time, resident ROTC Cadets and 1300 commuter students. GMC's 13 campuses, and a Global Online College with nearly 16,500 students.

GMC is one of four military junior colleges that participate in the U.S. Army's Early Commissioning Program. Students who graduate from GMC's two-year, military science-oriented curriculum receive an officer's commission in the U.S. Army. The junior college was established in 1879, and later added a preparatory school for students in sixth grade through twelfth grade.

GMC's military preparatory school for Cadets is in Baldwin County and has approximately 279 middle school students and 277 high-school Junior ROTC (JROTC) students. The preparatory school's dual enrollment program enables qualified sophomores, juniors, and seniors to attend classes at the junior college and the high school simultaneously, while earning credit for both their high school diploma and their college degree.^[6]