Free admission Saturday on Museum Day

On Saturday September 26, 2009 nine metro Atlanta museums and historic sites will participate by opening their doors for free to visitors.

Participating will be:

Archibald Smith Plantation Home

Archibald Smith Plantation Home

Hidden among the trees in Historic Roswell, Georgia lies the elegant home constructed by one of the town’s founding fathers, Archibald Smith. In 1838, the Smith family and nearly 30 of their slaves left their two plantations in St. Marys, along the southern coast of Georgia, to make a new start with some 300 acres of cotton farmland north of the Roswell Town Square. What this well-to-do 19th Century farming family did not realize when they constructed their home was that it would be preserved by their descendants as an untouched treasure of southern history.

For over 150 years, the Smith’s Plantation Home has stood the test of time as The Civil War was brought to its front steps, and all around it, the small mill village of Roswell erupted into a bustling metropolitan suburb.  Perfectly preserved are the Smiths two-story farm house, complete with outbuildings, including slave quarters, a cook house, corn crib, barn, carriage house, well, and spring house.

Three generations of the Archibald Smith family lived in this home and saved all of their belongings, large and small, important and trivial, broken or whole.  The home and grounds have become one of the best examples of architectural, cultural, and historical interpretation found in the region.

Barrington Hall built in 1842, was the home of Barrington King, who along with his father, Roswell King, co-founder of the town of Roswell. The historic home has been diligently restored and is furnished with many original family possessions. The surrounding seven acres of grounds feature the only antebellum public garden in the greater Atlanta area.

The gracious and elegant Bulloch Hall was built in Roswell, Georgia in 1839 by Major James Stephens Bulloch one of Roswell’s first settlers and grandson of Governor Archibald Bulloch, and his wife Martha Stewart Elliott Bulloch, daughter of General Daniel Stewart.

The dining room of Bulloch Hall was the setting on December 22, 1853 of the wedding of their youngest daughter, Mittie Bulloch, to Theodore Roosevelt (Sr.). The new Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt were entertained at homes in Roswell for several days after the wedding. The couple lived in New York City where they raised their family of four children Anna, Corinne, Theodore, and Elliott.

Son Theodore became the twenty-sixth President of the United States. In October1905, he traveled through the southern states and came to Roswell especially to visit his mother’s childhood home.

Saturday, September 26. 2009 for Museum Day, in conjunction with Smithsonian magazine. Be the first to see the new temporary exhibition from the collection of the National Library of Medicine, An Iconography of Contagion: An Exhibition of 20th Century Health Posters (through January 29, 2010), and “Emergency Response: Public Health Preparedness,” the latest installment of The Story of CDC, GHO’s permanent exhibition. GHO hopes to draw the public as well as CDC employees and their families, so spread the word and come to visit between 10 AM and 4 PM.

Center of Pupperty Arts

The Center for Puppetry Arts’ mission is to entertain and enlighten audiences, nurture the world community of artists, expand the puppetry art form, and explore the past, present, and future of puppetry.

The Center for Puppetry Arts is a unique cultural treasure – a magical place where children and adults are educated, enlightened and entertained. Since 1978, the Center has introduced millions of visitors to the wonder and art of puppetry and has touched the lives of many through enchanting performances, curriculum-based workshops and the hands-on Museum, as well as Distance Learning and Outreach Programs.

The Hammond House

A Cultural Awakening Through Learning and the Visual Arts

Established in 1988 as an institution of artistic and cultural magnitude, the more than 10,000 people who attend Hammonds House Museum annually experience the opportunity to gain a wider understanding of the contributions that diverse artists of African descent make to world culture. Lectures/symposia, workshops, demonstrations, panel discussions, youth programming and special events educate, expose and nurture appreciation for the visual and related arts.

In 1979, Coca-Cola magnate Robert W. Woodruff offered a $7.5 million challenge grant for a new facility that would triple the High Museum of Art’s space to 135,000 square feet. After raising $20 million, the High Museum of Art opened its new Richard Meier designed home in 1983. Among its many awards, the American Institute of Architects deemed the Meier design one of the “ten best works of American architecture in the 1980s.”

The stunning, porcelain-enameled building is the ideal setting for the High Museum of Art’s collection of over 11,000 pieces of art. A towering atrium soars to four interior levels, with the galleries moving from 18th and 19th-century collections near the ground floor to the cutting edge of contemporary art on the upper levels.

The Marietta Museum of History is committed to preserving the history of Marietta and Cobb County by providing an educational, enlightening, and engaging experience for all visitors.

Open since 1996, our museum is housed on the second floor of the historic Kennesaw House. Originally a cotton warehouse built in 1845, it was remodeled to become the Fletcher House Hotel in 1855. During the Civil War the hotel temporarily served as a makeshift hospital and morgue. For this reason, the building has become the subject of many stories and local ghost folklore. This notoriety has led to appearances on CNN, The History Channel and PBS.

Today the museum houses four galleries featuring collections from Local History, Home Life and the Military. Unique to our museum is the Civil War collection featuring the history of the Georgia Military Institute, the story of the only slave buried in the Marietta Confederate Cemetery and the distinction of involvement in the infamous Union plot to steal the Confederate Locomotive called The General.

The Marietta Museum of History is dedicated to preserving the history of Marietta and Cobb County by providing an educational, enlightening, and engaging experience.

Mission

MODA is the only museum in the Southeast devoted exclusively to the study and celebration of all things design. MODA examines how design affects our daily lives through engaging exhibitions, K-12 educational outreach and exciting adult programming. MODA regularly features exhibitions on architecture, industrial and product design, interiors and furniture, graphics, fashion and more.

History

MODA was formerly known as the Atlanta International Museum of Art & Design. In 2003 the MODA Board of Directors, staff and community advisors made the decision to redefine the museum’s mission and direction and MODA was born.Since 2003, MODA has been bringing Atlanta unique and engaging exhibitions on topics such as:

* Design at Play: The High Design & Low-Brow Humor of Cartoon Network

* To a T: T-Shirt Culture … Cute or Couture?

* Design Made in Africa

* Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture

* Graphic Noise, Contemporary Concert Posters (This show has been traveling the U.S. for nearly two years!)

* The Home House Project: Sustainable, Affordable Housing

* Shaping the Atlanta Scene: Key Projects that are Re-shaping the Atlanta Skyline

* Design (Doesn’t Equal) Art: From Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum