Local community can’t allow its historic treasures to fade away

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Local museums make up a large component of Milledgeville’s “Capitals, Columns & Culture” theme. There presence is felt by way of local tourism dollars that they help generate each year, which go directly into the local economy.

News of the Old Capital Museum’s seemingly imminent relocation serves as a reminder of that fact. With its significant contributions to local tourism and its helping to enhance and celebrate local culture, the community needs to rally in support of Georgia’s Old Capital Museum.

According to the Milledgeville Convention & Visitors Bureau, tourism generated $58.83 million in tourist spending last year in Baldwin County and produced $13.01 million in worker income and paychecks. The industry has also brought more than $2.27 million in Georgia tax revenue into the local community, according to CVB data. The local museums, Georgia’s Old Capital Museum among them, help contribute to those dollars in a big way. They enhance educationally also, as thousands of students but from local districts as well as visiting schools tour them each year. Their impact simply can’t be overlooked.

With so much that the museums offer locally, helping the Old Capital Museum in its relocation efforts is vitally important — not only culturally but also economically for the local community.

Georgia’s Old Capital Museum is housed in the 6,600 square foot space on the ground floor of the Old Capitol Building on the Georgia Military College campus. Unless there is a new development soon, the museum will more than likely have to relocate by next spring as GMC has other plans for the building space.

We can do our part in offering support by contributing financially and getting involved. Museum memberships are available as well as sponsorships. As museum officials and their attorney sort out the particulars of the museum’s future, we can also show our support by showing up. Take a tour, visit a program or event and help spread the word about all the Old Capital Museum and other local museums have to offer. The local community can’t allow the museum and its historic treasures to simply fade away unnoticed. “Capitals, Columns & Culture” would not hold true without it.