P.O. Box Q, Tifton, Georgia 31794
Dedicated to preserving and exhibiting the vanishing
agricultural heritage of south Georgia’s 19th century settlers,
Georgia Agrirama offers a unique fascination for lovers of steam
engines and the history they represent. Officially designated the
State Museum of Agriculture, Georgia Agrirama pays special
attention to those early industries which were so important in
clearing the region’s pine forests and harvesting its crops.
The museum is a living history center, re-creating 19th century
life through the day-to-day activities of costumed museum staff at
the various exhibits on the seventy acre historical site.
Especially notable exhibits are the Lummus pneumatic-feed cotton
gin, powered by a 110-horsepower Frick steam engine, and the
sawmill, powered by a 25-horsepower Atlas steam engine operating a
1 DeLoach mill. The cotton gin, reportedly the only steam-powered
gin in regular operation in the United States, runs on a regular
schedule each October and November, while the sawmill operates on a
regular weekly schedule for the other ten months of the year.
Scheduled to begin operations in early 1981 is a 1917 Vulcan
saddle tank locomotive. Built for 36′ (narrow-gauge) track, the
locomotive is representative of the many logging trams used in the
harvesting of Georgia’s immense tracts of pine forests around
the beginning of this century.
Currently the only operating single-pole handcrank magneto
telephone system and switchboard in the United States is at Georgia
Agrirama, in daily use and demonstrations for many of the visitors
to the museum’s rural town area.
Cecil Branch, himself an avid collector and restorer of historic
machinery, shows off the museum’s 1914 Rumely steam traction
engine. This engine was recently in the movie The Long Riders,
which was filmed in Georgia and California and told the story of
the Jesse James gang.
Other impressive exhibits on the historical site are an
operating hand-crank magneto telephone system with switchboard, a
water-powered gristmill originally constructed in 1879, an active
farmstead, a blacksmith’s shop, a printing press and newspaper
office, and a turpentine-sawmill company commissary. Scheduled to
open during 1981 is a wood-fired turpentine still with a
cooper’s shop for producing the barrels needed for turpentine
resin.
Georgia Agrirama is host to over 50,000 vistors a year, more
than 14,000 of them school students in special educational tours.
The steam machinery, and the way of life it evokes, captures the
imagination of youngsters of every age who visit the museum.
Georgia Agrirama staff have taken early steam and gas engines to
the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition, an annual event in south
Georgia attracting over 200,000 visitors, and these engines were a
special hit to Expo visitors where they stood in sharp contrast to
the enormous and fancy modern tractors and gleaners on display by
John Deere, Massey Ferguson and other present-day
manufacturers.
Open every day of the year except Christmas and Thanksgiving,
Georgia Agrirama maintains a full schedule of special activities
and events. Iron-Men readers will be particularly interested in the
annual Georgia Steam & Gas Show, scheduled this year for April
4 and 5. The first show last year drew almost a thousand visitors
to view a wide range of engines ranging from the late 1800s through
the 1940s. Coordinators for this year’s show encourage readers
to attend and to bring along their agriculture-related engines.
Georgia Agrirama will provide fuel and water and will treat
exhibitors royally.
Georgia Agrirama is located in Tifton, Georgia, at the
intersection of Interstate 75 and Eighth Street. The museum is
three and a half hours south of Atlanta and four and a half hours
north of Orlando, Florida.
Georgia Agrirama is open 9 to 5 Monday through Saturday and
12:30 to 5:00 on Sunday through fall, winter and spring. Between
June 1 and Labor Day the museum is open 9 to 6 every day. Admission
is $3 for adults, $1.50 for children 6-16 years old and $8.50 for
families. Special group rates are also available. More information
on the museum and the Georgia Steam & Gas Show can be had by
writing Georgia Agrirama at P.O. Box Q, Tifton, Georgia 31794, or
by calling (912) 386-3344.
