Augusta Museum of History

05/29/2026

It's sweet summertime at last and we hope you'll make the Augusta Museum of History part of you summer plans! Whether is hot and humid or dreary and rainy, the museum is always a great place to spend a summer day!

Photograph
Object ID: 1977.024.080
Source: Mrs. Vinton McFeely
Description: Black and white photograph of a young girl wearing a bonnet and two piece play clothes while posing on the steps of a house and holding a bucket.

05/25/2026

Welcome to this week's AMH Cabinet of Curiosities! Let’s take a look at the history of Augusta’s fire department. The Augusta Fire Department began in 1805 when the city procured its first two firefighting machines. By 1841 there was one independent fire company that possessed its own equipment and five volunteer companies. In December of 1886, the Augusta Fire Department was organized into an all-paid department with H.M. Young as its first chief. At first, the department consisted of five regular firefighters and five “call men” or reserve firefighters. The “modern” firefighting equipment of the day was the horse-drawn steam fire engine. You can see the 1869 Button & Company steam-powered fire engine on display here at the Museum.

In 1909, the Augusta Fire Department entered the automotive age with a Webb Automatic Fire Engine and Hose Wagon combined. Built on a Thomas Flyer chassis, the engine was capable of sixty miles per hour. Also on display at the Museum is our 1928 Mack Fire Truck Model AB.
On March 22, 1916, the fire department faced its greatest challenge yet when a fire that would eventually consume over six-hundred homes and businesses in downtown Augusta was ignited. The fire began in the Dyer building, on the corner of Broad and 8th St. Firefighters from the surrounding areas rushed to help, but the gusting winds caused the flames to sweep through downtown, consuming building after building. Miraculously, no one was killed in the blaze. The aforementioned 1869 Button & Company steam-powered fire engine was present during the fire of 1916 and was used to help fight the flames.

Even though the two fire engines on display at the Museum were built nearly sixty years apart, they were examples of state-of-the-art firefighting technology of their time, and give us a fascinating glimpse into the history of firefighting.

Steam Fire Engine
Object ID: 4736A

Mack Fire Truck
Object ID: 1992.008
Donated by: J. Gordon Farmer

05/21/2026

Happy 250th America! The Augusta Museum of History is celebrating this monumental year with an exhibition that tells the story of America and the CSRA. Each week during 2026 an item is featured, and today we are taking a look at Augusta’s educational history with a deeper dive into the Augusta Free School and what public education was like in the 1800’s.

Did you know that public education in Georgia goes all the way back to 1777! Article LIV: of the 1777 Constitution say, “Schools shall be erected in each county and supported at the general expense of the State, as the legislature shall hereafter point [out] and direct.” This constitutional provision marks the beginning of the public educational history of the state of Georgia.

05/18/2026

It's May and we are celebrating James Brown all month long! The J.A.M.P. Concert from May 2nd is now up on the AMH YouTube Channel. Click the link below to watch and cheer on these amazing youth who continue to share the music of the Godfather of Soul!

On May 2, 2026 the Augusta Museum of History celebrated the birthdays of James Brown and Sharon Jones. J.A.M.P. (the James Brown Academy of Musik Pupils) per...

05/18/2026

Welcome to this week’s AMH Cabinet of Curiosities! Before semitrucks and even before trains, products and goods were often delivered to port cities via steamboats. The invention of steamboats in Georgia, often credited to one of Augusta’s own, William Longstreet, was an improvement on the Petersburg boats. Petersburg boats were so difficult to get back up-river from ports like Savannah, that they were sometimes dismantled and repurposed, rather than sailed back to Augusta. The first steamboat to reach Augusta was the Enterprise in April of 1816. The product most often exported out of Augusta was, of course, cotton. Hundreds of cotton bails would be loaded onto steamboats and carried down the Savannah River. Steamboats often carried passengers as well, with cotton and other goods loaded onto Petersburg boats and towed behind. Eventually railroads and the improvement of roads caused steamboats to fall out of fashion, until they were all but obsolete. You can see this detailed model of the Atlamaha Steamboat for yourself at the Museum!

Steamboat Model
Object ID: 1993.006.001
Donated by: Tadeusz 'Ted' Styczynski

05/16/2026

Interested in what Augusta was like after the Revolutionary War? Over the past 250 years America has changed and you can see a slice of that and how the CSRA has kept up with the times at the Ezekiel Harris House. Explore the grounds, learn about life for Ezekiel, Eleanor and the girls and what his life was like as a to***co merchant.
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The EHH is open today at 1822 Broad Street, Augusta, with free parking off of Crawford Ave. Tours with Guide, Leroy Linen are at 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm. The cost is just $7.00 for adults, $6.00 for Seniors 65 and older, $5.00 for children 6-17 years old and children 5 and under are free!

05/14/2026

Happy 250th America! The Augusta Museum of History is celebrating this monumental year with an exhibition that tells the story of America and the CSRA through 52 artifacts in the Museum collection. Each week during 2026 one item is featured, and today we are featuring a photograph from 1876 of Robert Courtney Bailie who was part of the Clinch Rifles.

Who were the Clinch Rifles? The Clinch Rifles, also known as the 5th Volunteer Infantry Company A, were a Confederate army unit based out of Richmond County. Organized in 1854, the Clinch Rifles were one of Augusta's premier militia units. Rifle troops, armed with accurate rifles rather than smoothbore muskets, were distinctive in their traditional green color and a CR surrounded by laurels on their caps. Very few Confederate troops wore green uniforms. They were first posted in Florida under General Braxton Bragg, where they received their training. In 1862 they were sent to Knoxville, Tenn. and Corinth, Mississippi. In 1863 they fought at the Battle of Chickamauga and the Siege of Chattanooga. They suffered heavy casualties throughout 1864 and were forced to retreat along with the rest of the Confederate Army. The Clinch Rifles dissolved at the end of the Civil War in 1865.

Robert Bailie, son of Irish Immigrant James Glover Bailie Sr. was born in Charleston in 1854. He had one brother, James Glover Bailie Jr. and five half siblings. The Bailies moved to Augusta from Charleston in the early 1860's and were members at First Presbyterian Church. All three of the men served in the Confederate Army. Robert died in 1932 at the age of 78 and is buried at Magnolia Cemetery in the family plot.

You can see this photograph in the America 250th Exhibition on the 2nd floor of the Augusta Museum of History and you can learn more about the Clinch Rifles and see their uniform and a drum played by Amos Clark in the Augusta's Story Exhibition on the 1st floor of the Museum.

05/13/2026

An incredible afternoon with Dr. Deanna Brown Thomas at the Augusta Museum of History’s Brown Bag Lecture. She shared stories about her dad, her childhood and the work and legacy of James Brown in Augusta. The lecture will be up on the AMH YouTube channel in the coming weeks.