Churches are the anchors of many small towns, spiritually, historically, socially and architecturally. This lovely church-in my opinion one of the most beautiful in the state-was designed by perhaps the greatest of the Gothic Revival architects in America, Ralph Adams Cram, whose work included the renovation of the US Military Academy at West Point and additions to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. An image of the historical plaque follows, explaining the significance of this remarkable sanctuary.
I have a personal link to Americus. Georgia Southwestern State University is there, where I served as a history professor for fifteen years. My daughters were christened in Calvary Church, so it holds special memories for me. I had not visited Americus in many years until I was invited to attend an awards ceremony at Southwestern.
Lee Street remains one of the most beautiful residential streets in all of the state, with its array of Queen Ann, Victorian Gothic, Classical Revival and many cottages in the popular early twentieth century revival styles.
While Americus’ downtown shares the fate of many of the small cities and towns in Georgia’s coastal plain, the mighty Tudor architecture of the Windsor Hotel towers proudly above the city streets. Built in the late nineteenth century, it still serves travelers. A stay there will transport you to an elegant era, while providing the most important amenities: air conditioning and an excellent bar (with porch seats overlooking the town).
In or near Americus are the civil war site at Andersonville National Cemetery, the National Prisoner of War Museum and confederate prison camp, and President Jimmy Carter’s hometown of Plains. If you go, do stay at the Windsor. And take a drive down Lee Street. Its an easy side trip on your way to the Gulf Coast going south, and a welcome relief from interstate highway traffic if you are going north from Florida.
I do remember this church after all!
Faith and I visited the Windsor when we were in southwest Georgia a couple of years ago. It was certainly was a wonderful place to stay!
George,
I spend fifteen years in Americus, wonderful years for the most part, so it was disheartening to see how the downtown had been abandoned by key businesses. A sentimentalist, I probably remeber things somewhat romantically. Karen and I imagine ourselves findin ourselves in a “walkable” town and it seems these very towns are being abandoned in favor of unwalkable places, with suburban homes that are distant from everything and where neighbors often have no idea of who their neigbors are. In out neighborhood, we are much more familiar with our neighbors dogs than our neighbors. And, I can not imagine myself in a big city, even if I could afford to live in town. Americus’s Lee Street was mostly for an older generation and preservationists, and seems to be intact today though I have no idea who lives along this street where I lived.