Park Hosts Discovery Camp For Children

July 15, 2009

Andersonville National Historic Site welcomed 55 children from nearby Sumter and Schley counties for a three-day Discovery Camp in mid-June. The children participated in several activities that helped them focus on their surroundings – nature, survival skills, trusting, and exploration with park rangers.

Each child participated in a variety of activities, including a scavenger hunt, problem-solving activities, and saving people using wilderness first aid. They also hiked on park trails, lead by rangers and volunteers.

The children participated in activities such as Hug-A-Tree, in which a child was blindfolded and led to a tree to “hug” it by feeling the tree and memorizing its features. The child was then led into a designated area away from the tree, the blindfold was removed, and the child then had to go find the tree. Children also learned how to build shelters using materials found in the woods. They learned about plants and animals that can be found in the area and the habitats in which they live.

On the last day of camp, the children were led to the entrance of the park, where they were placed in their groups and had a tree planting ceremony.  The children dug the holes as a team, placed the trees in the ground, then filled in the holes. Once all of the trees were planted, the group leaders discussed the types of trees and the stories behind them.

As the children left at the end of the day, each child was given a certificate and bag filled with various items as a gift of thank you for participating in the park’s first Discovery Camp.

In view of increasing national concern and interest about the H1N1 flu virus, we want to provide our visitors with the latest information about how it is impacting our National Parks.

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Andersonville Remembers Memorial Day
May 29, 2009

Keeping with the tradition of remembering those who gave their lives in service to the nation, Andersonville volunteers and staff held a series of events throughout the weekend to mark the holiday. 

On Saturday, May 23rd, over 500 Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and Junior ROTC cadets came despite the rain to place 18,657 flags in the National Cemetery. Each volunteer placed a flag one foot in front of each stone, then paused at each grave to salute and read the name of the veteran buried at that location. After all the flags were placed, park staff and volunteers treated the kids to a hot dog lunch. 

On Sunday morning, May 24th, the day began with a small ceremony to pay tribute to the 56 Union Soldiers of Norwegian descent who died at Camp Sumter prisoner of war camp. The ceremony was held in the prison site adjacent to the Wisconsin Monument, since many of those soldiers served in Wisconsin regiments. The story of the Norway-Andersonville connection came from a book about Norwegians who were held in Civil War prison camps by Torbjorn Greipsland. He was assisted by long-time park volunteer Kevin Frye, who arranged for the recognition. Both Greipsland and Colonel Ole Martin Hojem, military attaché from the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Washington, spoke at the event, which was attended by a number of descendants of those Norwegian POWs who’d been held at Camp Sumter. 

At 2 p.m. that same day, the park’s traditional Memorial Day ceremony was held in the national cemetery. The national commander of American Ex-Prisoners of War, Jim Clark, recognized veterans and former POWs in the audience. The program’s principal speaker was Lieutenant Colonel Robert J. Sweet, deputy commander of the 23rd Fighter Group at Moody Air Force Base. Sweet was a POW in the first Gulf War after his A-10 Warthog was shot down over Iraq. He told the audience of 600+ people about his experience and how the loss of his wingman at the time of his shoot down will always be with him. Norwegian military attaché Colonel Martin Hojem also spoke during this ceremony about those Norwegians who were held at Andersonville. The program ended with the traditional placing of wreaths by patriotic and veteran’s service organizations. Perhaps the greatest highlight of the event was that the threatening skies did not yield any rain until well after the last patriotic song was sung. 

On Monday, May 25th, a Catholic Mass was held at the national cemetery. The weekend’s observance ended with the National Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m.

Park Honors Lincoln and Special Friends
February 18, 2009

With the historic Rylander Theater as a backdrop, the Friends of Andersonville presented its first ever Special Friend Award to Lang Sheffield and Joan Burnett for her late husband, Bill. 

The event, entitled “An Evening with Abraham Lincoln,” was sponsored by the Friends of Andersonville and Andersonville National Historic Site.

Over 300 people attended a historic press conference on February 12th, where an actor portraying the 16th President took questions from members of the media and the audience.

Beth Alston, executive editor of the Americus Times Recorder, and Jay Polk, a member of the WALB Channel 10 news team, posed a dozen questions to Dennis Boggs. who has been a Lincoln re-enactor for many years. The questions allowed Lincoln to tell many stories that surround the life of the revered President.  

When asked about his most memorable speeches, he offered excerpts from his second inaugural address in 1865 and then gave an emotional recitation of the Gettysburg Address. At that point, he took five questions from the audience. Boggs had been in area schools all week to talk to students about the life of Lincoln and to challenge them to follow his example by expanding their world through books.   

Bill Burnett was the first president of the Friends of Andersonville. After a successful career in business, he moved from Ohio to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and Andersonville. Bill loved to do research and write. Several of his books are sold in the Eastern National store in the park. Because of Bill’s service in the Army during World War II, he was buried in Andersonville National Cemetery. 

Lang Sheffield led the way to organize a small group of citizen activists who formed in the 1960’s to have Andersonville included as a unit of the NPS. He also helped to raise awareness and private funding for the construction of a museum to tell the story of all POWs in American history. That dream was realized in 1998. Then, in 2002, he led the effort to acquire a critical piece of land for the park. He traveled to Washington and testified before the House National Parks Subcommittee in support of legislation to expand the park. The Friends purchased the land and then donated the land to the NPS. 

The Andersonville Trust is an endowment fund established by the Friends to offer long term operational support to the site. Since its inception in 1996, the trust has contributed over $270,000 to park interpretive programs, event support, land acquisition, resource protection and public relations.