Andersonville National Historic Site to host “Night Museum” program

A campfire illuminates replica shelters and wooden prison walls.
A night scene in the prison site.

NPS/Chris Barr

Subscribe RSS Icon | What is RSS
News Release Date: October 18, 2012

Contact: Eric Leonard, 229 924-0343, ext. 201

ANDERSONVILLE, Georgia - On the evening of Saturday, November 17, Andersonville National Historic Site will host a new program, "Night Museum."

From 6:00 - 9:00 p.m., the National Prisoner of War Museum will be open for a rare night-time opportunity to view the museum exhibits and experience the prison site.

At the National Prisoner of War Museum, the exhibits, museum and bookstore will be open. At 7:00 p.m. a special presentation, "Lost Souls: Union Soldiers in Richmond Prisons" will occur in the museum theater. The park films Voices From Andersonville will be shown at 6:00 p.m. and Echoes of Captivity will be shown at 8:00 p.m.

From the courtyard at the rear of the museum, the path to the prison site will be illuminated by lanterns, allowing access to the reconstructed northeast corner of the prison site. Among the replica shelters will be living history volunteers, portraying the often-overlooked winter period of the prison in 1864-65.

The special program, "Lost Souls: Union Soldiers in Richmond Prisons" will be presented by Michael J. Bennett, a recipient of a 2011/12 POW Research Grant Program, funded by the Friends of Andersonville. Mr. Bennett is a Civil War historian and a recognized expert on the human experience of combat. He has taught at Kent State and Wake Forest Universities. His last book, Union Jacks: Yankee Sailors in the Civil War won the Fletcher Pratt Award as the Best Civil War Book of 2004.

His current project is The American Soul in Battle: Restraint and Retaliation in the Civil War. It examines the violence of war through the actions and beliefs of its soldiers. Learning to kill, destroy, and hate challenged American values. For the past two years Dr. Bennett has held the Earhart Civil War Fellowship from the University of Michigan and the Mellon Fellowship at the Virginia Historical Society.

"A visit to the National Prisoner of War Museum is a moving experience under any circumstance," stated Superintendent Brad Bennett, "we hope that the Night Museum program will provide new opportunities and new experiences for visitors, especially those who might not have been back recently."

During this night-time event the prison site tour road and the Andersonville National Cemetery will be closed.

Andersonville National Historic Site is located 10 miles south of Oglethorpe, GA and 10 miles northeast of Americus, GA on Georgia Highway 49. The national park features the National Prisoner of War Museum, Andersonville National Cemetery and the site of the historic Civil War prison, Camp Sumter. ­Andersonville National Historic Site is the only national park within the National Park System to serve as a memorial to all American prisoners of war. Park grounds are open from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. with the museum opening at 9:00 a.m. Admission is free. For more information on the park, call 229 924-0343, visit on the web at www.nps.gov/ande/, or find us on Facebook at facebook.com/AndersonvilleNPS

www.nps.gov

About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 398 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov.



Last updated: August 7, 2021

Park footer

Contact Info

Mailing Address:

Andersonville National Historic Site
496 Cemetery Road

Andersonville, GA 31711

Phone:

229 924-0343

Contact Us