05/22/2026
Today on Fridays with the Curator, indulge me and Curatorial intern Tori Griffiths on a walk in history, mark a save the date, and see new history being made.
Come back to the 1990s with us because the stories we are about to share intersect 36 years ago this week. Two local artists lent their talent to the then - Agrirama. One was a successful artist and graphic designer, the other a college senior with a fresh art degree, managing the last summer before his first teaching job.
In 1990, artist and graphic designer ๐๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ of Tifton (now Marietta) studied the landscape of our fledging, 14 year-old museum, and interpreted it in a beautiful hand drawn map. That very drawing was unearthed during our recent study of the site archives in preparation for our 50th Anniversary exhibit, along with the original map from 1976, proposed by the site architects. Caroline's map would go on to be reinterpreted every decade or so, adding more sites to the museum, changing logos and names, and eventually migrating to a computer-generated version.
A month ago, our other artist, then-college student ๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐ of Crosland, now a retired teacher/administrator, began hand drawing a 2026 version of our site map, to include all of the sites from our previous maps, along with a few new and old exhibits that had not yet made an appearance before. That original drawing will hang next to all previous versions of our map as a part of our 50th Anniversary exhibit. To give everyone a chance to experience the stunning detail of Stacey's map, starting next week, Saturday guests to the GMA will get to hold a copy of it in their hands as they navigate our site. What a treat.
But there is more.
Back to the 1990s now, and it is 2 years after Caroline drew her version of the map. A young college student found himself sitting under the shade of the oak trees lining the path to our then-Country Store. That student was in between college and his first teaching job, and he had been asked to draw a rendition of the Country Store. He did, and that drawing was lost for a long time. Two weeks ago, while Stacey Rutledge of Crossland was drawing our updated map, curatorial staff came across an old, beautiful ink drawing of the Country Store, just as we were pulling artifacts for our 50th Anniversary exhibit. In the corner of that drawing, if you zoom in, you will see a name.
And by now you have guessed it, that name is ๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐.
Scrawled next to it, "92". Thirty-four years ago, the same artist who was now working on a new map for us, had sat right here under the shade of a tree, and drawn this beautiful piece capturing the 1992 Country Store. Many of you remember the old Country Store. You will get to see it again during our 50th Anniversary exhibit.
Isn't history cool like that?
Soft opening July 1, public opening July 4. Come see artifacts from this story, along with many others like it.
