American Roads Travel Magazine - Off the Beaten Path

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Central Florida

Wild About Florida

Finding Floridas Phantoms

Georgias Ghostly Getaways

Man Hunt

Sarahs Story

Tax Sale Tactics

Last Step

Kudzu

Wild West, Georgia Style
Photos and story by Kathleen Walls

Stature of a cowboy greets visitors to the museum

In Cartersville, Georgia you can explore the West without ever leaving the South. From exhibits by the artists that explored the real life early west to depictions of the Hollywood version of the wild and woolly West, you will find them here in Georgia's second largest museum. There are also sections devoted to the Presidents and the Civil War. There is a theater for showing the museum related film "The American West" as well as other films, a reference library for Western American art, culture and history, Civil War history, United States presidential history, and local history related to the art collections.

For those of us of a certain age, it is a return to "those thrilling days of yesteryear" when the Lone Ranger ( and Roy, Gene, Hopalong and John Wayne) rulled the silver screen.

Jim Dunham displays his fast-gun expertise

It's also lots of fun to ride the glass elevator operated with real weights – one of only two in the country. If you meet Jim Dunham, ask his to show his artistry with a gun. When we visited he put on a faster than lightning exhibit of fancy gun handling. In fact, Jim taught many of Hollywood's fastest-guns-in the-West how to perfect that fast draw. If you search the credits in many westerns, he will be listed.

Contact:

Booth Western Art Museum www.boothmuseum.org
770-387-1300