Midway Musuem

Midway Museum The Midway Museum is located just north of the intersection of US hwys 84 and 38. It is a replica of a colonial plantation house and within houses quite a few relics and information concerning the town’s and Liberty County’s founding. Not only circumstances of bringing European culture to the area, but also the lives of those that suffered both (black and white) during its formation. I daresay the museum has a well deserved international reputation for housing documentation regarding the citizens from the locale that have played an important role in colonial and subsequent nation building. In her book entitled “MIDWAY GEORGIA-In History and Legend” Josephine Bacon Martin, includes some astounding statistics. These statistics are from research done by the-“Brunswick Chapter of the American Revolution and Descendents of the Midway Colony 1923”. It concerns the colonial Midway Congregation Church-still standing, once burned, but rebuilt-and the type people it has produced. “Eighty-Six Ministers of the gospel and seven Foreign Missionaries Midway in St John’s Parish now Liberty County, was the cradle of Revolutionary Sprit in Georgia and her of her sons were signers of the Declaration of Independence.” I might add that the signers were Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnet. No mean feat considering Georgia only had three signers. The area leaders at that time were very revolution minded, probably more so than their brethren in Savannah. Which at that time (as now) was larger and older than the Midway area and the surrounding barrier islands. When viewing the museum and the history of the area, I could not but consider the fact that the established agricultural plantations and slavery flew in the face of everything Oglethorpe envision for the Georgia colony. I mentioned in an earlier blog that the founder envisioned a colony of white small farmers that would not depend upon slavery as a means of developing the colony. But economics and perhaps even more importantly the environment virtually forced them into it. Heck there were indentured servants (Europeans with a set amount of time to serve as slaves), but as pointed out earlier, the climate and conditions were just too harsh for people not accustomed to this environment and climate. Africans that were used to the clime, and even more important were familiar with the cultivation of rice were valuable as laborers. Oh yeah, let us not forget sub-tropical diseases, malaria especially. Africans did not seem as susceptible as Europeans. Guess you can say sickle-cell trait was a blessing as well as a curse. Even the plantation owners on the barrier islands kept mainland homes because of conditions. Less someone even imagine that this African-American is in anyway apologizing for the existence of slavery, please perish the thought. Just stating the obvious. But getting back to the museum, it provides insight into the lives and conditions of those that originally pioneered the state. Even if you are not interested in Colonial history, the museum is a nice place to rest when traveling north or south on I-95, between Savannah and Brunswick. Can’t miss the signs.