PLACES TO SEE
Cartersville collects museums of art, history and wonder
Photo by Donna P. Williams
By Kathy Dean The Tellus Science Museum building winks through a cluster of tall trees along I-75 near Exit 293. It hits the eye like the prow
of a proud ship. The building hints at the treasures displayed within it, and other treasures in Cartersville, a city less than an hour’s drive north of Atlanta that has collected a cluster of unusual
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museums. “Cartersville is home to … some of the Atlanta area’s most interesting museums,” said Meredith Dollevoet, sales and marketing manager at the Cartersville-Bartow County Convention & Visitors Bureau. Things really started, Dollevoet said, when a group of local business owners got together and decided they needed a place to show artworks they had gathered to the public. “The Booth Museum was opened in 2003 as a way to share their art collections with the community and to provide educational opportunities,” she said. That was just the start. The group formed the non-profit Georgia Museums, Inc., and in 2009, opened the Tellus Science Museum as an expansion of a building then known as the Weinman Mineral Museum. Other museums followed, with Georgia Museums now responsible for the Bartow History Museum and a related entity that operates the Grand Theatre in downtown Cartersville. The latest addition to the group’s collection, the Savoy Automobile Museum, opened in December 2021. “It displays not only some of the benefactors’ private collection, but also an array of automobiles in rotating temporary exhibitions that showcase the history and diversity of the automobile,” Dollevoet said. The gathering of museums draws tourists and attention to the city. In fact, Smithsonian Magazine included Cartersville as one of the 15 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2022. “In a nutshell, Cartersville became Georgia’s Museum City because a group of generous businessmen wanted to give back to the community through their love and appreciation of art, history, science, education, and now, cars,” Dollevoet said.
Booth Western Art Museum
The Booth Museum, named for Sam Booth, a friend and
mentor to the founders, boasts a permanent collection of the art of the American west, Civil War art and presidential portraits and letters, allowing visitors to “See America’s Story” in paintings, sculpture, photography and artifacts. The Booth also features Sagebrush Ranch, a hands-on experience and interactive children’s gallery. “The museum has become an important attraction since opening in Cartersville, being the world’s largest permanent exhibition space for Western art, and it is the largest museum of its kind in the Southeast,” said Grace Adams, director of marketing at Booth Western Art Museum. 120,000 square feet of space, the Booth is a great size to see in a day, but offers more than enough to make additional trips worthwhile, Adams said. “Temporary exhibits are changed every three to four months in four galleries, resulting in 12 to 15 exhibitions per year, the most in any Georgia art museum,” she said. More than 800,000 people have visited the Booth Museum since it opened. “In 2019, Booth achieved its highest level of attendance with over 68,000 visitors,” Adams reported. The museum currently has about 1,600 members. As it’s grown in popularity, the Booth Museum has also received many awards, “including being named Best Art Museum by USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice award program in 2020, 2021 and 2022,” Adams pointed out. The process involves a panel of experts partnered with editors at 10Best to pick the initial nominees, and the top 10 were determined by popular vote. Booth Western Art Museum, 501 Museum Dr., Cartersville, Ga. 30120, 770-387-1300, boothmuseum.org Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m.8 p.m.; and Sunday, 1-5 p.m. Admission is $13 for adults; $11 for seniors, 65+; $10 for students; and free for children 12 and under.
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