Georgia State Railroad Museum

The Central of Georgia Railway began as the Central Rail Road and Canal Company in 1833 and erected its first passenger station, freight terminal and early shops around Louisville Road in Savannah by 1836, although none of those structures survive. By the mid‑1840s the line stretched 190 miles (310 km) and, in 1851, the railroad commenced construction of new repair facilities; the carpenters’ shop was completed in 1853 followed by the original roundhouse, machine shop, tender‑frame shop, blacksmith shop and several others in 1855, creating what is now regarded as the most complete antebellum railroad complex in the United States. A major fire in 1923 destroyed the roundhouse and turntable, which were rebuilt in the late 1920s to accommodate larger equipment, and the Southern Railway purchased the Central of Georgia in 1963, closing the Savannah shops and later transferring the complex to the City of Savannah. Passenger service to the adjacent Central of Georgia Depot continued until 1971; the site received National Historic Landmark status in 1976, with the designation expanded in 1978 to include additional buildings. In 1989 the Coastal Heritage Society, a nonprofit organization, opened the Georgia State Railroad Museum on the historic grounds, a revival sparked during the filming of *Glory* that same year.