On the way back from Florida we decided to stop at the nearest National Park Service spot off of I75. Where we ended up going was Andersonville National Historic Site. This site once was the largest Civil War POW camp for Union soldiers. During the war over 45,000 soldiers were held captive here, and 12,920 of them died while imprisoned. Today you can visit the Cemetery of those who died.

This NH Site not only remembers the soldiers from the civil war, but it serves as a memorial to all American Prisoners of War. There was a great interactive museum on all the wars of America and their POW stories. In the museum you can see artifacts from these POW, such as Journals, locks, canteens, and shoes to name a few.

Since we stopped spur of the moment we really didn't get to plan out the visit. If I knew about one of their points of interest while there, we would have been sure to have seen it. In late August of 1864 conditions were at their worst. The prisoners were praying for their basic need of survival, water. A heavy thunderstorm came through saturating the land causing a spring to burst from the ground of the prison site. The POW named it Providence Spring.

If you are ever near Perry, Ga, you should be sure to take a little trip off the horrid I75 to Andersonville NHS.