columbus – Giles Hoover

July 22, 2023July 22, 2023

Updated Gallery: Columbus, Georgia

Gerald and I were in Georgia’s lower Chattahoochee River valley yesterday, visiting the city of Columbus — and ran across a couple of treasures. Naturally, there was a camera handy.

The first is the best restaurant I’ve enjoyed in a long while: The Animal Farm.

If you’re in or going to be going to Columbus anytime soon, I cannot recommend it highly enough. The food was superlative, the service excellent, and the ambiance simultaneously upscale, casual, and fresh.

The second — and no less tasty — stop was the Ma Rainey Museum of the Blues. This period house downtown is small but demonstrates a remarkable comeback from the (literal) wreckage they started with in the ’90s. I’d originally wanted to return to the Columbus Museum, but it’s being renovated; Gerald’s suggestion here was pitch-perfect.

Bust and Albums, Ma Rainey House, 805 5th Ave.

Record Player Detail, Ma Rainey House, 805 5th Ave.

Inside, Gerald and I enjoyed a lengthy conversation with Xavier, a guide who was knowledgeable and enthusiastic; he absolutely made us want to explore more blues history. (I’m also going to be listening to some Ma Rainey on Tidal.)

Meanwhile, gallery of Columbus photographs is deep and varied, spanning almost fifteen years and 180 items — check it out.

As always, thanks for visiting.

Update: Gerald’s take on the day.

May 16, 2022May 16, 2022

Gallery Update: The Columbus Museum

As I mentioned in the last entry, Gerald and I were in Columbus, Georgia on Saturday, where our primary photographic mission was The Columbus Museum — specifically, its Olmsted Garden.

ArchDaily is to blame here; they pointed me to the following:

Celebrating the bicentennial of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., known as “the father of landscape architecture”, the Cultural Landscape Foundation has created an ever-growing digital guide of Olmsted’s most notable works.

I immediately looked up what was near me, and lo and behold…. (Full disclosure: the garden is actually by Bradley Olmsted, one of Fredrick’s sons.)

Of course, the building’s interesting, too, so there’s a good mix of architecture, gardens, architecture from the garden, and — you guessed it — garden architecture:

Urn, Columns and Bricks, The Columbus Museum

Crawford’s Kindred (B&W detail), The Columbus Museum

Olmsted Garden (Flower #3), The Columbus Museum

Old Pool House (B&W), Olmsted Garden, The Columbus Museum

I enjoyed the visit, and as a result of that visit, added 32 new photographs to the Columbus gallery. (They’re grouped together: “Columbus Museum – Mar22.”) Peruse anytime; purchase if you’d like. Thank you!

May 14, 2022May 14, 2022

Updated Gallery: Columbus, Georgia

Gerald and I were in Columbus, Georgia, today, which included a delicious lunch at The Black Cow — no word whether the name is related to the Steely Dan song — and which meant a few photographs:

United States Post Office and Court House (Eagle Detail), Columbus, Georgia

One of several of the Post Office and Court House (the header photograph is that building, too), along with a few others from downtown:

Lamp and Buildings, Downtown Columbus, Georgia

Arches, Planes, and Sky, Downtown Columbus, Georgia

Tower and Spire, Downtown Columbus, Georgia

Columbus is really well covered in its dedicated gallery: check it out. The majority of today’s photographs, however, were from the Columbus Museum; those will be posted Monday. Stay tuned.