Georgia Lunatic Asylum
Milledgeville, GA - April 20, 2003

Georgia Lunatic Asylum (aka Central State Hospital) US 441 South to Swint Avenue Milledgeville, GA Central State Hospital Museum Broad Street Located on the Grounds of Central State Hospital Phone: 478-445-6713 Website: http://www.centralstatehospital.org/

While in Milledgeville to visit the slave graves at Memory Hill Cemetery I heard of the existence of an old partially abandoned asylum just outside of town. I decided to divert to the asylum on my way home. I was not disappointed. Although part of the complex is still in use, and the part that isn't is heavily patrolled, I was still able to get some nice pictures of the abandoned buildings. I was able to find a short history of the asylum at the Georgia AGHP website: "In 1837 a law was enacted to establish a state lunatic asylum. 57 1/2 acres of land was purchased to erect the first buildings. Completed in October 1842 and open for patients December 15, 1842. The first patient was identified as Tilman B., brought from Macon, tied to a wagon. He died 6 months later. The first building for black patients was erected in 1866. Georgia Lunatic Asylum name was changed to the Georgia State Sanitarium Sep. 1, 1898; to Milledgeville State Hospital in 1929 and to Central State Hospital in 1967." I parked and began walking around the complex, and this is what I saw... This is the remains of the Walker Building (Male Convalescent Building), built in the 1884. This building served as the admission ward for white males. This is the Green Building down the street. It is still in use. The crumbling steps up to the Walker Building. This sign struck me as particularly representative of segregation. The cornerstone. A nice shot of the front of this beautiful old building. I saw an open door to the basement and was ever-so-tempted to make a move... and I would have if not for 2 factors: 1) Cop cars were passing by with frightful regularity; and 2) I didn't have a flashlight and it looked awfully dark in there. I contented myself with taking some shots through windows instead... Yes, I am a coward. I began circling around the building, documenting the decay as I went... Broken windows to peer through. Various shots of the rear of the Walker Building. Here are a couple of my patented "stick your camera through a hole and see what turns up" shots. Another shot from the rear of the building. Ah, the musky organic smell of decay! I quite like this "stick your camera through a hole shot" - which captures an old decrepit rather dungeon-like bathroom. Oh, I wish I'd gotten the courage up to go in there! Another nice interior shot. A lovely niche. One final shot of the Walker Building. I am always worried about being run off of these abandoned sites (I lasted about five minutes at Kings Park Asylum in New York), so I was actually relieved to see that they don't shy away from the tourist-aspect of old asylums here. There is a museum in one of the occupied buildings (which was sadly closed when I was there - it's open by appointment only), and there was a historic marker as you enter up the driveway: "MILLEDGEVILLE STATE HOSPITAL: In 1837, largely through the influence of Tomlinson Fort and William A. White, the legislature appropriated $20,000 for a dormitory near Milledgeville where the state's mentally ill could receive custodial care. A four-story building was opened on this site in 1842 and together with various later additions became known as the Center Building. Originally serving only pauper patients, services were expanded for all bona fide citizens. Dr. David M. Cooper (serving 1843-1846) was the first Superintendent and was followed by Dr. Thomas F. Green (1847-1879) and Dr. Theophilus O. Powell (1879-1907)." After I finished photographing the Walker Building, I drove further up into the complex, past the portion of the asylum which is still being used today to treat mental illness and developmental disabilities. There are some abandoned buildings up in this area as well, which are even nicer-looking than the Walker building. Alas, being so deep into the complex, there would be very little chance of breaking into one of these buildings without getting caught by the ever-lurking security. This is the current administrative building - the Powell Building - which was built in 1856 and is obviously one of the most historic structures in the Milledgeville area. Beautiful, but occupied. I took some pictures of one of the unused structures but most of them did not turn out, so I'm not sure what building it was. However, this image did turn out and I quite like it. Here's another building that is in current use. Of course, I had to take a picture of it simply for the sign. This is the building that houses the museum, which is open by appointment only. Alas, I didn't make an appointment... This is the cornerstone of the building showing that it was building 1883. This is my favorite abandoned building - the Jones Building. It's beautiful, isn't it? It's really a shame they're letting such a nice building rot away. I adore the colorful cornice over the front entrance. The title "L M Jones Building" can be seen over this doorway. A sadly faded Visiting Hours sign. A sign from the side of the Jones Building shows that it was built in 1928-1929. I walked around the perimeter of the Jones Building taking pictures, wishing I could get inside where the good stuff is! Aren't those urns atop the building nice? Such a majestic building - you'd think they would have found SOME use for it? A nice old rusting stairway at the rear of the Jones building. A sad, lonely bench behind the Jones Building. I couldn't help but wonder how many people had sat upon it, and what became of them... One last shot of the majestic old building, taken from the road. At this point, I bid the old Georgia Lunatic Asylum farewell, regretful that I wasn't able to see more of it. Maybe one of these days I'll go back and actually get inside the buildings. Until then, check out Infiltration for some interesting pictures of the interiors that others have taken.

For additional information see:
Central State Hospital
Georgia AGHP
Infiltration

Anyone have any additional stories, tidbits or photos to add?
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