Old Clinton War Days

Admission:  $5 adults, $3 ages 6-18, free ages 5 and under

Bring the family and come join us for Old Clinton War Days when historic Clinton, Jones County’s courthouse town from 1808-1905, comes alive with the sights and sounds of Civil War Georgia! Each day at 2 pm, re-enactors recreate one of two battles in the County fought in the last months of 1864–the battles of Sunshine Church and Griswoldville. 

The event takes place in the Old Clinton National Historical District, a site on the March to the Sea Heritage Trail. Re-enactors occupy their authentic camps on grassy fields in the town–be sure to pay them a visit. Soldiers from grizzled veterans to beardless recruits, both blue and gray, stroll and march through the town. The rattle of musketry and the rolling thunder of cannons shakes windows in old homes, just as it did in July and November 1864 when the battles occurred and Union troops occupied the town.

The c. 1809 McCarthy-Pope House, furnished and decorated by the Ladies of the Confederacy, is open for tour.  At 11am on Saturday, there will be a Ladies’ tea there, and at 11am on Sunday a church service will be held there.  Miss Annie’s Store, set up as an 1800s mercantile establishment, also displays a variety of war relics, a prize-winning exhibit of Griswold pistol parts, a beautiful example of a finished Griswold pistol, a Burnside carbine, other war weapons, and authentic Confederate currency.

Take a self-guided walking tour to see the antebellum houses and the c. 1821 Methodist Church and cemetery. Don’t miss our Pine Ridge Museum housed in an 1889 one-room schoolhouse and the nearby mid-19th century Clinton law office slated for restoration.

There are demonstrations of crafts of the era, “modern” arts and crafts for sale, and “modern” as well as food of the period available.