Campbell Editorial - History Portfolio

The 1911 Pullman private car that carried the coffin of President Warren G. Harding in his August, 1923, funeral train was listed on the National Register of Historic Places April 5, 1999. (More Details)

The Superb was formally opened to the public in 1996 after a three-year restoration project. Restoration team leader, Lesa H. Campbell. National Register application research and writing, Malcolm R. Campbell. The support of Southeastern Railway Museum volunteers and the staff of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources helped make this project a success.

When the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (CSX) donated the Superb to the museum 40 years earlier, the retired railcar arrived simply as "business car #301." No one knows when the historic name was covered up with dark green paint or when the car's significance was forgotten.

It was only through the mysterious workings of good fortune that the museum received the car at all. Seaboard initially donated business car #304. However, that car was lost when vandals broke into it and set it on fire. So it was that the museum contacted the railroad and was surprised to learn another car was available, one that might have otherwise faced a scrapper's cutting torch.

Business car #301 arrived in 1969 without a name or dossier. When museum personnel inspected its air hoses, brakes and frame, they found the name stamped on the undercarriage in an obscure location. Preliminary research confirmed the significance of the treasure the museum was given, And once again, the word Superb was placed on the car's sides in gold letters.

On September 26 and 27, 1998, Norfolk Southern Railroad moved 79 pieces of historic rolling stock along a 1.5 mile segment of mainline track to SRM's new site. This much-appreciated assistance was an important component of the $118,000 of in-kind and financial support that facilitated the museum's relocation. Lesa H. Campbell provided fund raising support and project management for the move and Phase I development of the buildings and property.

Friends of the Museum Program

Southeastern Railway Museum

As an educational institution, research center, and heritage tourism destination, the Museum and its collection provide a means through which the past of a region built and shaped by its highways and railroads can be recalled, interpreted and demonstrated as an evolving series of events and decisions that continue to influence who we are, where we live, what we eat, when we get up and when we go to bed, and why the world around us is as it is.

Friends Program established in 1997 by Lesa H. Campbell. Quarterly newsletter "Milepost 613" edited by Lesa H. Campbell 1997-2001.

Selected Pages from Milepost 613:

Click on thumbnails to view images)

Feature Article

Destiny, Destruction, and Determination

"The story of Atlanta's first fifty years would be labeled 'far fetched' by Southerners. From open frontier to commercial center to smoldering rubble to unparalleled resurgence: the plot outline sounds like a trailer for a 1930s B movie."

Read the story from Look Ahead - Look South by Lesa H. Campbell.

“You don’t have to be famous for your life to be history.” --Nell Sigmon, former Catawba County, NC, Textile Worker

The Martin Institute, founded in 1859, was destroyed by an arsonist in 1942. The railroad first came to Jefferson in 1883. While the former Gainesville Midland Railroad has been absorbed into CSXT with continued freight service, passenger and mail service was discontinued in 1943 and the last steam locomotive ran through town in 1959. The old town square was razed and greatly changed in 1962 about the same time the Pendergrass Store closed after over 100 years of operation. Chartered in 1899, Jefferson Mills was sold in the early 1990s and subsequently closed.

Every one of the 62 participants interviewed during our Phase I oral history day on March 5 can add to this list of vanishing businesses, services, structures, and traditions. Yet, on that day, each participant also added his or her memories of these disappearing yesterdays to the public record and made them new and dynamic once again. While the stories and memories were unfolding, mayor pro tem Philip Thompson said, “As the city grows and changes, we’ve got to remember where we come from. I’m amazed and very thankful we’ve had this kind of turnout. It’s very interesting and something we need to do for our kids and grandkids.”

With the assistance of the Georgia Humanities Council Public Program Grant, the Crawford W. Long Museum, in partnership with the Jefferson Bicentennial Committee, will continue the process via follow-up interviews and the presentation of programs that further share the memories through A Journey Through Stories. The project is an exciting venture because, while our oral history participants aren’t famous, each one is a part of history and has a story to tell.