Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Step Back in Time at Historic Westville Village - TPR's In Focus - May 21, 2026

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Step Back in Time at Historic Westville Village - TPR's In Focus - May 21, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Janice Hawkins Cultural Arts Park
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  on the main campus of Troy University,
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  featuring the International Arts Center,
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  the Fred Nall Hollis Museum, and the Hua Bao Zhu Gallery.
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  More information at troy.edu slash arts park.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is In Focus,
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  and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  Historic Westville Village in Columbus, Georgia
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  is a community where visitors can experience life
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  as it was in the 1800s.
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  April Kirk is executive director,
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  and she joins us today to share
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  what makes Westville Village a unique destination.
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  April, thanks for joining us.
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  Thank you so much for having me.
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  Where is Westville Village located?
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  Historic Westville Village is located
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  in Columbus, Georgia, right along the Chattahoochee River,
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  in the southernmost point of Columbus,
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  outside the entrance to Fort Benning,
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  where previously we were in Stewart County in Lumpkin.
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  You yourself are a well-known artist.
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  Are you trying to bring the arts more to the forefront?
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  Absolutely, one of the great things
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  about Westville and the story we tell
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  is about the craftspeople and the trades.
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  And so we are really trying to preserve those things
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  and bring more crafting and fine arts
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  into what we're doing at Westville now.
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  April, what's the story behind Westville Village's name?
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  Historic Westville Village is actually named
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  in honor of Colonel John Ward West,
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  who is the unofficial founder of Westville today.
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  Born shortly after the end of the Civil War,
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  he grew up learning traditional trades
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  and crafts from his grandparents.
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  And he really set out to preserve this history
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  and these skills, and he called it Saving Georgiana.
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  And Colonel West created what was known as the Fair of 1850,
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  and he acquired houses from Georgia to preserve them.
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  And people would come and learn how to loom,
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  how to rifle a gun, how to fall a tree,
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  and the Fair of 1850 grew so much
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  that it was known as the Dixie-Smithsonian.
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  And then after he passed away,
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  it was people in Columbus
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  that really wanted to preserve that legacy.
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  Who inspired him to create this village?
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  He was inspired by Rockefeller and Henry Ford,
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  and in fact, reached out to both of them
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  to find out how they created
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  their own living history experiences.
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  Everyone knows Colonial Williamsburg.
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  And he reached out to them to get advice.
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  His goal was actually for the state
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  to acquire the Fair of 1850
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  as part of the state park system and historic site.
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  And he wasn't successful in that,
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  but because of what he created,
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  which later was incorporated into Historic Westville,
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  it is still known as the third oldest
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  living history experience in the United States
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  behind Colonial Williamsburg and Dearborn.
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  Give us the location
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  so that your listeners can arrange a visit.
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  Absolutely.
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  We are located at 3557 South Lumpkin Road in Columbus.
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  We are adjacent to the National Infantry Museum
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  and Oxbow Meadows Environmental Center.
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  So it makes a wonderful grip for people to experience
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  a lot of history, culture, and nature all in one area.
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  Give us an overview of what your visitors can find today.
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  Historic Westville Village, located in Columbus,
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  has 17 historic structures.
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  We are still working on some preservation,
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  so not all of them are open yet,
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  but it definitely gives people a reason
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  to come back and visit later.
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  When they come, they meet our team.
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  They're historic interpreters
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  who are very passionate about their craft.
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  Some are skilled tradespeople and some are apprenticing.
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  They dress in period wardrobe
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  and they share the history of their structures,
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  Colonel John West, the people that would have lived
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  and worked in these buildings,
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  and they demonstrate these traditional crafts and trades.
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  What are some of those popular structures
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  where the interpreters are?
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  Well, everyone loves a blacksmith.
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  It embodies the sights, sounds, smells
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  of a working, living history town.
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  Next to our blacksmith,
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  we have so many other wonderful structures
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  that tell great history.
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  We have a wood shop, a boot shop, a quilt shop,
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  a general store.
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  We even have a doctor's office,
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  and we have a couple homes and even two churches.
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  So literally, you're stepping back
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  into what the mid-1800s would have been like in Georgia.
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  Yes, we are set up like a village.
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  So at the center of our town
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  is the Chattahoochee County Courthouse.
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  Surrounding that are our shops,
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  and then on the outer edges are our churches and our homes.
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  April, as an artist,
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  what is your vision
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  for Historic Westville Village program-wise?
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  We really wanna preserve the traditional trades and crafts.
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  So as we learned in 2020, when the pandemic hit,
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  people really wanted to make more.
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  They wanted to bake more.
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  So cottagecore is very much something people wanna learn.
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  So we wanna teach that to them.
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  And it also helps to preserve these things,
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  and we can tell the history behind them.
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  And sometimes we do them fully the traditional way,
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  and then sometimes we incorporate
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  some modern techniques into it,
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  but we're still preserving that history
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  of how these people lived at this time,
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  and we can get creative with it.
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  So our blacksmith shop is actually credited
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  with being the birthplace
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  of the Artist Blacksmithing Association of North America.
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  So it's not just traditional blacksmiths
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  making hooks or horseshoes.
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  These are artists blacksmithing, getting really creative,
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  making fine works of art out of steel.
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  This is an incredible story that you're telling us today.
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  When is Westville Village open for visitors?
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  Currently we are open Fridays and Saturdays
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  from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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  In June and July, we will include half days on Sundays,
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  starting at 1 p.m., and then as we go into the fall,
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  we're going to add more days.
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  But we're always available for special groups,
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  tours, and even outreach programs
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  where we can go into the community and bring craft projects.
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  How does historic Westville Village
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  differ from other museums?
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  Sometimes when people think about museums,
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  they think about things behind glass
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  and quieter, more stoic spaces.
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  The joy of Westville as a museum
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  is you can touch almost everything.
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  So we don't really have ropes or display cases.
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  You're walking into spaces as if people are still using them,
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  working in them, and living in them.
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  So our museum aspect is to really be inclusive and tactile
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  so people can touch and experience
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  what it was like living at this time period.
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  But also we use good museum practices
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  to make sure we're properly preserving things,
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  telling the correct stories,
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  and making sure that they last for generations to come.
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  How do you include children
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  in the Westville Village experience?
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  Definitely our school programs,
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  which isn't just for a classroom-based student,
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  but also homeschool groups and even family groups.
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  We dive a little deeper into the history
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  and really try to hit important educational points.
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  For children, it is a phenomenal place
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  because a child can touch and they can experience.
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  So they can learn at their own pace
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  and they can really engage with the objects and the history.
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  We do a lot of craft programs for children,
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  but we also incorporate STEM, STEAM, vocabulary,
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  literature, and all other aspects
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  of a school-based curriculum.
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  April, can you give us a website for more information?
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  Visit us at westville.org,
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  but we also encourage people to follow us on Facebook.
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  That's always gonna have
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  the most up-to-date event information.
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  And it's Historic Westville Village.
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  Well, thank you so much for your visit today.
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  And I look forward to talking with you again in the future.
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  I would love that.
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  Thank you so much for letting me share
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  the story of Colonel John West
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  and Historic Westville Village.
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  That was April Kirk,
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  Executive Director of Historic Westville Village
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  in Columbus, Georgia.
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  Thanks for joining us today for In Focus,
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  which is a podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson,
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  and this is listener-supported Troy Public Radio.