Two well-known history organizations in Georgia are ringing in America’s 250th anniversary since the signing of the Declaration of Independence with a host of activations, events and resources on local and national history.
Locally, the Atlanta History Center announced a major highlight: The Buckhead Center will be one of eight locations in the country to host the “Freedom Plane Tour: Documents that Forged a Nation.”
For 16 days in March, the center will offer free public admission to see founding-era documents of the United States. It’s a traveling exhibit from the National Archives, and it features items like the state delegation votes approving the Constitution, a stone engraving of the Declaration of Independence and pages from the Treaty of Paris.
The exhibit’s arrival will be marked with a ceremony on the tarmac of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on March 23. The traveling exhibit will kick off the center’s formal observation of the 250th anniversary of America.
“Through its contradictions, courage, creativity and culture, Atlanta offers a powerful lens for understanding what it means to be American,” Atlanta History Center President and CEO Sheffield Hale said.
It also happens to be the 100th anniversary of the Atlanta History Center, and the two celebrations intertwine through the year’s programming.
In April, the museum launches “Atlanta in 100 Objects” with an accompanying book that shows 100 “iconic and unexpected” artifacts from the center’s collection. Dresses, globes and more will be on display throughout the space.
In July, the center will launch its largest exhibition to date – ”More Perfect Union: The American Civil War Era.” It will be a permanent exhibition that explores the time leading up to the war, the war itself and the long-lasting aftermath in Georgia.
Later in the year, the center will add a gallery of weapons, uniforms and military gear to its Civil War exhibit. It will also debut an exhibition focused on Native American history, called “Exile from Georgia: The Cherokee and Muscogee Trail of Tears.”
The exhibitions all aim to engage visitors with Atlanta, and by extension, America’s rich history.
“Our story is Atlanta’s story, but it’s also America’s,” Hale said. “As we enter our next century, we remain committed to honoring the full, complex history of this city and spotlighting the people, places and moments that shape both Atlanta and the nation in a clear, even-handed way grounded in evidence.”
It’s not the only organization taking on 250 years of history. On a statewide level, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation announced a yearlong effort called “Georgia250: Celebrating America’s Last Colony.”
The year of history programming will explore the state’s colonial and Revolutionary War eras through several activations. The first is a 13-part video series hosted by Georgia Trust President and CEO W. Wright Mitchell, as he travels to historic sites across the state that shaped its history.
The trust will also host “Georgia250 Author Talks” with some of the state’s writers and scholars. The talks will take place at the trust headquarters in Atlanta’s Rhodes Hall and the Hay House in Macon.
These are the author talks:
- Feb. 5, 2026, 6 p.m. at Rhodes Hall, Atlanta: Author talk with Greg Brooking, author of “From Empire to Revolution: Sir James Wright and the Price of Loyalty in Georgia.”
- Feb. 12, 2026, 12 p.m. Virtual Lunch and Learn Lecture with scholar Robert Scott “Bob” Davis on “Austin Dabney and Black Georgians in the Revolutionary War.”
- April 9, 2026, 6 p.m. at Hay House, Macon: Author Talk with Paul Pressly, author of “A Southern Underground Railroad: Black Georgians and the Promise of Spanish Florida and Indian Country.”
- June 18, 2026, 6 p.m. at Rhodes Hall, Atlanta : Author Talk with Michael Thurmond, author of “James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia: A Founder’s Journey from Slave Trader to Abolitionist”
- Sept. 10, 2026, 6 p.m. at Rhodes Hall, Atlanta: Author Talk with W. Wright Mitchell, author of “Georgia’s First Elected Governor: John Adam Treutlen and the American Revolution.”
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation will also feature an interactive map and “virtual ramble” that riffs on the trust’s long-standing “rambles” through different historical cities.
“Georgia250 brings Georgia’s Revolutionary War story to life by honoring Patriots, Loyalists, enslaved individuals and communities while focusing on the preservation of the historic place where these stories unfolded,” Mitchell said.
