LOCATION

175 Hill Street, Athens, GA 30601. We are located just off of Prince Avenue in downtown Athens at the corner of Hill and Pope Streets, across from Firehouse #2.

programs

Please check out our pre-visit packet for information about our field trip programs, and our flyer for special programming offered throughout the year.

Contact Information

For questions, concerns, or if you would like to reserve a date, you can contact Jack Paynter by phone at (706) 369-3513 or by e-mail at jpaynter@trrcobbhouse.org. You can also fill out the form through the “Book A Field Trip Button” below.

RESERVATIONS

All groups wanting a guided tour or with eight or more people must make an appointment prior to visiting the T.R.R. Cobb House. Reservations may be made by phone, fax, e-mail, or online via the form below ("Book a Field Trip"), and should be made no less than 2 weeks prior to the desired tour date to ensure availability. Group coordinators will receive a confirmation e-mail or letter prior to the scheduled visit. School groups are also welcome. Call for details and reservations.

Bus Grants

The T.R.R. Cobb House does not charge a fee for school groups--in fact, we will reimburse your school for the cost of busing, fuel, and a substitute teacher (if necessary to meet the required chaperone minimums).  We offer our "Bus Grants" to all schools from Banks, Hall, Habersham, Stephens, Franklin, Hart, Madison, Jackson, Barrow, Walton, Oconee, Clarke, Oglethorpe, and Greene counties, regardless of need, and there is no limit to how many times any individual school may utilize the program during each academic year.  To take advantage of this unique program, arrange your field trip with the T.R.R. Cobb House, and after you complete your trip, fill out and submit the Bus Grant form.  The Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc. will then send a check to your school or school district for the cost of your field trip. 

Chaperones

If children under the age of 16 are a part of your group, please keep in mind that we require at least one adult chaperone for every 10 children in a group. Additionally, children must remain with the group at all times, and must not be allowed to run through the museum or touch artifacts or furniture.

Group Size

The maximum size of a group that may tour the museum at one time is 30 individuals. Larger groups can be accommodated for field trips. Please call or email for details.

Tour Length

45 minutes—house only; tours of the gardens are self-guided. Programs will add additional time for field trips.

Parking

Parking is located in the pea gravel lot immediately behind the T.R.R. Cobb House. Access to the lot is off Pope Street. Handicap accessible parking is also available in this lot. Cars and vans may also park along the curbs on Pope and Hill Streets, where the curb is not painted yellow.

Accessibility

The rear (basement) entrance to the T.R.R. Cobb House is handicap accessible, but is generally kept locked for security purposes. Should anyone in your group need to utilize the handicap accessible entrance, please indicate this when you call to make your reservation. The staff of the T.R.R. Cobb House will ensure that the door is unlocked for your use prior to your arrival for the house tour.

Restrooms

There are restroom facilities available for public use in the basement of the T.R.R. Cobb House. The restrooms are handicap accessible.

Other

The T.R.R. Cobb House does not have picnic facilities, but groups are welcome to use the rear patio and the lawns. Groups eating lunch on the grounds are also responsible for gathering and disposing of all of their trash—trash receptacles will be provided.

Georgia Secession Debates

The Georgia Secession Debates and the Role of Thomas R.R. Cobb
Download the PDF here

Understanding Causes of the Civil War:
Elite Women during the Secession Debates in Georgia
Download the PDF here
Download the PowerPoint here
 

Economic Influences on the Georgia Vote to Secede from the Union
Download the PDF here
 

Looking into the Lives of Wealthy Women during the Georgia Secession Debates and the Civil War
Download the PDF here
 

An Internal Debate
Download the PDF here
 

Motives for Southern Secession
Download the PDF here
 

Howell Cobb's Political Ambitions in 1856
Download the PDF here
 

Exploring Reasons for the Civil War:
A Focus on Grievances in North and South
Download the PDF here
 

Howell Cobb's Transition from Unionist to Secessionist
Download the PDF here
 

Exploring Master/Slave Relations in Antebellum Georgia
See the Lesson Plan here
 

Secession Debates Lesson Plan Webinar
See the Webinar here

Resistance & Reconstruction

Two Perspectives on the Approaching Civil War
Download the PDF here

What Was Work Life Like for Indentured Servants and Slaves in the South Before the Civil War?
Download the PDF here

Establishing a Freedmen’s Bureau In Athens, Georgia, 1867
Download the PDF here

Resistance & Political Control During Reconstruction in Georgia
Download Part I here
Download Part II here
Download Part III here

Resource Room

On the second floor of the Museum we have created a Resource Room of non-circulating secondary sources to which we are constantly adding additional titles. These resources are available to those visitors interested in conducting their own research concerning the Civil War era in Georgia, Southern Decorative Arts, and Victorian Architecture and Culture. Whether political, military, or domestic, the Resource Room concentrates on the actions that led to the war, on the factors that help explain it and its aftermath, and on the people who suffered through it. The TRR Cobb House provides an ideal setting to shed new light on the war – not merely on the political and military aspects, but also on the more subtle social, cultural, economic, and human implications of this pivotal period in United States history. Numerous Civil War resources are added annually. If you are looking for information on a Civil War ancestor, research assistance in restoring your Victorian home, or trying to identify that old piece of furniture then check out the TRR Cobb House Resource Room first.

A searchable catalog of some of our resource holdings is available on LibraryThing. Click the "Search" tab at the top of the page and enter "TRRCobbHouse" in the "members and locations" field. Click on the result "TRRCobbHouse," which will take you to our catalog of resources.

Note: The Resource Room is open to researchers by appointment so you will need to call ahead.

For a partial list of our library holdings, click here.

The Legacy is the quarterly publication of the Watson-Brown Foundation. It not only tracks the Foundation's scholars and scholarship program, but also its work in historic preservation, southern studies, educational programming at its historic house museums.