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“Red Butte With Mountain Men” by L. Maynard Dixon, along the back wall, is part of the Booth’s permanent collection.
Allen Eckman’s “Calf Roper,” a cast paper sculpture.
The Booth features a variety of rotating exhibits, with current collections including “Through the Years: Kenny Rogers’ Photographs of America.”
“Red Butte With Mountain Men” by L. Maynard Dixon, along the back wall, is part of the Booth’s permanent collection.
Allen Eckman’s “Calf Roper,” a cast paper sculpture.
The Booth features a variety of rotating exhibits, with current collections including “Through the Years: Kenny Rogers’ Photographs of America.”
Driving into Cartersville, a good half-hour’s drive from Atlanta and in the hilly southernmost reaches of the Appalachians, is pretty much like driving into any small town in Georgia. The downtown is diminutive and dotted with locally owned shops and restaurants, the courthouse is awash with red brick and white columns and crowned with a dome of gold, and churches, their venerable spires reaching to the sky, are among the town’s tallest buildings.
I turn onto a quiet side street, and there, suddenly, is my destination: The massive Booth Western Art Museum. Its two-story exterior is built from walls of shimmery glass and Bulgarian limestone to look like a modern pueblo, and its grounds feature an impressive array of sculptures of cowboys, bucking broncos and Native Americans. I’ve driven from small-town Georgia into the Old West.
The Booth’s art collection is vast, with about a dozen galleries showcasing paintings, photographs, sculptures and artifacts that include two full-size stagecoaches. At 120,000 square feet, it is the world’s largest permanent exhibition space for art of the American West. It is also the second-largest art museum in Georgia (after the High Museum of Art in Atlanta) and a Smithsonian affiliate.
A Western art museum in a state known more for peaches, Coca-Cola and Vidalia onions is unexpected. That it’s in Cartersville, with a population of about 20,000, just adds more intrigue to this surprise in the rolling foothills of north Georgia.
The Booth was founded by an unnamed local benefactor and others. The founder “had a successful business in the telecommunications industry,” said Seth Hopkins, the museum’s longtime executive director. “He had been collecting Western art for about 30 years, and when he sold the company, he decided to give back to the community.”
The museum, opened in 2003, was named for Sam Booth, an Atlanta businessman and good friend and mentor of the benefactor’s family. The Booth became a Smithsonian affiliate a few years after it opened, enabling the loan of Smithsonian artifacts and traveling exhibitions.
Among the dazzlingly bright galleries — every room seems to be drenched in color — are the American West Gallery, with its traditional Western paintings and sculptures by historical and contemporary artists; the Modern West Gallery, with more contemporary works; the Native Hands Gallery, with more than 150 Native American artifacts; and the Carolyn and James Millar Presidential Gallery, with its original letters by and photographs of every president.
Major artists at the Booth include early Western artists, among them George Catlin, W.R. Leigh (some call him the “Sagebrush Rembrandt”) and Charles Russell. The heart of the collection, though, is the genre’s living masters, including Howard Terpning, G. Harvey, Thom Ross and Donna Howell-Sickles.
Most visitors start in the American West Gallery. The walls are uncrowded, the sculptures perfectly spaced so that you can enjoy each piece without having to feel rushed to get to the next one. Here, my favorites were a bronze sculpture called “The Last Drop,” created in 1903 by Charles Schreyvogel and depicting a cowboy pouring the last bit of water into his hat for his horse, and Terpning’s “Trail Along the Backbone,” with its three Native Americans riding along a mountainous ridge streaked with golden and silver lighting, creating the effect of a photo more than a painting.
But for me, Lori Musil’s “CowPony,” a life-size acrylic-on-fiberglass sculpture of a horse, was the standout. Musil, a New Mexico-based artist, crafted the piece for the Trail of Painted Ponies, a public art project that began in Santa Fe and that was eventually turned into a book, then a documentary that was narrated by actress Ali MacGraw.
“CowPony” is inspired by a real-life incident when a horse that Musil had planned to ride was meandering almost completely hidden among a herd of Hereford cows. Musil sculpted the face of the sorrel into the herd, resulting in a piece so intricate in detail that the entire work looks carved in 3D. The Booth bought it for $50,000, the highest price of any Painted Pony.
The museum also features special exhibits. Running through July 31, catch “Western American Art South of the Sweet Tea Line VI: Toast to Texas,” introducing works from private Texas collections. Upcoming exhibitions include, among others, the Booth Photography Guild Annual Exhibition and “Plein Air Painters of America: 35 Years Outdoors.”
Expect to spend at least two to three hours at the Booth, which has both a gift shop and cafe for sandwiches, salads, burgers and desserts. There are also several excellent restaurants within walking distance of the museum, and, should you decide to make a night of it, interesting places to stay in and around Cartersville. The Booth offers an unusual opportunity: to explore the West, and the South, too.
Set on about 3,000 acres of rolling terrain, the resort, with 150 rooms, suites and one- to seven-bedroom cottages, offers golf, horseback riding, shooting, hiking, shopping and spa services. The ruins of Manor House, a historical Southern estate and elaborate gardens, are on the property, as are three restaurants: the Woodlands Grill, Beer Garden and Rice House. Rates from about $271 per night, plus resort fee of $42 per night, per room.
Red Top Mountain State Park
The state park is located on Lake Allatoona and offers 20 cottages from $200 per night with a two-night minimum, one yurt from $90 per night with a two-night minimum and 93 tent, trailer and RV campsites. State park fee $5 per vehicle, per day. Georgia State Parks annual pass $50.
The inn, a Victorian home built in 1893, is the centerpiece of a 16-acre farm where horses graze. Adjacent to Allatoona Pass Battlefield and Lake Allatoona, the inn has wraparound porches, private decks and private baths. Walking trails are nearby. Open Thursday to Sunday. Rates from $115 per night, per couple. Additional guests $25 per night.
Within walking distance of the Booth, the restaurant's Southern-style entrees include seafood, chicken and beef. The portobello mushroom appetizer stuns with its rich flavor, and the Smoky Mountain trout and creamy shrimp and grits are also standouts. It's often crowded but worth the wait, and you're serenaded by Appalachian music as you dine. No reservations. Open Tuesday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday until 9 p.m. and Saturday noon to 9 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday. Entrees from $14.95.
This restaurant's shrimp-and-grits dish was honored as "100 Plates Locals Love" by Georgia Eats, published by Georgia Tourism. Entrees include prime rib and fish and chips, with a focus on freshness. Seafood is sourced from sustainable fisheries. (Try the lobster ravioli.) Open Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday until 8 p.m. Lunch entrees from $8, dinner entrees from $12, Sunday brunch entrees from $9.
Think of this restaurant as Northern California wine country coming to Cartersville, with entrees inspired by French, Italian and Mediterranean flavors. Try the crab-stuffed grouper, followed by the chocolate mousse tartlet with raspberries for dessert. It's also known for its charcuterie boards. Open Tuesday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday until 10 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday. Salad, soups and sandwiches for lunch from $14. Dinner entrees from $26.
The museum, about a one-hour drive north of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, features contemporary Western artwork, a presidential gallery, a Civil War art gallery and an interactive children's gallery. Exhibitions change regularly. Virtual tours available online. Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday until 8 p.m.; Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. Closed Monday. Admission $13 per adult, $11 seniors 65 and over, children 12 and under free, $10 students. Active military free with identification.
PLEASE NOTE: Potential travelers should take local and national public health directives regarding the pandemic into consideration before planning any trips. Travel health notice information can be found on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's interactive map showing travel recommendations by destination and the CDC's travel health notice webpage.
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