Cartersville Arts, Theatre and Museums
The Grand Theatre has been a centerpiece of cultural arts in Cartersville ever since it was reopened in 1929 after a fire had destroyed the original building in 1923. Over 40,000 people each year participate in a wide range of artistic events and programs that are presented by various local performing arts organizations at the Grand Theatre, which also sponsors educational programs in the schools and a summer camp for theater students. The Grand Theatre is located at 7 N. Wall Street in Cartersville, (770) 386-7343. Cartersville also has another performing arts venue, the Legion Theatre at 114 W. Main Street, (770) 387-2610.
The Legion Theatre is a classic example of Art Deco architecture and it is home to the Pumphouse Players who present 7 full productions each year. The Pumphouse players have been entertaining audiences in Cartersville for over 30 years.
Several very interesting museums are in Cartersville
The Booth Western Art Museum at 501 Museum Drive, (770) 387-1300, contains 80,000 sq. ft. filled with Contemporary Western American artwork. In addition to over 200 paintings and sculptures by more than 100 of the finest 20th century Western artists, the museum also contains a collection of Presidential letters and portraits, a Civil War gallery, and a children’s gallery with many interactive and educational exhibits related to art and Western American culture. Many lectures, artist's discussions, roundtable panels and film screenings are held in the museum’s 140-seat presentation theater, and there is a 50-seat multimedia room where orientation films related to specific artists and exhibits are shown.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Rose Lawn Museum is a beautifully restored Victorian mansion that was home to evangelist Samuel Porter Jones. In addition to the writings and memorabilia of Samuel Jones, the museum also contains exhibits dedicated to Rebecca Latimer Felton, a Bartow County resident who became the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate in 1922. The Rose Lawn Museum is situated on 3 acres of landscaped property with a rose garden, a carriage house, a coachman's quarters and an old schoolhouse. An excellent time to visit the Rose Lawn Museum at 224 W. Cherokee Avenue, (770) 387-5162, is during the Annual Arts Festival in September when various original works of art and heritage crafts from the Southeast are exhibited and judged on the basis of quality and originality.
Cartersville’s newest museum
On July 31, 2007, the Weinman Mineral Museum in Cartersville was closed to make room for a much larger facility named Tellus: Northwest Georgia Science Museum. The new museum at 100 Tellus Museum Drive, (770) 386-0576, occupies more than 120,000 sq. ft. of space containing galleries devoted to fossils, minerals, transportation technology and hands-on, interactive science experiences. The Weinman Mineral Gallery contains over 4,000 rocks, gems and minerals, the Fossil Gallery features Stan, a 40-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex along with other dinosaurs and fossils, the 120-seat digital Planetarium shows a variety of entertaining and educational astronomy programs, and the Science of Motion exhibits enable visitors to re-live major developments in science and technology related to automobiles, airplanes and space travel. The museum also contains a 200-seat presentation theater, a large multi-purpose room for events, four well-equipped science labs, and an orientation theater.