About Midway Museum

The Midway Historic District includes the 1792 Midway Church, its 2-acre cemetery filled with the graves of Revolutionary War patriots and other historically significant figures, and the Midway Museum, built in 1959 to tell the story of early Midway and Liberty County, Georgia. 

Photo Credit: Liberty County CVB

The Museum is a reproduction of an 18th century plantation cottage — raised due to the high water table — and is typical of early homes in Georgia. The style is often called Plantation Plain. The architect, Thomas G. Little, had previously worked at Colonial Williamsburg and used his experience there to reproduce the style of a typical colonial home. The building resembles an Inn in Riceboro where stage coaches often stopped. 

The Museum is set up as an early 18th-century home would have been, and contains original furnishings, artwork, documents, jewelry, clothing, and artifacts. 

The Museum was built in 1959 through the efforts of a group of women, many of them descendants of the Midway Church members, along with the St. Johns Parish Chapter of the Daughters of American Colonists and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The State of Georgia matched the funds, and operated the Museum, but decided to close it in 1980 and divide the artifacts among other Georgia sites. 

A joint effort among the people of Midway, Liberty County, and the State of Georgia resulted in the Museum being turned over to a Board of Governors instead, and it has been operated privately since then. It is a non-profit organization that receives no County, State or Federal funding, and survives only through the generosity of donors, plus the revenues from tours, special events, the gift shop, and event rentals.

Since its founding, the Museum has been supported by the descendants of the Midway Church members, who have provided 18th- and 19th-century family heirlooms, documents, books, genealogical lineages, and furnishings. Many Midway Church descendants still live in Liberty County and coastal Georgia, serve on the Board of Governors, and visit during the Midway Church’s annual Homecoming. The combining of these family stories with the tales of the many descendants who have contributed richly to U.S. history makes visiting the Museum a unique experience. 

 

Photo Credit: Liberty County CVB