Econo Lodge Valdosta - Valdosta (Georgia), USA - Amazing place!
Econo Lodge Valdosta - Special price! -
The Econo Lodge, a Valdosta hotel near Valdosta State University in Valdosta, GA.This pet-friendly hotel features a seasonal outdoor pool.
It is conveniently located off Interstate 75, less than 10 miles from Georgia Military College and Moody Air Force Base. This Valdosta, GA hotel is near area attractions like Valdosta State University, Martin Stadium and Valdosta Technical College. The Valdosta Regional Airport, the Crescent House, Remerton Village and Wild Adventures are also nearby. The hotel offers free local shuttle service.
The Okefenokee Swamp is 40 miles from the hotel. A variety of restaurants and cocktail lounges are located in the surrounding area.
Guests of this Valdosta, GA hotel will enjoy many amenities, including free continental breakfast and free local calls. Business travelers will appreciate modern conveniences like free high-speed Internet access in all rooms.
All spacious guest rooms include voice mail, irons, ironing boards and cable television. In addition, some rooms also come equipped with refrigerators and microwaves. Extended stay rooms with kitchenettes are available. Handicap accessible and non-smoking rooms are also available.
The Civil Wars Most Famous Locomotive the General from the Great Locomotive Chase.
The General is a type 4-4-0 steam locomotive that was the subject of the Great Locomotive Chase of the American Civil War. The locomotive is preserved at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1855 by Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor in Paterson, New Jersey,[2] The General provided freight and passenger service between Atlanta, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, before the Civil War on the Western and Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia and later, the Western and Atlantic Railroad Company. During the Civil War on April 12, 1862, The General was commandeered by Northerners led by James J. Andrews at Big Shanty (now Kennesaw, Georgia), and abandoned north of Ringgold, after being pursued by William Allen Fuller and the Texas. Low on water and wood, the General eventually lost steam pressure and speed, and slowed to a halt two miles north of Ringgold, where Andrews and his raiders abandoned the locomotive and tried to flee.
Later, the General narrowly escaped destruction when General John Bell Hood ordered the ordnance depot destroyed as he left Atlanta on September 1, 1864. However, the engine was severely damaged by being run into boxcars of ammunition and the Missouri locomotive. This was done deliberately so as to render the engine unusable for the approaching Union forces. It is quite likely that, after the engine was damaged, it was left as such for the remainder of the war. The United States Military Railroad Service had many new or like-new engines, so they had no need to restore captured ones such as the General. The USMRR had often left the damaged equipment of a captured railroad undisturbed, and its records, having listed the General as captured and returned, further suggest such was the case of the General.
After the war ended, the General was repaired and continued service on the Western and Atlantic. In the 1870s, the General was completely rebuilt, it had received a new pilot, boiler, and other components. Most notably, its three dome configuration was reduced to two domes, and its Radley-Hunter style balloon stack was replaced with a diamond stack, as the engine had been converted to burn coal. Indeed, the rebuilt engine had little resemblance to its original form.
Before the Civil War, most railways in the south, including the W&A, did not give their engines numbers. Rather, they were simply named, such as the General. When the railroad began numbering engines after the war, the General was the 39th engine to be acquired by the road, and was numbered accordingly. Locomotives came and went as years progressed, and by 1880, a renumbering was necessary. At this time, the General was given the number 3, being the third oldest engine that the railroad had at the time. The engine continues to carry this number today.[4]
In the mid 1880's, the Atlanta and Florida Railroad began construction. During this time, the W&A had a locomotive surplus after buying several more modern engines, so they leased the General to the A&F from 1887 to 1888 to assist in construction.
The General was retired from service in 1891 and stored on a siding in Vinings, GA where it awaited its final fate. Early the next year, E. Warren Clark, a professional photographer, discovered the engine in Vinings, and approached John W. Thomas, president of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway (which had won the lease on the Western and Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia in 1890), with the proposal of restoring the General for exhibition at the upcoming World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Thomas accepted, and the General was soon taken to the NC&StL Ry Shops at West Nashville to be restored. At this time, the engine was given a Radley-Hunter style balloon stack similar to the engine's original, and was reverted to a wood burner. The engine soon encountered problems involved with burning wood, so it was restored back to a coal burner. The engine was given a unique new stack at this time, one that, while designed for coal burning, was styled like the original so as to give the appearance of a wood burner.
While the engine's display in Chicago was costly, and left Warren Clark broke afterward, it had insured the General's preservation. In 1901, the General was placed on display in the Chattanooga Union Depot. There, it remained on display for nearly fifty years, only being removed for short periods for exhibitions. In particular, the engine was taken to Baltimore in 1927 to participate in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Fair of the Iron Horse, then in 1933 to Chicago's Century of Progress Exhibition, the 1939 New York World's Fair, and finally, the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1948.