The significance of being active is frequently emphasized as folks get older and approach retirement. Being an active senior adult has been associated with a lower risk of prolonged sadness and loneliness and an increase in cognitive health, whether this involves going to a restaurant with companions or taking a stroll every morning. Even while all forms of exercise are healthy, recent studies indicate that going to a museum can prolong your life.
There is a wealth of knowledge at museums. They are therefore excellent locations for intellectual stimulation. But today’s museums may provide more than just a straightforward educational excursion. Many institutions now provide programs to encourage seniors to keep active. These initiatives offer opportunities for interaction, engagement, information sharing, and even physical fitness. A varied program of activities is necessary for older individuals since they are not all created equal.
In this article, we will present to you some of the finest museums to explore in Athens, GA, so that you may make the most of your time in your 55+ senior living arrangements.
Georgia Museum of Art
On the University of Georgia grounds in Athens, the Georgia Museum of Art serves as both a scholarly institution and, since the year 1982, the state of Georgia’s designated art museum. The Samuel H. Kress Study Collection includes American paintings and Italian Renaissance paintings mostly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, American, Asian, and European works on paper mediums, as well as developing collections of Asiatic art and southern decorative crafts, make up the permanent archive.
The museum has steadily expanded both in terms of the amount of its collection and the size of its buildings since it was unveiled to the general public in the year 1948 in the cellar of the former library on the university’s storied North Campus. The museum is currently housed in a modern structure in the expanding eastern campus of the university’s Visual and Performing Arts Complex. The permanent inventory of the museum is housed there in 80,000 square feet, which is a significant increase from the original core of 100 artworks donated by the institution’s founding father, Alfred Heber Holbrook.
Crawford W. Long Museum
In Jefferson, Georgia, the Crawford W. Long Museum has educational displays on the life and work of Dr. Crawford W. Long, the surgeon who invented the use of ether for surgical anesthetia on March 30, 1842. You may go through Dr. Long’s life history at The Gallery. From his extraordinary education, through the Reconstruction and Civil War, through his early years as a doctor, and his invention of the first anesthetic.
Visit the location of America’s greatest medical accomplishment and discover how this “country doctor” came to be known as the inventor of painless surgery. The Pendergrass General Store building, constructed in the mid-1800s, shows the evolution of the products that locals in small towns have had access to over time. Home products, the evolution of textiles from hand-spun to “store-bought,” and the growth of canned foods with advancements throughout America’s Industrial Age as well as the advent of marketing are all given special attention.