On November 4, 1834, the general assembly convened in Milledgeville, then Gov. Wilson Lumpkin made a plea on behalf of “the lunatics, idiots, and epileptics.” Georgia legislators passed a bill in 1837 for the creation of a state-operated insane asylum. The Georgia State Lunatic Asylum opened after five years of construction in 1842. Over the years, the campus went through several name changes including; Georgia State Sanitarium, Milledgeville State Hospital, and Central State Hospital.
The first patient was a 30-year-old farmer from Bibb County named Tillman Barnett. He was admitted to the Georgia State Lunatic Asylum in December 1842, chained to a horse-drawn wagon by his wife and family. Barnett was described as violent and destructive. Unfortunately, he died of “maniacal exhaustion” before the following summer. He became the first casualty in the long and dark history of one of the nation’s most notorious institutions.
Care of the patients was based on an “institution as family” model, which asserted that hospitals worked best when they resembled extended families. One of the physicians in charge at the time would eat with patients. He also abolished using chain and rope restraints, allowing them to roam freely. Many of whom were veterans of the Civil War who were unable to be cared for by their families.
By the 1870s, patient to physician ratio was a miserable 112 to 1, a number that would not change for over a century. Black patients were admitted after the Civil War, but were segregated to their own buildings until the 1940s.
The Central State Hospital campus was once the largest insane asylum in the United States, some say even the world. At its peak, there were over 12,000 patients. The campus was its own town with a school, church, fire and police departments by the 1950s. Central State Hospital even had its own power, water, and steam plants.
The prison made up for the jobs that were lost, however the buildings were not efficient as prisons and were eventually shut down. Rivers State Prison held 1,100 medium security inmates and closed in October 2008.
Today, Central State Hospital encompasses 1,750 acres with 200 buildings in various states of decay, including a pecan grove, and historic Cedar Lane Cemetery. In 2010, the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Development Disabilities announced the hospital would no longer be accepting new patients, and portions of the facility would be closed. As of 2016, the facility offered short-stay acute treatment for people with mental illness, residential units, and programs for people with developmental disabilities. Several hundred employees still work at Central State Hospital, and 21 patients remain in their court-ordered care.
Milledgeville served as Georgia’s capital from 1804 to 1868. Much of the countryside was developed by slave labor for cotton plantations, which was the major commodity crop of the South. Skilled black carpenters, masons, and laborers were forced to construct most of the magnificent antebellum homes in Milledgeville.
Milledgeville is home to dozens of historic homes. Some have been restored while others are still waiting on their turn. Many of these antebellum homes were constructed in the mid to late 1800s. A portion of the town known as the Milledgeville Historic District was formed and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
It’s sad to see these old antebellum mansions abandoned and falling apart. I’m glad to hear the Rockwell is being renovated. So much history, if these walls could talk…
Great photos.
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Really cool piece! (Saw your post in the community pool) There was an abandoned asylum not too far from where I grew up that I and others visited many times in our teen years. There is definitely a unique appeal and draw to those kinds of places.
-John
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Fascinating text and beautiful pictures. Very atmospheric. Looking forward to working my way through your earlier posts.
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Nice piece…I need to ask my sister-in-law if she know about this place. She grew up in Milledgeville and she and my brother married in the historic district.
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The Rockwell Mansion has been partially restored, and is on the market for $350, 000. I grew up in Milledgeville, now live in Atlanta, so that price seems like a steal.
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It’s a steal, but you have to have VERY deep pockets to restore them as they should be done. No mass produced overseas crap can be used and real craftsmen should be doing it.
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Thanks for this post. I’ve been to Milledgeville many times through the years and have always heard stories of the mental hospital but have never seen it.
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I’ve actually seen all these buildings myself while i was at a military school in Baland circle which is the entrance to the lunatic asylum . We were told that all the abanded prisons and hospitals, and mansions were haunted
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Maybe. There’s no telling.
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I was in Rivers state prison 2006 and some of 2007 and yes there was something there other than us inmates.
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Tell us about what you experienced.
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After I initially left a comment I seem to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I receive four emails with the exact same
comment. Perhaps there is a way you can remove me from that service?
Cheers!
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I can’t remove you but you may be able to unsubscribe in the emails. Sorry about the confusion.
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I graduated from Georgia College in 1990. Part of my teaching degree was to log so many hours at Central State. I could not tell the staff from the insane. I even played checkers with a man that had killed his brother. I will never forget going there…
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The reason I have family in Milledgeville is a few decades ago, on my mom’s side we had somebody who got shorted on their paycheck and took an axe to the boss’ house, broke down the door and killed him with said axe. He was sent to Milledgeville Asylum. Even after being deemed fit to leave, he chose to stay as a janitor there, as he was afraid he’d kill again. It’s neat to actually see it.
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Wow, what a story. Thank you for sharing.
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