Historic Westville is a history museum representing a 19th-century Georgia town in Columbus, Georgia, United States. Westville is a re-creation of a historic village with 17 furnished antebellum buildings. In the future, 14 more will be moved to their new site. The buildings were moved onto the museum site in Columbus to create an authentic village environment. Westville preserves, demonstrates, and interprets the life and culture of 19th century South Georgia. This is accomplished by maintaining an authentic village environment, collecting and preserving artifacts, demonstrating traditional work skills, and workshops and special events. Every day, "townspeople" in period dress demonstrate woodworking, dressmaking, blacksmithing, and other skills from the mid-19th century. Buildings include a courthouse, churches, stores, craft shops, and residences. Westville moved to Columbus, Georgia from Lumpkin, Georgia and re-opened June 22, 2019. Brief history of John Word West The history of Westville is connected to Lt. Col. John Word West, a history professor at North Georgia College in Dahlonega. West was born in 1876 at a critical time of change in Georgia due to dramatic economic and social changes caused by the recent American Civil War (1861–65). Also, the great changes were brought on by the new growth of Atlanta and the subsequent decline of farming. As a child West spent many hours listening to his grandparents talk about the old way of life that was disappearing. West listened intently and absorbed the stories and learned the old skills. Later he would convert those experiences into his own museum where he preserved those stories and old skills. A high school and college teacher, West committed himself and his own money in 1928 to saving "Georgiana" - the buildings, tools, furniture, and work skills of Georgia's settlement. He admired the work of two other Americans who also took history into their own hands: Rockefeller and Ford. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (Standard Oil Company) had started Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia in 1927. Henry Ford (automobile maker) had started Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan in 1928. West engaged both men for advice and may have even traded artifacts with Ford. Then, in 1928 John West opened "The Fair of 1850" on old Highway 41 in Jonesboro, Georgia, about twenty miles south of Atlanta. For West, the Fair was the Deep South version of Williamsburg and Greenfield Village. From 1932 to 1934, he moved the oldest buildings in his collection to the Fair's