Forget? Not us:

Past Times preserves region’s history.

HISTORY resurfaces today in historic Greater Rome … about the only day of the year when it has lately made much of an appearance.

That’s because a free copy of Past Times magazine, this publishing company’s annual magazine devoted to the days gone by of Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama, is being distributed today to all home-delivered subscribers, as it has been since 1989. This year’s edition is titled “The Road to Secession” and is the first in a series that will help mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, also known as the War Between the States in this vicinity.

Subscribers to our several other area newspapers will be getting their copies on Tuesday or Wednesday and non- subscribers can purchase copies at any of New Publishing Company’s offices or by mail order.

We’re delighted to continue this well- received tradition in this history- rich region while continuing to wonder why such a remarkable past remains so difficult to observe, not only in the daily life of residents but also as an attraction to visitors. Many of our area communities dote on calling themselves “historic” yet in Rome, in particular, any such evidence is difficult to detect. What is touted, like the Victorian architecture downtown, isn’t about real historical happenings at all.

What should amaze is how much significant history happened in this place to which this area’s residents of those times were not simply spectators but active participants in notable events.

EVEN SKIPPING the times when our geography was at the bottom of the ocean and home to aquatic dinosaurs, such would include the region being home to America’s first settlers including the mysterious Mound Builders, that Spanish explorers were the first tourists from Europe, the birth and then exile at gunpoint of the Cherokee Nation, the War Between the States and much, much more. There have now been 24 issues of Past Times and there remains a long, long list of future topics for the staff to tackle.

There has certainly been an accompanying upsurge of interest in the past among today’s residents since our reports began. The citizen creation of the Rome Area History Museum is just one of several examples – and even new information added to common lore, such as our reawakening of residents to the fact that Rome and not Atlanta was the first city burned in Gen. William T. Sherman’s infamous March to the Sea, to the recent uncovering of a two- story, Cherokee era cabin/stagecoach stop in Cave Spring.

However, for almost a quarter of century now there has been no government-led effort to make an incredibly rich history an in- your- face part of everyday life and the tourist experience. Generally speaking, there’s not much of all this history to see unless visiting a small museum or touring Myrtle Hill Cemetery. What state historical markers there are tend to not even be in the correct locations. Some of the unique aspects such as the capture of the Yankee “Mule Brigade” are not highlighted at all. Other than a few place names and the inside of Chieftains Museum, there is zero in sight of anything Cherokee. Key monuments and statuary once visibly displayed have been relocated to a graveyard.

BACK IN 2008, with a worldwide influx of Civil War tourism expected, this space laid out a detailed plan to easily, and at quite little cost, offer a downtown concentration of 1860- 65 reminders that could pull visitors ( and dollars) off the state’s very poorly selected official “Civil War routes.” Rome isn’t even on those though far more occurred here than in many of the cited locations that tend to be along interstates not even then existing. Another price of the U.S. 411 Connector not having been accomplished, one supposes.

Reviewing that list the other day, it was saddening to find not a thing had been done. Other than some nice under-attended lectures and a brief visit by South Carolina re-enactors who brought their original, made-in-Rome Noble cannon to town for a noisy demonstration ( the city still hasn’t acquired one of those), nothing. Some neighboring newspapers are reporting busloads of tourists coming for events and exhibitions and staying overnight, no doubt dining and shopping as well.

Meanwhile, in the Rome that a Yankee general called “the best fortified place in Dixie” the relatively untouched Fort Norton site ( on the National Register of Historic Places) remains unrestored. No daily cannon firings to pull in visitors, as this paper suggested. No pictorial recreation at the Second Avenue bridge of the day Romans piled up cotton bales and put stove pipes on the barricade to look like cannon to deter advancing Yankees, no public imagery to show what Rome looked like before Sherman burned it ( a 1864 downtown panoramic photo exists), no statue honoring the sacrifices of Confederate women (only one in the nation) returned to its former site on Broad Street … and so forth.

And perhaps the greatest oversight of all: Nothing about the thousands of Georgians and Alabamians who rushed to enlist … and the hundreds of them who never returned. Veterans Memorial Plaza has no such honor roll even though sensitivity to political correctness itself now seems outdated for such a huge toll.

MOST OF THEM went off to fight with Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army in Virginia. On this very day in 1862 — Aug. 26 — they were maneuvering into position to catch a Yankee army unawares at what was to become the Battle of Manassas (Second Bull Run).

The very first Past Times in 1989 was intended to be a onetime thing in connection with a huge Civil War re-enactment event at Barnsley Gardens and limited to Sherman’s campaign to capture Atlanta. The series beginning today will encompass what happened to this region’s combatants elsewhere as well as to the civilians and troops on the homefront.

So, once a year and for however long it takes readers to absorb the material, this region’s history will not fade from sight.

Nonetheless, the larger issue remains not only as regards the Civil War but all the many, many unique events — and personalities in arts, letters, sciences and more — that remain concealed from everyday view and contribute not nearly as much as they could to this entire region’s visibility.

Our intention is to continue to both remind the community about its remarkable rich and unusual heritage along with emphasizing its value to a unique lifestyle/environment that is highly prized by residents.

I T ’ S T I M E l o c a l governments and public officials seriously started doing the same.