The Gold Dome

Since I have worked for over forty years in easy walking distance from the Georgia State Capitol Building's dramatic gold dome, it struck me this fine afternoon that I ought to take a picture of it.

Then of course it is probably not surprising that I took several.

The gold for the dome was donated by the citizens of Dahlonega and Lumpkin county, the site of the nation's first gold rush 129 years earlier. On August 4, 1958, a caravan of seven mule-drawn covered wagons left Dahlonega to bring the gold to Atlanta. Thereafter, the gold was sent to Philadelphia, where it was milled into gold leaf 1/5,000th of an inch thick, or about the thickness of a piece of tinfoil used to wrap chewing gum.

The Capitol with its dome is surrounded by large trees, which give it a nice setting among the square corners of nearby buildings.

The gold covering deteriorated and was replaced between 1979 and 1981. I remember watching the process as I drove to Georgia State.

I used to see the Capitol from this perspective often when I would walk down to the Department of Transportation to have lunch with Jerry Stargel when he was Public Information Officer for the DOT.

Another unique view of the Capitol is that with the commanding statue of Senator Richard Russell on the front grounds. There is also a statue of Senator Russell in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building just a few blocks to the west of the Capitol.

Richard Russell (1897-1971) served briefly as Governor of Georgia before serving in the United States Senate for 40 years from 1933 until his death in 1971.