Augusta, Georgia: How Childhood Trauma Affected a President

Each person on the planet is the sum total of their experiences.  Your childhood, your parents, your siblings, your school, your friends.  Everyone you meet and everything you do has an effect on who you are.  I don’t know much about President Woodrow Wilson except that he was in office from 1913 until 1921.  So, when I found out that he lived in Augusta, Georgia for a chunk of his childhood and that I could tour his childhood home, I was excited about getting a presidential education.

The house museum is located at 419 Seventh Street and the guided tours are run by Historic Augusta. I found the $5 admission price perfectly reasonable for the tour since it only took 45-60 minutes to see everything.  Thomas Woodrow Wilson lived in this house for 10 years, from 1860-1870.  He was only 4 years old when they moved in and at this point in his life, he was going by the name “Tommy”.  Visitors can see drawings that he did for his parents where the name appears.  One of the most famous details of the house is a window in the “Best Room” (a downstairs bedroom for guests) where he began to scratch his name in the glass with his mother’s diamond.  Since it only says, “Tom” many scholars believe he was caught before finishing.

His father was a presbyterian minister and an appointment to the huge church across the street is what brought the family to town in the first place.  The family began their time in Augusta living in a different home, but the congregation was so pleased with Mr. Wilson’s preaching that they offered him a huge raise and a new home. 

The family lived in the grand home during the Civil War.  The church lawn was used as a temporary outdoor hospital during the war.  Troops from both sides were treated here and young Tommy watched the injured come and go from his front steps.  While no one can know for sure, there are scholars that believe that the trauma of watching the true cost of war in his childhood was a major reason why Wilson was so hesitant to allow America to become embroiled in World War I.

The guided tour was very complete, as visitors are permitted to see both floors of the home, including the parlor, dining room, minister’s study, guest bedroom and all the upstairs bedrooms and dressing areas.  In addition, we visited the separate kitchen building and the servants’ quarters above that.  The family had two paid servants, who were a married couple. Their room above the kitchen was very large for the time period and for their station.  This was proof that an appointment to work for this family was considered an excellent opportunity back then.

Wilson was also the captain of his baseball team, The Lightfoots.  I got a kick out of the list he made for his baseball team.  It showed various transgressions and what the penalties would be if a player committed one.  For example, missing a practice would cost 25 cents and swearing during a game would cost 10 cents.  He certainly showed leadership and organizational skills at an early age!

Since he lived here when he was so young, there is very little focus on his presidential accomplishments or positions on issues.  I did, however, find the peek into daily life of that era very interesting.  For example, the mattresses were feathers and when a person rose in the morning, they would fluff the feathers and redistribute them.  Therefore, Wilson’s sisters had small chaise lounges at the foot of their beds so that if they needed a nap during the day they could lie there and not have to re-fluff the bed mattress again.

If you are in Augusta or perhaps just passing through the area, the boyhood home of President Woodrow Wilson is a nice one-hour diversion. The Historic Augusta organization has done a lovely job of restoring the house, telling the story and training their docents.  Today, there are 13 furniture pieces that actually belonged to the family, and our docent made sure to point those out to us.  It was a unique and worthwhile little history lesson!