“We have experienced a significant increase in jobs, investment, infrastructure and film induced tourism, making Georgia’s entertainment industries among the state’s fastest growing sectors,” said GDEcD commissioner Chris Cummiskey. “The statewide response has been tremendous from Georgia counties that want to become Camera Ready in order to help bring jobs and investments to their local communities.”

Camera Ready is a designation put in place by the state to offer film and television production companies easier, faster and better access to local resources and information. Cobb CVB CEO Holly Bass is Cobb’s Camera Ready Community designated liaison to assist film and television production companies on a local level.

The 2008 Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act helped the state’s entertainment industry achieve record numbers. The economic impact of production activity increased 440 percent between fiscal years 2007 and 2010, surging to $1.4 billion. Georgia is now among the top five states in the nation for film and TV production with more than 335 productions shot in Georgia in FY2010 bringing in more than $759.3 million in investment to Georgia.

To learn more about Georgia’s Camera Ready Community Program, please visit www.georgia.org/cameraready.

“The Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park is meant to preserve history,” said Kaivon Mortazavi, VP, North America for AEG Power Solutions. “However, in order to preserve historical monuments such as Kennesaw, we must also do our part to preserve the environment. As part of a historically significant company, it was important for all of us at AEG Power Solutions to develop a truly effective sustainable solution to power Kennesaw for future generations.”

The entire rooftop solar system on the Kennesaw Visitor Center consists of 288 modules from Georgia-based panel manufacturer Suniva. AEG PS leveraged its unique power solutions expertise to engineer the PV system to maximize the output. In order to account for the visitor center roof’s differing height and pitch throughout the surface area, AEG PS designed the PV panel placement to maximize long-term sun exposure and minimize shading effects.

“The National Park Service and Kennesaw Mountain officials recognized the importance of being able to maximize the output of their renewable energy installation and we couldn’t have been happier that they asked us to design, engineer and install a system that could achieve all of their goals,” said Mortazavi. “Taking the proper steps and making the right design decisions when creating a solar system is crucial to maximizing your return on investment as well as proving that solar is a viable alternative energy platform.”

In addition to installing a new solar system, AEG PS retrofit LED lighting throughout the visitor center. The LED lighting will help the national park cut costs by lowering the power consumption. In addition, because the lamps were retrofit, AEG PS was able to minimize installation hard costs by preserving the existing lighting fixtures. On average, LED lighting consumes less than half the power than that of traditional fluorescent lights and can last up to 60,000 hours (more than six times the lifespan of traditional fluorescent lighting).

“Our technical knowledge of renewable power solutions and our ability to apply that to what Kennesaw Mountain officials were trying to achieve is what helped us stand out,” said Walt Marusak, senior project manager, AEG Power Solutions. “In the end, we were able to create an incredibly efficient and effective sustainable infrastructure and reduce the center’s environmental impact while allowing them to take full advantage of their investment. It was a great collaborative effort and we can’t wait to watch their electric usage decline while their energy generation soars.”

The installation was featured in a presentation for National Park Service facility managers on November 18 which allowed them to see the installation first-hand as well as learn more about the projected results. Due to having one of the highest visitor counts of all Civil War-related national parks in the United States, Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park will serve as a demonstration for future renewable energy implementations in other national parks across the United States.

For additional information please visit http://www.aegps.com/solar.

“At first glance, this might appear to be just another assortment of artifacts, typical of the weapons, clothing, and equipment issued to a Union soldier during the Civil War. But look closer. What makes these items unique is they all belonged to one man, Private Levi Gilpin of the 51st Ohio Infantry.

Civil War Soldier and Kennesaw Mountain Battle Veteran
Levi Gilpin

Private Gilpin was shot in his right arm, just above the elbow, during a skirmish near Kennesaw Mountain on June 20, 1864. It was what soldiers call “a million dollar wound,” not life-threatening, but serious enough to let him sit out the rest of the war.

But what Private Gilpin did during the war was not nearly as important as what he did afterward. When he went home in 1865, he took his four-button blue sack coat with him, a patch on the sleeve covering the hole where the bullet had gone through his arm. He also kept the sky blue trousers he wore, his forage cap, and the heavy leather brogans that had carried him across miles of Georgia red clay and mud. Then there were his personal effects – the toothbrush, sewing kit, a pair of dice, and a plug of tobacco – an intimate and important part of every soldier’s load. At one time, these items were quite common. Now, a century and a half later, the relentless ravages of rust, rot, and neglect have made most of them extraordinarily rare.

A uniform, a complete set of accoutrements, and a rifle that can be identified with a single soldier on a specific date are not just unique; they are a veritable time capsule. These artifacts Private Gilpin so carefully preserved give Civil War historians and even the casually curious an unparalleled, up-close snapshot of what a Union foot soldier actually looked like during the Atlanta campaign. There is not a collection like this – the complete outfit of an identified Union infantryman – anywhere in the country. The opportunity to acquire anything like it will never come again.

It is nothing short of miraculous the artifacts in this collection were not dispersed and sold off separately many years ago. Private Gilpin obviously kept these items together because he thought they were important. Now it is important to protect and preserve this priceless legacy he left us, to see that these simple tools of a soldier’s trade – the blue uniform stained with his sweat and blood, the rifle and bayonet he used in battle, the ammunition he carried in his cartridge box, the utensils he ate with, the canteen he drank from, the blanket he slept under, and even remnants of the rations he carried in his haversack – find a fitting and proper home.

There is simply no better place for these treasures than the museum Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. Only at Kennesaw can this one-of-a-kind collection be placed in its proper context and given the care and conservation it needs to preserve it for future generations. Only there can these silent but eloquent pieces of the past fulfill the destiny Private Gilpin must have had in mind when he set them aside – to help tell the extraordinary story of an ordinary Union soldier, and thousands like him, who fought the battles around Atlanta that helped determine America’s destiny. ”

Written by David Evans. David Evans of Athens is an author of Civil War books , including Sherman’s Horsemen: Union Calvary Operations in the Atlanta Campaign.

The Gilpin Collection

The collection is currently in private hands, but the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield Park plans to acquire the thirty item collection and make it the centerpiece of the park museum. Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Museum curator Retha Stephens recently announced that the park has negotiated an agreement with the owner in which the park will purchase the collection in increments as funding becomes available. The current owner has also agreed to loan the entire collection to the park, however the collection will not go on display in the museum until it has been purchased in its entirety. At that time the collection will go to the National Park Service conservation facility in Harpers Ferry, WV for treatment, then be returned to Kennesaw to go on exhibit.

The sooner the entire collection is purchased, the sooner the public can view it. An ambitious fund raising drive has begun to raise the needed $170,000 and a special account has been set up to fund just this purchase.

If you would like to make a contribution, your support would be greatly appreciated. Checks can be made payable to “Kennesaw Mountain NBP” and sent to:

Kennesaw Mountain NBP
ATTN; Retha Stephens
900 Kennesaw Mountain Drive
Kennesaw, GA. 30152. We certainly appreciate your support.

For more information, please call Retha Stephens at the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park at:
(770) 427-4686.

Levi Gilpin Collection Inventory List:

• Four button blouse (sack coat) with bullet holes (one entry – one exit, field patched) in upper right sleeve.
• One pair of regulation enlisted man’s sky-blue wool trousers.
• Regulation issue enlisted man’s forage cap.
• One pair high top socks.
• One pair Brogans.
• Model 1858 smooth sided canteen with cover and sling.
• Waist belt and U.S. oval belt buckle, cap box and bayonet scabbard. Scabbard is stamped “Ohio.”
• .577 caliber Enfield rifle with sling and socket bayonet.
• Cartridge box complete with sling, eagle breast plate, U.S. oval box plate and cartridge tins (tins contain 30 original rounds – 2 unopened packs of ten rounds each and 10 rounds in top of tin. Sling is stamped “Ohio.”
• Regulation issue tin cup.
• 9 inch diameter pewter plate.
• Tarred canvas haversack that contained the following contents:
1. Tintype photo of woman (wife – girlfriend) in octagon shaped thermoplastic case.
2. One complete – unbroken hard cracker
3. Numerous pieces of broken crackers
4. Coffee beans (8-10)
5. Cloth “housewife” with needles and several bone buttons.
6. Minieball carved into chess piece or fishing sinker.
7. Pair of bone dice.
8. Toothbrush
9. Unknown piece of cotton duck.
10. Unknown piece of material (maybe hemp).
11. Ladies hatpin made with South Carolina button.
12. Piece of yellow wool (unknown use).
13. Tin spoon.
14. Three tine fork.
15. Plug of tobacco.
• Wood handled side knife.
• Ornate hand carved 26″ x 30″ oak frame with 15″ x 20″ picture of Gilpin on his 35th birthday. His name, company and regiment are handwritten directly below the picture and his military history is handwritten on the wooden board on the back of the frame.
• An original handwritten letter by Levi Gilpin describing the jacket and his wound at Kennesaw Mountain written in 1929.
• CDV of Gilpin in uniform.
• Modern 10″ x 14″ color photo (mounted on foam core and laminated) of Gilpin’s gravesite in Portland, Indiana.

PRESS RELEASE
June 10, 2009
For Immediate Release

Important Tax Information

Eliminated State Grant Increases Homeowners’ Property Tax
The Homeowner’s Tax Relief Grant enacted by the Georgia General Assembly was not funded in the 2009 State budget, resulting in an increase for homeowners’ 2009 property tax bills. This amount was paid previously on the property owner’s behalf by the state and is not a City of Kennesaw tax increase.

The result is the City of Kennesaw tax bill in 2009 and 2010 will increase by $64. If your taxes are paid from an escrow account through your mortgage lender, you may want to notify them so the escrow payment amount can be adjusted accordingly.

In 1999, the governor and General Assembly appropriated the grant to counties, cities and schools, giving tax relief to homeowners in the form of a tax bill credit. According to legislation passed this year (House Bill 143), the grant will only be made available in the future if state revenues grow at least 3 percent plus the rate of inflation.

For more information, contact Christy Huiel, the City’s property tax administrator, at 770-424-8274 or email her at chuiel@kennesaw-ga.gov.

The CBS reality show “There Goes the Neighborhood” features eight Kennesaw families competing for a $250,000 grand prize. The show, filmed in the Legacy Park neighborhood in Kennesaw, is part of the CBS summer lineup. Tune in to CBS to see what happened – Sundays at 9 on CBS.

In what promises to be the ultimate social and family bonding experiment, the actual homes will be cut off from the outside world as it becomes family vs. family in a competition to win upgrades for their lives and their homes. With virtually no electricity and no ability to text-message, watch television or surf the internet, these families will be forced to reconnect and work together as a team. For the duration of the competition, the eight homes will be surrounded by the daunting 20-foot wall with no way in or out. The families will compete against their neighbors in the game, with one family eliminated each week, until the victorious group remains to claim the $250,000 grand prize.
(source)

Filming has wrapped, lawns have been repaired, and things appear to be back to normal in this Kennesaw neighborhood. Here are some pictures from our previous article about this new CBS reality show filmed in Kennesaw.