Paved tour road takes visitors to points of interest at Andersonville Prison, Andersonville National Historic Site

A 1.1-mile paved road that is open to vehicles, bikers, and pedestrians circles the prison at Andersonville National Historic Site. There are eight stops on a tour of the prison, each with a parking lot or roadside pullout. Wayside exhibits provide some information about the importance of each stop, but there is a more detailed audio tour that you can listen to on your cell phone as you drive or walk around the park. Ask a Ranger at the Visitor Center for the URL or scan the QR code (also available at the Visitor Center).

While the only way to see the entire prison site is on your own, Rangers do lead tours that cover a few areas of interest near the Visitor Center. The National Park Service attempts to hold at least one tour each day, but during the week they are often cancelled due to a lack of staff. The best chance of catching one is on the weekends. Furthermore, in the summer tours can be cancelled due to hot weather. Andersonville is not a summertime park, as south Georgia is way too hot for most people. The busiest times of the year are fall, winter, and spring, especially when the retired crowd heads to and from Florida. To see if any tours are scheduled, call the Visitor Center at (229) 924-0343. Guided tours typically last 30 minutes. A self-guided tour of the entire prison site takes an hour.

For those who elect to bike or walk around the prison site, keep in mind that there are two very steep hills. The prison site is a long oval with its center located at the bottom of a ravine. On each side of the oval is a steep downhill and a steep uphill grade. I was able to ride my bike up both by switching to low gear and standing up while peddling, but my 12-year-old daughter had to push her bike up the hill. In truth, unless you are simply looking for exercise, there is no benefit to walking or biking, for there is nothing to see between the tour stop parking areas.