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A new hope for a historical hospital

Heather Hacker/Alamy A new hope for a historical hospital (Credit: Heather Hacker/Alamy)Heather Hacker/Alamy
A new hope for a historical hospital (Credit: Heather Hacker/Alamy)

This half-abandoned US asylum was once one of the largest psychiatric hospitals in the world. Now, a new tour is hoping to show visitors how far we've come in treating mental illness.

Locatated about 100 miles south-west of Atlanta, the small enclave of Milledgeville, Georgia is one of the state's oldest cities. But beyond its family-friend Main Street, old-timey trolley tours and antebellum-era mansion from the days when Milledgeville served as the state capital, this seemingly quaint city holds a dark secret.

Just a few miles from Milledgeville's historical downtown, the hulking, half-abandoned remains of the Central State Hospital serve as a grim reminder that this out-of-the-way outpost once housed one of the world's largest psychiatric hospitals. Now, a new tour is hoping to show just how far we've come in treating mental illness, and offer a sense of closure for the many local residents whose family members either worked at or were residents of the institution.

It was once one of the world's largest mental asylums

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