National Prisoner of War Museum

Opened in 1998 and run by the National Park Service, the National Prisoner of War Museum is the visitor centre for Andersonville National Historic Site. It is not narrowly about Camp Sumter; instead it tells the broader story of American captivity from the Revolutionary War through Iraq and Afghanistan. Exhibits cover daily life in confinement, escape attempts, the psychology of imprisonment, and the post-war experience of returning home.

The displays are thoughtful and often very moving. The museum is the natural starting point for any visit to Andersonville: pick up an interpretive map and watch the introductory film before driving the loop. Admission is free.

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The museum was designed by architect Donald Stastny to recreate the experience of confinement in a series of constricting spaces. Visitors enter through a barbed-wire arch, pass through low-ceilinged corridors, and emerge into the exhibition hall. Among the artefacts on display is a battered metal cup carried by a prisoner through the Bataan Death March, and the homemade tools fashioned by American airmen in Stalag Luft III who tunneled out in the "Great Escape" of 1944.

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