Historic Westville executive director leaves in midst of move from Lumpkin to Columbus

Leo Goodsell no longer is the executive director of Historic Westville, the living history village now moving its buildings from Lumpkin, Ga., to the Oxbow Meadows area off South Lumpkin Road.

The organization announced Tuesday that Goodsell “has left to pursue other opportunities” and it “wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.”

Westville’s Executive Board Chair Tripp Blankenship will serve as interim director as the board searches for a new museum director.

In a telephone interview, Blankenship said Goodsell left the organization Friday. His departure should not affect the ongoing move, which is proceeding as planned, despite some delays in obtaining permits for transporting buildings.

Eight of 19 structures to be transferred in the project’s first phase are on the Columbus site, with more “loaded and ready to go,” Blankenship said.

Former Columbus Mayor Bob Poydasheff, who chairs Westville’s executive committee, echoed that: “Everything is continuing on,” he said. “That I can absolutely attest to.”

Blankenship said the board will seek a new, permanent executive director, but it had not decided whether to consult an executive search firm.

The village of Westville opened in 1966. Its collection of historic buildings includes nearly three dozen structures now being relocated from around 80 acres in Lumpkin to about 35 acres in Columbus near the National Infantry Museum. The move funded by a capital campaign was expected to cost $9.5 million.

Developed in four phases, Historic Westville in Columbus is to include the traditional 1850s-era village, a Creek Indian settlement, a rural plantation farm, a frontier settlement, and an interpretive center. It is to open here in 2018.

Back in May, Columbus Council voted to spend $271,500 to help build a parking lot and to install lights on South Lumpkin Road for the Westville project.

Columbus Community Investment Director Laura Johnson told council the parking lot would be on property the city owns, and open to the public, both for Westville a nearby walking trail.

Westville is to help pay for the parking lot, for which the total cost was estimated at about $600,000.

The city will pay the power bill for the lights, estimated at around $220 monthly.

The expenditures were in an amended memorandum of agreement with Historic Westville Inc. that extended the timeframe to begin normal operations of the living history museum, as well as a lease agreement for a city building on the South Lumpkin Road property. The lease agreement was extended to Aug. 31, 2018.

Tim Chitwood: 706-571-8508, @timchitwoodle

This story was originally published October 17, 2017 at 12:29 PM with the headline "Historic Westville executive director leaves in midst of move from Lumpkin to Columbus."