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 Testimonials


Dagmar Nelson

From American Legion Post 20: We at Post 20 discussed the Legion Pool dilemma this evening at our meeting. Our post was the original builders of the pool and as our history holds we donated the pool to UGA to be a community pool. We would just like to share with you, our support in keeping this nearly 100 year old part of Athens alive and well. We think it would be a very sad day if the pool that our past membership built and eventually donated closed. Thank you for your activism in this matter. Some of our current membership plans to attend public hearing(s). Please let us know of any developments.

Legion Pool is a community resource worth saving. As much as any single place, it is the physical embodiment of the town-gown relationship between the University and Athens. Increasingly, that relationship is being damaged by an acquisitiveness that does not value Athens' historic structures (e.g. Rutherford Hall and Waddell Street cottages) and neighborhoods (e.g., driving fraternities off campus into historic districts). For the first time in memory, I am hearing UGA spoken of as a negative force in the community. No doubt, the current administration thinks that once the bulldozers have done their work, this flap will subside with no lasting harm to the relationship. But those at UGA whose task it will be to work with the community after the current president has departed should keep in mind that, as Athens grows and diversifies, UGA may not always be the only game in town, and may need the goodwill of those whom it so often now, it seems, disregards.

location location. i swim there after to work to cool off on hot summer days. one can easily bike and walk there and they do. one can even do a midday work out, and benefit from their showers, scarce few on campus and definitely scarce on north campus. lovely setting to boot with SHADE even.

In an eclectic and transient town such as Athens, one needs to be accepting of change, used to things coming and going.  It's part of the embrace.  I've learned to remain malleable.  I've been forced to say goodbye to as many friends as I have made.  It's part of the price of admission to becoming and remaining a "local".  And while I've known what it takes and been eager to do so, there is something to be said for things constant.  There are a few things that make the ever-evolving nature of our beautiful town special.

Being a member of the Athens community means we have made a choice to live in a town made up largely of college students and all that comes with it.  But while the town of Athens was built around the University and is reliant on all that it brings, what does it mean for the people that call themselves Athenians?  There needs to be a way to keep the young and restless safe from boredom.  For nearly a century Legion Pool has provided that outlet. 

Since coming to Athens as a freshman in the fall of 1985, I have been a part of Legion Pool, which in turn has also become a part of me.  As I became a mother this remained true for my family as well.  The ways we have found to build roots and community and possession help our continued embrace and enthusiasm to the parts we know simply can't remain the same.  The gift that the University has supported in Legion Pool has brought about far more than a cool dip on a hot summer day.  It is a true merging rather than delineation between the University of Georgia and the city of Athens.  It is a place to talk about the school year while escaping the school year at the same time.  It provides a means for the University to say "It is us that keeps you afloat," and for us to return, "Thank you for all that you bring."

I grew up in a town in Texas with no local community pools. The only pools available were either privately owned club pools or pools that were simply too small to accommodate the community. We would've done anything to have a pool so beautiful, magnificent, and useful as Legion Pool. Learning to swim is a potentially life saving experience that every child and/or person should acquire. It would be a monumental disservice for the community and the students of the university if this pool is destroyed.

The pool not only is a historical landmark which should be preserved for future generations, but it was a central part of our family's summer venue for several years. All of our five children spent wonderful summer hours swimming and playing at the pool. Destruction of the pool with the flabbly excuse of maintenance costs is beyond my powers of understanding. Moreover, excusing destruction under the guise of building one elsewhere defies credibility.

When my daughter was five, we learned to make a mermaid tail on YouTube. She swam in it all summer at Legion. It was a thing of beauty, and one of my nicest memories of the pool.

Cynthia Myers and Abigail Holbrook's daughter, Susannah LOVE legion pool! Please don't tear down our cool summer entertainment! Cynthia travels from Tallahassee every summer to swim in Legion. Susannah lives in Athens and love the BIG pool!

I learned to swim there in 1960 or 61 as a 5 or 6 year old. For the last ten years or so that my family has been to Legion Pool, we also have enjoyed ourselves greatly. In these ten years, it has been evident to me that Legion's days were numbered. That is prime real estate that the UGA planners and administration want to build on. It was only a matter of time. It's been in the plans for years. I trust the problems are as bad as they say. I truly object to the idea of replacing Legion with a pool half the size. The 8 or so lap lanes are full much of the time and both shallow ends are full or near. Why would half of what we have now be a good thing?

 Swimming at Legion Pool every summer is what keeps me sane not only in the summer, but all year! As a lap swimmer, I would be happy with a new facility, but as an advocate for historic preservation and respect for tradition, I would prefer Legion Pool to be renovated and expanded into Legion field. What a nice oasis this could be. Unfortunately, it IS prime real estate in a very congested area. Traffic and parking limitations, especially once fall semester starts, are problematic and would probably prevent for Legion Pool to ever be open outside of Summer semester, which is a shame here in the hot South. But extended hours, if only on weekends, would be wonderful!

 My kids learned to swim there and now spend all summer at Legion Pool. Their pediatrician recently told my son that he learned to swim at Legion Pool. What a great legacy to give to the future kids and families of Athens.

 It is a wonderful place to spend the summer with the kids! I cannot imagine Athens without it.

 Legion Pool is a great facility. Great staff, clean and safe. The area surrounding and under the pool has several creeks and under ground water sources that make it potentially unsuitable for any kind of structure that requires a foundation. Don't pave paradise to put up a parking lot!

 SAVE LEGION POOL. It is more than just a pool, it is a vital and thriving spot in our community where those connected to the university and many times the neighborhoods can connect not to mention cooling off.

 both my children learned to swim at legion pool more than 25 years ago. it was and is a wonderful community facility. that uga's empire building would destroy this facility--contrary to the public interest--is additional evidence that uga needs more hands on control to benefit the taxpayers. stop the destruction!!

 I've been swimming laps at Legion Pool in the summers ever since I graduated from UGA. There's no place like it. I prefer it to the newer and larger Ramsey Center indoor pool. It appears that the motivation for Legion's demolition and moving the pool to Lake Herrick is to revive activity at Lake Herrick, which is currently dead. But simply building a pool there will not accomplish that. Legion Pool is in a perfect central location at UGA and in Athens. In addition to being a historic landmark, it provides a uniquely vital function for families in Athens. It could provide this function also for UGA, as it has in the past, if its gates were open for use sooner in the spring and later in summer, when students are here and can use it, as they have in the past. UGA has restricted student use in recent years, which is unfortunate. Would the new pool at Lake Herrick have a longer season to allow student use? If that is the plan, why not for Legion Pool? The dorms are right there at Legion. Those students should be allowed to use it. I think Legion Pool has become the pawn in a larger problem of what to do with Lake Herrick. Unless students can use it, a pool will not save Lake Herrick.

 Legion Pool is a beloved, and truly unique place with great character. To destroy it would deeply demoralize those who value historic continuity and diverse spaces on campus. It is irreplaceable with the meaningful origins and beauty appreciated by people who want a traditional community space, a very large pool, surrounded by trees and shaded tables with ceiling fans! Please, don't do away with a treasured place because you personally don't like to use it and it doesn't fit your tastes of what you think people should want-- one person's trash is another's treasure. Kill this pool and a little of UGA's beautiful summer soul will go with it. Restoring it for much less money than needed for a much smaller pool with a new fangled design (that no one wants) will show UGA cares about the benefits they provide their community and really listens. Times have been tough -- here's one place where less money can be spent to please more people.

 My brother went to Georgia in the 50's, I went in the 60's and my granddaughter is going this year..I like preserving history..Save the pool...PLEASE...

 I'm a graduate of UGA. I/we used Legion pool for years. It would be a financial mistake to tear it down and build a smaller, less family-friendly pool. I do not plan to donate funds to UGA for a new pool.

 I believe our universities need to answer to our communities, both in the services they provide and in preserving historical architecture. Athens is one of the most economically and educationally backwards cities of its size in the U.S. I have long thought that the university has held itself apart from the community, to its own detriment too. The new pool would be one that would be more exclusive yet! Smaller and more expensive by far!

 As a child, Legion Pool was the place I learned to swim, and where I spent every day of every summer diving, jumping and playing in the water. Legion Pool represents my childhood, and the childhood of many kids just like me growing up in Athens. Legion Pool is more than just a pool, and nothing can replace what it stands for. Community. Simplicity. Memories. Please don't destroy it, or you will be destroying a place that IS Athens. A place where kids and their parents go to spend time together, relax, work out, and bask in the sun on a hot Georgia day. Save Legion Pool.

 Legion Pool is a huge part of the community. As our town is being taken over by corporations--and as walmart is threatening to take over our downtown, we are desperate for small treats that keep our town a full on community.

 Legion Pool is one of the best things about being affiliated with the University of Georgia, in my case as a faculty member. Not only is it a fun and relaxing perk in a job nearly devoid of perks, but it is a great place to build and extend University and community connections. Closing Legion Pool would be very short sighted, and would reflect the ignorance of the Administration about the lives of their faculty, staff, and local alumni. My family has been enjoying Legion Pool the entire 15 years I have been on faculty, and will continue to do so as long as it and we remain here. Our kids learned to swim here. Not only should it remain open, but it should open earlier in the summer and stay open into Fall semester so that the University students can enjoy it as well.

 I love legion pool and have been using it for more than 30 years, first as a student, then as a place to exercise and meet friends and now as a father and family. This is a great community asset and it seems like as a WPA project it deserves protection.

 Please do not demolish legion pool. It is a community and UGA asset. It brings families together, allows for increased interaction between UGA and community members, and is a valued and loved community asset.

 This pool plays a vital role in the summer activities for hundreds of faculty, children and families in the Athens area, and provides a healthy and wholesome recreation for children. I urge you to consider saving and renovating this structure that was built in good faith by the WPA to be used on into the future.

 Legion Pool is one of the rare remaining examples of WPA project and an essential focal point for Athens town's sense of community and gathering. UGA has many places to build new buldings, and they do all the time anyway-- surely their stewardship of this community resource, the de facto town pool, should not be taken this lightly or uncaringly. Please make them at least go through a process to establish the claims they are making about the economics and planning aspects of this "done deal." Say it ain't so... please.

 I'm here at Legion watching all the children and families and individuals enjoying this special place. I imagine those who made the decision to demolish an historic landmark never set foot inside these gates. More likely they have their own pool, go to the Country Club pool, or own lake houses. They have no clue just what a benefit it is having this recreational place to go smack dab in the center of Athens. It's a real shame and a really stupid move on the part of UGA. Hey, but the money vested in our illustrious football team sure is paying off. What with our SEC championships and stellar season records. Yea, right.

 Legion is a much loved resource, adding a sense of community to the heart of campus, in addition to providing a convenient spot for recreation and fitness. It is in easy walking distance of much of campus, making it more accessible than a smaller pool which will require transportation to reach. Also it is adjacent to Tanyard Creek, another historic property which has barely survived its years of abuse by the university. Construction in this area would undoubtedly be devastating.