Free: Great Locomotive Chase Audio Tour, Brochures

With the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War’s Great Locomotive Chase on Thursday, a free CD audio tour and brochure will help bring to life historic sites involved in the daring escapade. 

Cartersville-Bartow County Convention & Visitors Bureau officials say the CD and brochure, provided by the state, are available at no cost at the Cartersville-Bartow County Visitor Information Center inside the .

The Great Chase Sesquicentennial CD audio tour, produced by the Georgia Department of Economic Development, invites visitors to follow the great chase, beginning in Marietta and ending in Ringgold with an estimated drive time of three hours. The Great Locomotive Chase brochure includes photographs of key sites, a map and driving directions.

The "heart of the chase" was in Bartow County, including the cities of Adairsville and Kingston, after a civilian spy and his Union accomplices in 1862 stole the General locomotive in Kennesaw in an effort to disrupt supply lines, reports.

To commemorate the Civil War Sesquicentennial, the local CVB printed a brochure with additional history on Great Locomotive Chase sites within Bartow.

The Blue & Gray in Bartow also is free and includes history on pivotal Civil War events that took place in Bartow County, notes eight Civil War sites to discover and reminds visitors of more than 10 Sesquicentennial events taking place in 2012.

Adairsville's weekend celebration of the Great Locomotive Chase begins tomorrow. A program to honor Civil War hero Uriah Stephens is set for 1:30 p.m. in Kingston.