With tourists from near and far expected to be drawn to memorable places where such history can still be seen, this community still lacks a real focal point for the era.

To be sure, Myrtle Hill Cemetery is a very special place, if not entirely about the Civil War dead. But after tourists have stopped at the purely 1864 Confederate cemetery at nearby Resaca, right on the main route of the main Yankee march, is looking at another cemetery that much of a lure?

As for Fort Norton, not yet enhanced in any real way, who’s coming to see a wooded hill with a few holes in the ground? Heck, even the state historical markers about the war and Union occupation of Rome (which was also the first Georgia city burned on Sherman’s March to the Sea) aren’t where they are supposed to be — there are three of them — but have been relocated to near the Visitor’s Center on Jackson Hill. When the Yankees were here that wasn’t even the suburbs — that was the boonies.

ROME HAS many Civil War historical items laying about but no focus on them, no central point for visitors to see a lot in a fairly time-efficient manner.

Obviously, some sprucing up of Fort Norton plus informative signage and a battery of replica cannon there to do a daily firing demonstration would do wonders. Tourists love to hear things that go “Bang!” and are authentic.

Maybe that could still be done although, best as this page can recall, it first made that very suggestion about 20 years ago. The city is still thinking about it.

Here’s something else for Romans, Civil War buffs and merchants interested in tapping into the tourist economy to think about:

The Cotton Block corner (Broad Street and East Second Avenue) is alone currently enough to ruin any visuals Rome may have to offer. With one building demolished after long neglect some years ago, and another possibly facing the same fate, the only time it has looked good recently was when downtown merchants took it upon themselves to beautify the spot and make it a sort of mini-park.

It’s privately owned, not city property, and recently changed hands again after a planned development fell through. Certainly, with major investment, it could become a desirable retail/office location. However, it may well be even more desirable as a historical magnet at which local Civil War reminders could be concentrated.

THE EMPTY, cordoned off, dangerous, overgrown lot is where there once was a three-story armory during the Civil War where the gun carriages for Noble Foundry cannon were built — as well as home to the Dickinson & Nelson Rifle Factory.

If the current owner were willing to sell that property to the city it could be landscaped into a park again — with embellishments.

Obviously, a new marker about its armory past would be warranted. The state historical markers could be relocated back where it belongs as well.

While it would be absolutely wonderful to purchase a Noble cannon to place there, let’s assume that availability plus price might make that impossible.

However, the statue honoring the women of the Confederacy and the statue of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, both now exiled from where they once stood on Broad Street to Myrtle Hill Cemetery, could be brought there as well. Forrest, by the way, was a hero to Rome for having saved it in 1863 from a Yankee raiding force commanded by Col. Abel Streight, who with his entire command has then held prisoner briefly in Rome.

ROMANS HAD rallied to defend their city by barricading the Second Avenue bridge (a block from where the statue would then be) with cotton bales with stovepipes sticking out of them to make the Yankees believe they had cannons.

Bill Arp, the Roman who was one of the South’s leading humorists, told that tale quite colorfully. The pages from that book (illustrated, by the way) are public domain now and could be blown up, mounted behind glass under a covered boardwalk at the site for visitors to read and savor.

While not exactly Civil War in nature, there’s buried treasure for tourists at the site as well.

When the building on the lot was bulldozed and the basement filled in, quite visible were the old original walls (with bricked up windows) of the original structure’s first floor before Broad Street was raised after the big flood of 1886. It if were excavated and revealed, that would be one more bit of interesting lore to put on display.

Then, just as a cherry on top: Few know it but Chieftains Museum (which is all about the Cherokee Indians) possesses one of the few known original copies of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender papers at Appomattox. Not only that, they’ve also got a letter from Lee to Confederate President Jefferson Davis informing him of the fatal wounding of Gen. Stonewall Jackson.

PERHAPS THOSE docu-ments could be loaned by Chieftains and put on special display in 2010-2015 (the 150th commemoration period) at the Rome Area History Museum — one block from where this new, permanent park filled with Civil War history would be located.

And, two blocks away in the other direction, would be Myrtle Hill Cemetery and its Confederate graves. None of this, besides acquiring the land, would involve giant sums of money. Most of the stuff (minus the missing cannon) is already in Rome but just not at a central location where visitors could see a whole lot, learn a whole lot more, and do it with a reason for coming to Rome in the first place.

It needs to be in place in two years. Clock’s ticking. And a live cannon firing demonstration at Fort Norton would then really make Rome a must-see, must-stay-overnight location for the army of tourists.

LAST TIME an army passed through Rome, it burned the place down. This time, maybe the new army could set the cash registers on fire.