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Macon Georgia and the 1842 Inn

Time Travel to The 1842 Inn in Macon, GA

by Mary Ann Anderson

Traveling into Macon, Georgia, by either Interstate 75 or 16, the small city's skyline looks relatively benign as compared to other cities of its size, which stands about a hundred thousand. There are no skyscrapers here, as Macon's tallest structures are the venerable spires of Mercer University or perhaps the smattering of historical churches that dot the downtown area.

But Macon, which on the surface is pretty darned quiet and laid back with its very southern and slow-as-sorghum way of life, actually has sort of an underlying rough-and-tumble reputation as a rock 'n roll city.

Downtown Macon

Macon became a lightning rod, either by birth, chance, or purpose, for a smattering of great southern, soulful musicians not exactly known for their low-key music, including Little Richard ("A-Wop-bop-a-loo-lop a-lop-bam-boo, Tutti Frutti, all over rootie!") the Allman Brothers ("Lord, I was born a ramblin' man!"), Otis Redding ("Sittin' on the dock of the bay, watchin' the tide roll away!"), and James Brown ("I feel good... so good, so good!").

Macon is also where Phil Walden began Capricorn Records, thus unofficially launching a new breed of southern rockers with the likes of Wet Willie, the other Willie-Nelson, that is-Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Marshall Tucker Band, none of whom can be considered synonymous with mellowness, either.

But for the most part, Macon is pretty much quiet, even despite its background as a musical mecca-its nickname is Song & Soul of the South-and it is really just a small town at heart.

Located in the geographic bull's-eye of Georgia, Macon has a slow-moving rhythm and cadence all its own. Atlanta, just an hour to the north, is big, fast, garish, and loud. Savannah, three hours' drive southeast, is Junior League-snooty in its isolation and culture. Athens is young and upbeat, while similarly-sized Valdosta, Columbus, and Gainesville are fairly typical mid-sized cities that don't have quite the individuality that Macon holds.

Macon is different, in part because it relies on its past for a good portion of its livelihood. That's not to say this tranquil place of moonlight, magnolias, and mint juleps is trapped in another time and place, because it isn't. Not quite, anyway. It simply melds together old customs with modern ideas.

History and its counterpart of architecture, for example, have given Macon many gifts. The resulting factor is that the city's skyline is etched with spires and minarets of churches, antebellum homes, plantations, and historic buildings, including those wonderful towers of Mercer University, one of the finest private universities in the South.

1842 Hotel

The true gift, though, is that Macon's architecture allows you to step into another century without really leaving this one. More than 5,500 individual structures scattered among eleven historic districts are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the 1860 Hay House, the "Palace of the South" featured on A&E's "America's Castles"; the Cannonball House, appropriately christened when it was struck by a cannonball during the Civil War in 1864; and the Sidney Lanier Cottage, the circa-1840 cottage and birthplace of the renowned poet.

For best taste of Macon's southernness, though, stay at the 1842 Inn, a Greek Revival antebellum mansion built by former mayor, cotton merchant, lawyer, and judge John Gresham that is now the city's only bed-and-breakfast inn.

The 1842 Inn exemplifies Macon to perfection. Framed by original, massive Corinthian columns, fragrant magnolias, and even a wraparound verandah perfect for not much more than enjoying lazy, slow, sun-splashed afternoons of curling up your feet in a rocking chair, pulling out a good book-Gone With the Wind is an excellent choice-and then relaxing while sipping a glass of iced tea or even a mint julep.

That laid-back style of the 1842 Inn is what Macon is all about, but there's more than architecture and southern belles in this place originally dredged from the ancient waters of the Ocmulgee River, one of Georgia's main rivers that meanders lazily through downtown on its way to the coast via the Altamaha River.

The city's history actually begins at the Indian earthen lodges of the Ocmulgee National Monument, one of the earliest public buildings in North America. From there, Macon grew to become incorporated as a city in 1823, and then it served as a transportation hub during the Civil War (or the War of Northern Aggression, as southerners like to call it). During and after Reconstruction, manufacturing and industry replaced King Cotton and agriculture as a way of life, and modern day Macon, a small city with tremendous soul, was launched.

Georgia Music Hall of Fame
Museums open windows to the past, and the story of Macon and of Georgia itself is more thoroughly told through the Museum of Arts and Sciences with four galleries of changing exhibits, the Tubman African-American Museum housing a dozen galleries retracing the saga of Africans in America, the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame that tells the stories of Georgia sports stars from the Braves' Hank Aaron to basketball great Rich Yunkus, and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame honoring great Peach State-born singers like Ray Charles, Brenda Lee, the B-52s, Alan Jackson, and Gladys Knight.

Macon's grand architecture, museums, and beauty are complemented by thousands and thousands of extravagantly pretty Yoshino cherry trees, and its International Cherry Blossom Festival, held in the spring, rivals even that of Washington, D.C.'s. Another popular festival is the Ocmulgee Indian Festival in the fall that includes ceremonial dances, storytellers, and Native American foods like roasted corn and even buffalo burgers, if you're that, um, "brave" to try them.

While Macon clings like kudzu to its past, that's a good thing. Sometimes a dose of old-fashioned southern-fried hospitality-or even a mint julep-is just the cure for whatever ails you.

Recipe: 1842 Inn Mint Julep

Ingredients:
Handful of fresh mint leaves
Southern Comfort or bourbon of choice
Amber Bacardi rum
Sugar

Boil mint leaves until the water turns green, and then strain the mint in a glass pitcher. Add one cup of sugar for each quart of water while it's hot to create a mint syrup (mint syrup can be kept refrigerated for three days). Fill a mint julep tumbler with ice, and then add one ounce of bourbon and a half-ounce of rum. Stir in the mint syrup until the cup is filled. Add two drops of bitters and garnish with lemon and fresh mint.

If You Go:

Macon-Bibb County Convention & Visitors Bureau
(800) 768-3401 or visit www.maconga.org

For more information on the 1842 Inn
call toll-free (877) 452-6599
or visit www.1842inn.com