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A Stroll Down Georgia’s Antebellum Trail Think romance. Think history and culture. Think natural beauty. Think stately buildings of architecture. Think art. Think music and recreation. Think spring tours of gardens and homes. Think traditional Southern hospitality with friendly hosts, great food and comfortable lodgings. Now think of the 100-mile Antebellum Trail, running from Athens to Macon, which offers all of these delights for travelers. While the trail is beautiful at any season, it is especially spectacular during the spring when peach blooms, azaleas and Dogwoods cover the region. Follow us on a tour of this delightful trail that highlights Georgia’s rich past. First stop: Athens The Classic City, chartered in 1806 and named for Athens, Greece, is home to the University of Georgia (UGA), the oldest state-chartered university in the United States. (See our feature story on Athens on page 44.) UGA is known for its football team, but Athens is more than just football. In fact, Athens is a great place to shop or party as reported by three national magazines. Cosmopolitan profiles Athens in its “100 Hot Cities,” Lucky calls it one of the “five greatest shopping locales” anywhere and American Style Magazine listed it as one of the 20 top arts destinations in the U.S. Athens’ world-renowned music scene is also one of the most affordable, with a variety of music playing nightly in local clubs. For a weekend of free outdoor music, go to Athfest in June. Visitors may access wristbands for $15 for the weekend. Athens also has spaces for families to enjoy, including the World of Wonder Community Playground’s two acres and the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, a “living laboratory” that includes 313 acres of gardens and nature trails for the study, research and enjoyment of plants and nature. The city offers spring tours of homes and garden, and the Athens Welcome Center also offers bus tours. Call the Welcome Center at 706-353-1820, the Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau at 706-357-4430 or 1-800-653-0603 or visit www.visitathensga.com for further information. Watkinsville Heading south, follow Bus. Hwy 441 into Oconee County to Watkinsville. Built around 1789 as a fort and remodeled in 1801, Eagle Tavern, now the Welcome Center, served travelers along the main stagecoach route that ran from Athens to Milledgeville and on the Central of Georgia Railroad that ran through town. The tavern keeper charged guests 88.5 cents for both room and board for the night. Supposedly the tavern is the reason university planners settled on Athens instead of Watkinsville, feeling the tavern and dance hall would be an evil influence and a distraction to students. A downtown walking tour begins at the tavern, and Watkinsville’s historic district offers shopping for arts, crafts and gifts. Oconee County, “The Artland of Georgia,” serves as a haven for artists and craftsmen with galleries like Happy Valley Pottery, Georgia Originals and Chappelle Gallery. The Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, located in a 1902 schoolhouse, organizes art shows and classes, monthly concerts, theatrical performances, the Southworks Arts Festival on May 24 - 25 and the Christmas Holiday Market in December. Another county attraction is Elder’s Mill Covered Bridge. One of the state’s remaining covered bridges, it was built circa 1897 and moved to its present site in 1926. Tours can be arranged to individual preferences with a 14-day advance notice. While in town, spend a charming evening in the circa 1893 Ashford Manor Bed and Breakfast. The five-acre Ashford Estate, which is walking distance to antique shops and art galleries, is shrouded by magnolias, red buds and pines, and guests enjoy live music on the beautifully landscaped grounds every first and third Monday of the month from May to October. Call the Oconee County Welcome Center at 706-769-5197 for further information or go to www.oconeecounty.com. For more information re-garding this month’s Southworks Art Festival, please visit www.myocaf.com. Madison This next stop on Bus. Hwy 441 got its name from the fourth U.S. president, James Madison. The 1845 issue of Guide to Georgia named the city “the most cultured, aristocratic town on the stagecoach route from Charlestown to New Orleans,” and Travel Holiday magazine called it “the number one small town in America.” Because it was home to pro-Union senator Joshua Hill, Madison escaped Sherman’s flames during his march on Georgia, and the town has one of the largest designated historic districts in the state. Visitors can explore the historic district during semiannual home tours in May and December. You can see homes ranging in architectural styles from Plantation, Neoclassic, Victorian and Greek Revival to modest cottages and several century-old churches. The Madison-Morgan Cultural Center offers a museum, art, rotating exhibitions and a theater festival each summer. The town also has two house museums and two historical museums. And visitors won’t go hungry here, as the town has 220 restaurants. Plus, set aside some time to meander through the town’s quaint shops, which offer everything from fine art and antiques to boutique clothing to jewelry and whimsical gifts. Call the Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau, 706-342-4454, for information or visit www.madisonga.org. Eatonton Take US Hwy 441 to Eatonton in Putnam County, which marks the midpoint of the trail. The entire city is on the National Register of Historic Places and still retains much of its pre-Civil War charm, as no dwelling houses were burned by Gen. Sherman’s troops. Rumor has it a local doctor met Gen. Sherman as he was making his way to Savannah, destroying towns in his path, with the “news” that an epidemic was raging. The Union Army bypassed the town, while residents cared for thousands of soldiers in local schools and churches transformed into hospitals. Joel Chandler Harris, who created the Uncle Remus stories in the late 1800s, one of the first folk-tale collections in the United States, is one of Eatonton’s best-known native sons. Today, a portrait of Uncle Remus and the Little Boy from the stories hangs in the Uncle Remus Museum. Since the recent release of the movie “Song of the South” overseas, visitors come here from many foreign countries. Alice Walker, renowned author and poet, is another famous native daughter. Born in Eatonton in 1944, she is best known for her novel, “The Color Purple,” a 1983 Pulitzer Prize winner. Visitors may pick up brochures at the Chamber of Commerce for a driving tour recognizing important locations in her early life. Eatonton also has six world-class golf courses in its vicinity. Great Waters at Reynolds Plantation, one of Jack Nicklaus’ signature courses, offers some of the most dramatic golf scenery in the Southeast, and Cuscowilla Golf Resort, a hybrid 700-acre country club/shared private residence club/full-time residential community on the banks of Lake Oconee, has one of the few courses in the world that’s both easier for higher-handicapped players and more challenging for better players. Each April, a Tour of Homes and Buildings showcases structures in the historic district, and June brings the Dairy Festival for Putnam County, called the Dairy Capital of Georgia. With Lakes Sinclair and Oconee located near Eatonton, more than 35,000 acres of water border Putnam County. Georgia Power has developed three 85-acre parks along the shores of Lake Oconee. Nearby, the Lake Oconee Shooting Club offers competitive shooting including sporting clays, trap, skeet and five stand. Oconee Springs Park, on the shores of Lake Sinclair, offers cottages, rentals, accommodations for campers, picnic areas and playgrounds. The Rock Eagle 4-H Center, located at the edge of the forest, has an amazing stone mound formed in the shape of an eagle with outstretched wings measuring 102 feet from wingtip to wingtip. This quartz effigy dates back over 50 centuries and is believed to be a burial mound of ancient Indians. Rock Hawk, a smaller, more recently discovered mound, is located along the Historic Scenic Byway along Highway 16. For information, visit www.eatonton.com or call the Chamber of Commerce at 706-485-7701.
Continue on Hwy 441 to the geographical center of the state, where Milledgeville ranks in historic distinction with Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C. A historic trolley takes visitors on a path that passes the renovated Old Governor’s Mansion, the best example of Greek Revival Architecture in Georgia, beautifully furnished and open daily. The tour also includes the renovated antebellum former State Capitol; author Flannery O’Connor’s home; St. Stephens Episcopal Church, which Union soldiers used as a stable during the Civil War; and Georgia College and State University. Tours leave the Milledgeville Convention and Visitors Bureau every day but Sunday. Lockerly Hall, a circa 1839 Greek Revival home, presides over the Lockerly Arboretum that has 30 acres of plants native to Georgia, including rhododendron gardens and desert and tropical greenhouses. Call the Milledgeville-Baldwin County Convention and Visitors Bureau at 800-653-1804 for further information or visit www.milledgevillecvb.com. Gray Take Hwy 22, which runs into US Hwy 129 just outside of Gray in Jones County. Continue for two miles where you will see Old Clinton Historic District signs. Settled in 1808, Clinton was the original county seat of Jones County, and the village shows visitors a town that time forgot. Sherman’s troops brought an end to the genteel way of life there in November 1864 when Union troops left the town in flames, yet the town has retained its original character. A dozen homes built between 1809 and 1830 still stand, as well as a church built in the 1800s and a cemetery with beautiful ironwork fences and gates, and artwork and symbolism graphically present Victorian feelings and attitudes toward life. The Clinton Historical Society hosts periodic tours of many historic homes, and “Old Clinton War Days,” a re-enactment of the Federal occupation of Clinton, takes place each May. The entire town is on the National Register of Historic Places. For further information, call the Jones County-Gray Chamber of Commerce at 478-986-1123 or visit www.jonescounty.org. Last Stop: Macon
Follow Hwy 129 into the city, turn left onto Cherry Street, which will take you to the Downtown Visitor Center at Terminal Station. Macon has been designated “a textbook of historic architecture.” Each spring it hosts the Cherry Blossom Festival, featuring the largest collection of Yoshino cherry trees — 285,000 in its 90 parks — in the world. (The city serves free cherry ice cream during the festival!) Historic Intown Trolley Tours leave the Visitors Bureau every day but Sunday, with stops at the Cannonball House, the Confederate Museum, poet Sydney By all means, spend a night in Macon to enjoy the Lighted Homes Walking Tour, the only such tour in North America. Every night during the year, 30 homes in the in-town historic district are illuminated, highlighting an architecturally significant feature of each. Mounted and foot patrols ensure safety. Outside of town, visit the Ocmulgee National Monument with the ancient Indian mounds and the Howard E. Bennett Forestry Museum. Call the Macon-Bibb County Convention and Visitors Bureau at 478-743-4301 or 800-768-3401 for further information, or visit www.maconga.org. Every town on this tour has quality restaurants and lodging, making the trip last as long as you’d like, though a week-end may be difficult with many attractions not open to the public on Sundays. Visit the website at www.antebellumtrail.org for further information. PN |
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Stepping Back in Time
Milledgeville
Lanier’s Cottage, the restored Opera House, the Tubman Black History Museum and the Italian Renaissance Hay House, which was called “The Palace of the South” when it was built in 1855.