Cities on the Trail
- It’s a short hop between cities along the trail, and each has a visitor center with tourist information, maps and the official Antebellum Trail brochure. Athens, site of the first state-chartered university in the United States, has four historic house museums and the state botanical garden. Classic antebellum architecture graces the Watkinsville Historic District. Madison calls itself the “Town Sherman Refused to Burn” because a resident convinced the Union general to spare the village. Eatonton is home to the Uncle Remus Museum, and Milledgeville was Georgia’s capital during the 19th century. Gray/Old Clinton is laid out like a New England village. The Georgia Music Hall of Fame and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame are in Macon.
Things to See
- Each city offers so many historic sites, museums and examples of Southern architecture that visitors may do well to focus on an area of interest rather than trying to see them all. In Athens, stop by the Morton Theatre, the oldest surviving vaudeville house in the country built and operated by African-Americans. A covered bridge 4 miles south of Watkinsville was built in 1897. Rock mounds in the shape of birds in Milledgeville were built by Native Americans more than 2,000 years ago. Old Clinton saw heavy action in July 1864 when Confederate troops captured 500-plus Union soldiers. More than 3,000 cherry trees form the backdrop for an annual cherry blossom festival in Macon.
Literary Connections
- Flannery O’Connor, author of “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and other short stories featuring decidedly Southern characters, lived at Andalusia, a 544-acre farm near Milledgeville, until her death in 1964. The farm is open for tours. Joel Chandler Harris, author of the Uncle Remus tales, and Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize winner for “The Color Purple,” called Eatonton home. The Uncle Remus Museum is housed in two slave cabins, and a driving tour explores places of significance in Walker’s life. Perhaps less well known, Sidney Lanier was a 19th century poet, linguist and musician. His cottage in Macon, a designated Landmark of American Music, is open for tours.
Where to Stay
- Travelers on the Antebellum Trail will find plenty of standard motel accommodations, but if you’re visiting for a taste of the Old South, the Colonels B&B in Athens is housed in an 1860, columned plantation home. Two-bedroom suites in the mansion have private baths with whirlpool tubs. Celebrity chef Hugh Acheson’s 5 & 10 restaurant is a short drive away. The Victorian-era Ashford Manor overlooks Watkinsville’s Main Street. Built in 1893, the bed-and-breakfast has themed rooms like the White Room, furnished with a four-poster bed, or the Safari Room, with a private entrance and clawfoot tub.
