Near the geographic center of the state, the city of Macon (pop. 118,000) was founded along the Ocmulgee (oak-MUL-gee) River in 1825, and flourished with the cotton trade. The downtown area holds the modern Georgia Music Hall of Fame (see sidebar “Macon Music”) alongside dozens of well-preserved, historically significant public buildings, including a 110-year-old Opera House at 639 Mulberry Street and the turn-of-the-20th-century Douglass Theater on Broadway west of Mulberry Street, where such Macon-born music legends as Lena Horne, Otis Redding, and Little Richard got their start.
Another aspect of Macon heritage, the city’s collection of well-preserved antebellum mansions, stands on a low hill at the north end of downtown, having survived the Civil War unscathed apart from one brief battle: While most of Sherman’s troops skirted by to the north, a band of Union soldiers engaged young Confederate soldiers at the city limits and fired a cannonball that landed in the foyer of a stately residence, now known as the Cannonball House, 856 Mulberry Street. A small museum (closed Sun.; $5) behind the house displays the usual barrage of Confederate memorabilia, and inside the house you can see the dented floor and original cannonball. A block away, the stunning Hay House, 934 Georgia Avenue, is among the most beautiful antebellum houses in the state. You can see these two and many more on a meandering walk led by a Macon tour guide posing as Sidney Lanier, the city’s famous 19th-century poet; call the visitors bureau (478/743-3401 or 800/768-3401) for details.
