When we got into Macon, GA we found lodgings at the lovely 1842 Inn www.the1842inn.com. I knew this Inn was at LL auction, but we did not want to spend 3 nights there since we were anxious to get to Sarasota, Florida, but we did want to stay at a nice, historic Inn to soak up the athmosphere of the South.

The 1842 Inn was no disappointment. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 1842 Inn is located in a charming residential district. With an athmosphere straight out from Gone with the Wind, the 1842 Inn blends amenities of a grand hotel with the ambience of a country inn. The rooms and the public areas of the Inn are within a Greek Revival antebellum house and an adjoining Victorian house that share a quaint courtyard and garden. The rooms, parlors and library are tastefully designed with fine English antiques, oriental carpets, tapestries and paintings. When we got there, the Inn was serving complimentary hors d'oeuvres at the cash bar in the Library. We ordered drinks, enjoyed the tasty hors d'oeuvres and started to relax before going out to dinner. We strolled back looking at some of the private and public mansions, each dramatically lit in a free nightly display of Southern elegance and grandeur. When we got back from dinner our bed was turned down with chocolates on the pillows.



The next morning, after a lovely breakfast at the couryard garden, we set out to visit historic Macon. Macon is often called the Song and Sole of the South. We set out to see what Sherman didn't burn, in a History of War... anything but Civil.
We visited The Cannonball House where on July 30, 1864 Union Armee soldiers attacked this authentic Greek revical home (built in 1853). This house is the only site struck by a cannonball during the war. We heard where the cannon ball fell and saw where it still lies inside this historic museum. It also houses magnificent authentic Macon furnishings and the gift offers Civil War and Old South books and memorabilia.


Next we went to the Hay House, stepping back in history at "The Palace of the South". This Italian Renaissance Revival Villa was built by William Butler Johnston, one of Macon's wealthiest men. The mansion is exquisitely decorated with antiques collected by the three families who occupied the house beginning in 1859; the Johnston, Felton and Hay families. The house is now owned b y the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and is made up of 24 rooms, 19 fireplaces, a beautiful tromp l'oel, magnificent plaster moldings, and a secret room said to have housed some of the Confederate gold.



After Lunch we went to the Rose Hill Cemetery which is listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places. This is one of the oldest surviing public cemetery parks in the United States. Winding paths and terraced hills overlook the Ocmulgee River. Located inside Confederate Square are the markers of 600 Confederate and Union Soldiers.
Our last visit for the afternoon was to the Ocmulgee National Monument and site of the Dunlap Farm House where the troops of General Sherman, led by General Stoneman, fired cannons upon the city of Macon only to strike the white columned home, the Cannonball House and a military hospital. The Ocmulgee National Monument is also Home to over 10,000 years of Indian heritage and culture.