East Coast Cities??

[curtiejoe]

Hi travelfan



Am following your journey down the East Coast to Florida with great interest. For example, when you speak of historic Fredricksburg and the battlefields there, I'm mesmerized because as an avid Civil War buff I would have loved to have been there with you to walk the storied ground where the epic battle was fought. Though I'n not so keen on the china and crystal shopping you mentionned, my wife certainly is and got a gleam in her eye when I told her about your experience at the Replacement.com showroom in Winston-Salem. Can't wait to hear about your adventures in Macon.



Curt

[lhbrown]

Hi Curt,
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,FL 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 Cemetary which is listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places. This is one of the oldest surviing public cemetary 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.






Message Edited by lhbrown on 10-29-2007 08:47 PM

[lhbrown]

Hi,
After we left Fredricksburg, we made our way South to Wintson-Salem in North Carolina where we spent a couple of nights with a good friend. Winston-Salem is the home of Wake Forest University and the Reynolds Tobaco fortune. The Reynolds left behind a great legacy and wonderful Museum, the Reynolda House, which our friend took us to visit.

We toured the Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, the centerpiece of the Reynolda Historic District in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. We explore the restored 1917 mansion of Katharine and R.J. Reynolds showcasing treasures of American art in both the historic house and new exhibition wing. We strolled the landscaped grounds, formal and informal gardens, and wooded walking trails. We shoped and and had Lunch in the Historic Reynolda Village.

The exciting restoration of this historic house has returned rooms to their original 1917 appearance from the time of R.J. Reynolds and his family. Rooms formerly closed to the public were open for viewing. The library, for example, had its original furnishings covered in dark blue damask during the winter and in bright floral-patterned slipcovers during the summer. Every detail had been recreated, down to gilt sofa feet shaped like crouching lions. A landscap firm from GA had led the period landscape design initiative making the expansive gardens and grounds historically accurate with 1,092 specimens and forty-one varieties of plants.

[curtiejoe]

Hi travelfan



After reading your fascinating account of your recent visit to Macon, Georgia, on your way down to Sarasota, Florida, I feel like I myself have also been inside the 1842 Inn, the Cannonball House, the Hay House, and the Rose Hill Cemetery. Your colourful photographs add so much to your posts and help to bring to life the places you've visited. The 1842 Inn looks magnificent and I'm glad to hear that it exceeded your expectations for a high-end luxury property. When my wife and I travel down to the Florida Keys next year, we'll keep this extraordinary old Southern mansion in mind for a marvellous stop-over on our drive throgh Georgia. Thanks for the information. I'm sure that lots of others on the LL Community will also find your posts of great interest. Keep them coming.



Curt

[curtiejoe]

Hi travelfan



Wow! I'm truly impressed. Of course, I'd heard long ago that the Reynolds family was involved with tobacco production, but I'd never heard about their magnificent house in Winston-Salem until I read about it in your post below. Neither did I know that their property in North Carolina also housed the prestigeous Museum of American Art. As always when you up-load photographs onto your posts, it enrichens and enlivens your written accounts of the places you've visited. This is true here as well, with pictures of the landscaped gardens and of the expansive and richly decoreated interior of the amazing Reynolds House. As always, I look forward to the next fascinating installment in your journey down the East Coast to Sarasota, Florida.



Curt

[lhbrown]

Hi Curt,
Thanks for your kind comments. We made it safely to Sarasota, FL and I will be reporting from there shortly.

[curtiejoe]

Hi travelfan



Great to hear you've made it safely down along the East Coast to your winter destination in Sarasota. I'll be looking for your up-coming posts on the home of the Ringling Brothers' Circus. We too are just arrived back home from the short but very memorable vacation trip my wife and I just took to Vermont. We thoroughly enjoyed touring the south-central part of the Green Mountain State by car along some of the prettiest drives from our "basecamp" at the Castle Hill Resort & Spa (a very luxurious property we won on an auction at LL) in Ludlow. See www.thecastle-vt.comfor information.







I'll soon be posting several accounts of our various recent adventures in Vermont



Curt

[lhbrown]

Hi Curt,
I am glad you had a good time at Castle Hill. As you know, we were there in the Fall of last year, enjoying the lovely resort and leaf season in Vermont. I look forward to hearing about your Vermont adventures.