The Cannonball House, Macon, Georgia

We walked through the neighborhood and took pictures of other antebellum mansions. The one pictured above is the Cannonball House. This is a Greek Revival mansion built in 1853 and is the only house in Macon struck by a cannonball during Stoneman's Raid on Macon in 1864. The cannonball went through one of the portico columns, through the window next to the front door and landed in the foyer, making a huge hole in the wood floor. It didn't explode, but scared the mistress of the home to death. Afterwards, the family moved to their plantation home - although it was burned in the war, so this house would have been safer. Brochures and flyers suggest that if you pay to visit the home, you'll see the cannonball's damage, but they've repaired everything. The cannonball, however, is housed in a glass case in the foyer.

The Hay House, Macon, Georgia

Although The Hay House was not built in the antebellum style, it certainly was a mansion and Bob and I toured it. We weren't permitted to take interior pictures, but this home was unbelievable. It would be impossible to explain how ornate and over-the-top everything was, but suffice it to say, it was definitely something to see! The next picture shows me at the front doors - they were huge, as was everything in this home. It included a very ornate and beautiful ballroom, an elevator, and a secret room where the family's valuables were stored, it is said. The secret room was incredible - totally invisible and large - a very neat place!

"Welcome to The Hay House in Macon, Georgia."

1842 Inn, Macon, Georgia

MACON, GEORGIA

DECEMBER 5, 2006

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We left New Orleans and drove through Biloxi, Mississippi and parts of Alabama toward Macon, Georgia, to spend a night. We had read a little about Macon's history and decided to take a day to look around. We were impressed with what we found there. The historic district was a quaint, hilly area jam-packed with antebellum mansions. We bought tickets for the city bus tour, driven by Jimmy. We were his only passengers that day, so we got a private tour of the historic downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. Of all the beautiful antebellum mansions we saw, we were especially impressed by the 1842 Inn, a bed and breakfast.

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After the tour, we drove back to the Inn and looked around the grounds. We went inside to check out the interior and it was gorgeous - richly decorated in the southern style with colorful printed wallpapers; beautiful, cushy sofas and chairs; lovely antique accents, and ornately carved fireplaces. It was exactly the kind of place I had been wanting to stay in, so we collected some brochures and vowed to return for the Cherry Festival in March, 2007.

Oak Alley Plantation, Louisiana

OAK ALLEY PLANTATION-1841

30 MINUTES OUTSIDE NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

DECEMBER 2, 2006

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We were staying in the French Quarter at the Maison Dupuy, a boutique hotel, from November 30-December 4, 2006. We had been baby sitting for Lauren and Justine while Connie and Troy vacationed in Hawaii for 11 days and decided to tack-on a vacation of our own before heading home. On Saturday, December 2 we drove out of New Orleans about 30 minutes to tour the "Oak Alley" plantation. When we first saw it, we were amazed. This was undoubtedly the most spectacular antebellum mansion on a plantation that we had seen to date. The canopy of 300-year-old oak trees was magnificant and the mansion was breathtakingly beautiful! The story of this gorgeous property follows below:

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Located on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Oak Alley Plantation has been called the "Grande Dame of the Great River Road". The quarter-mile canopy of giant live oak trees, believed to be nearly 300 years old, forms an impressive avenue leading to the classic Greek-revival style antebellum home. The plantation was sold to Jacques Telesopore Roman and his wife Celina in 1836, when they began plans to build Oak Alley. It was completed in 1941. Mrs. Roman called it "bon sejour" or "Pleasant Sojourn", but travelers along the Mississippi, impressed by the avenue of mighty oaks, called it "Oak Alley", and so it remained.

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The Roman family resided at Oak Alley throughout the Civil War. Jacques Telesphore had died in 1848, a victim of tuberculosis, and so was spared the tragic series of events that were to affect all concerned. His widow, typical of the upper class woman of her day, was totally inexperienced in business matters and, to her, the productive part of the plantation had no function other than as a source of revenue for her and her participation in the heights of Creole society. Her only surviving son, Henri, assumed manhood and responsibility for family affairs in 1859. His valiant efforts to preserve the position and holdings of his family failed against the overwhelming social and political turmoil resulting from the War and Reconstruction, and the Roman empire, already weakened by Celina's incessant spending, joined the evergrowing tide of once powerful and proud Creoles caught in a downhill slide toward oblivion.

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In 1866, Henri was forced to sell the plantation and all but their most personal belongings at auction for a mere $32,800.00, thus ending 30 years of Roman joys and sorrows at Oak Alley.