jeffergray

Back in April 2015, I needed to drive from Atlanta down to the Georgia coast. I'd grown up in Atlanta, but had never visited the legendary antebellum town of Madison, which lies just north of Interstate 20 (the road that takes you to Augusta and Columbia) about an hour east of Atlanta. It's an easy day trip from Atlanta. Madison was founded in 1810 and became a major center in east-central Georgia in the years before the Civil War. It was fortunate to escape destruction from General William T. Sherman's March to the Sea in 1864. I spent a morning taking a walking tour of the town on a beautiful morning in April when the temperature was balmy and the wisteria was in bloom. Madison is best known for its antebellum houses, but it is actually a superb museum of housing architectural styles throughout the nineteenth century, including a number of Queen Anne and Victorian structures as well. Madison is without question one of the most beautiful and striking small towns in America, as I hope the photographs below demonstrate. It is worth going out of your way to visit if you're passing through Atlanta. .

If you want to stay overnight in Madison, I would recommend the James Madison Inn, an elegant hotel on the square in downtown, although there is a Hampton In n and other mid-priced options a few miles away closer to the interstate. I had dinner at the Town 220 restaurant, just behind the Madison Hotel, which had excellent Southern cuisine and attentive service.

I then continued on 45 miles SSE to Milledgeville, which was Georgia's capital during much of the antebellum era until 1868, when the capital was moved to Atlanta. It likewise still boasts a number of outstanding antebellum buildings, the chief of which is the Old Governor's Mansion, which dates back to 1837-38.

Here's the link to my photo album:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/276859...57665708064452

Daniel_Williams

Hi jeffergray,

I enjoyed looking at the pictures of Madison, GA. It seems that Greek columns were very popular there in antebellum times! It's sad to think what architectural treasures the Civil War must have destroyed elsewhere in Georgia and the South. I've only been to Atlanta, Athens and Savannah in Georgia... it seems I've a lot left to explore!

Best wishes, D. Williams

jeffergray

Thank you very much, Daniel. Atlanta, Athens and Savannah are a good start to Georgia, but there is much else to see as well, especially along the coast.

starrs

Madison often makes (or tops) the list of most beautiful towns in the US. The countryside around it is pretty too. Lots of neat things to see in the area. When I visited PEI, I thought it looked like someone had taken a biscuit cutter and cut out a section of middle Georgia and plopped it down somewhere else. IMO it's as pretty as Tuscany or Provence - just without the medieval hillside villages.

Did you stop by Andalusia when you were in Milledgeville? You probably drove right past it. Lovely southern farm - and home of Flannery O'Connor -

http://andalusiafarm.org/

CLBtravel

Thanks for posting this -- reminds me that there are spots within a day's travel that I should visit. I second the idea of visiting Andalusia.

jeffergray

No, I missed Andalusia. I had various people to see and other stops to make, and then I had to head down to the coast by dinnertime. But I would like to see it if I'm ever back in the area.