Step Into "The Past" Outside My Front Door
Ever since I’ve moved to the College Hill Corridor this past summer, I’ve developed a growing flirtation with the idea that Macon needs a book and I need to write it.
As a ghostwriter, I’ve actually written 5 books, but never anything under my own name or about a subject I am particularly passionate about.
![Robert Mc Duffie Center for Strings Photo of outside the building](https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/Robert_McDuffie_Center_for_Strings_0b18b186-647f-475c-99e1-41617fae5546.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=320&q=80&w=320&s=2a22dbd8b4203d69d532a8a306f6bd7f 320w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/Robert_McDuffie_Center_for_Strings_0b18b186-647f-475c-99e1-41617fae5546.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=540&q=80&w=540&s=74798707a218660b80535475c34af253 540w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/Robert_McDuffie_Center_for_Strings_0b18b186-647f-475c-99e1-41617fae5546.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=768&q=80&w=768&s=d90bc9c48b3aa91776d03d3003af9cdd 768w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/Robert_McDuffie_Center_for_Strings_0b18b186-647f-475c-99e1-41617fae5546.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1024&q=80&w=1024&s=08e275acf6201dc6caa543f9bb435f49 1024w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/Robert_McDuffie_Center_for_Strings_0b18b186-647f-475c-99e1-41617fae5546.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1200&q=80&w=1200&s=41fd797a19cf0295a53ba7204610fc2c 1080w)
![](https://macon.imgix.net/images/Icons/record-purple.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=320&q=80&w=320&s=adb041108a0bdfda120c45315522828f 320w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/Icons/record-purple.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=540&q=80&w=540&s=f13bc7ca130067ef843d3fa03e3d3eb8 540w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/Icons/record-purple.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=768&q=80&w=768&s=d97e043c2948a8d8f7ec948c348d6ce0 768w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/Icons/record-purple.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1024&q=80&w=1024&s=5e4395051f0910381bcb03a37373f39a 791w)
But every day as I walk or drive past the incredible houses here on College Street and in the surrounding area, I find myself wondering how many stories have unfolded inside the walls of each one. I mean, you can practically feel the drama and the glamour and the humanity of it all sizzling underneath the surface, just waiting for some curious bystander like me to come along, poke around, and put it all down on paper.
Recently, I’ve begun testing the waters of that book-to-be by exploring my immediate surroundings. And would you believe it, there’s more fascinating history within a square mile of my front door than most entire cities can claim. Here’s a little sample of some of the College Hill Corridor's most interesting historic haunts.
WASHINGTON MEMORIAL LIBRARY
1180 Washington Avenue
The library itself – which playwright Tennessee Williams used to regularly visit during his brief time in Macon – has been a College Hill fixture since the cornerstone was first laid in 1919. Before it was home to a public library, the site was once the home of former Mayor James H.R. Washington. One of the more interesting visitors at the Washington’s home was British author William Makepeace Thackeray (Vanity Fair, Barry Lyndon) in February 1856. Macon was one of the famed satirist’s stops in a tour of lectures in the U.S. While he was here, Thackeray called on other well-known Maconites, at the next stop on the tour.
![Washington Memorial Public Library](https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/fd53dc98_995e_4283_8768_c92a56f4e531_2515e6fb-10ab-49eb-b2b2-b8c2d2930a83.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=320&q=80&w=320&s=3bb6da871f93043591d4dfc701232df7 320w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/fd53dc98_995e_4283_8768_c92a56f4e531_2515e6fb-10ab-49eb-b2b2-b8c2d2930a83.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=540&q=80&w=540&s=de068c6890e7e6e02fb805ef4f12126a 540w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/fd53dc98_995e_4283_8768_c92a56f4e531_2515e6fb-10ab-49eb-b2b2-b8c2d2930a83.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=768&q=80&w=768&s=8b394bc52ca4bc836bea17eea20b4e9b 768w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/fd53dc98_995e_4283_8768_c92a56f4e531_2515e6fb-10ab-49eb-b2b2-b8c2d2930a83.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1024&q=80&w=1024&s=910fcc7d35aaee38776f14b17bf2371b 1024w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/fd53dc98_995e_4283_8768_c92a56f4e531_2515e6fb-10ab-49eb-b2b2-b8c2d2930a83.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1200&q=80&w=1200&s=add29e54c1097e10174c24b1f9f6d9a1 1080w)
HAY HOUSE
934 Georgia Avenue
In a letter to his daughters back in England, William Makepeace Thackeray mentioned visiting the Johnstons, whom he wrote were “old friends of the family.” At that time, the Johnstons were building a house in “this rambling, lazy out of the way place,” the Vanity Fair author wrote in his letter back home, and temporarily residing “in an uncommonly nice big room on the ground floor in which I felt I could instantly write novels.” The “nice big room” would by 1859 become the foundation of what is now known as The Hay House, an 18,000-square-foot mansion built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. Now a museum, The Hay House is open to the public for guided tours.
![Hay House photo](https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/Hay_House_c339d29c-4977-42c2-820e-0f361c532b27.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=320&q=80&w=320&s=037b7e2cc71e52abd75c5edd789ce443 320w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/Hay_House_c339d29c-4977-42c2-820e-0f361c532b27.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=540&q=80&w=540&s=59488fe498f92a521086679e55fe3cf6 540w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/Hay_House_c339d29c-4977-42c2-820e-0f361c532b27.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=768&q=80&w=768&s=d5681d10c9841dc1258f39df9783bcdc 768w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/Hay_House_c339d29c-4977-42c2-820e-0f361c532b27.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1024&q=80&w=1024&s=e87013e6e0e8be3563a55ae5d919f43b 1024w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/Hay_House_c339d29c-4977-42c2-820e-0f361c532b27.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1200&q=80&w=1200&s=fc43cf9a1a49557374b506ccdebe071f 1080w)
THE HOLT HOUSE
1129 Georgia Avenue
Now a private residence, this outstanding example of Greek Revival architecture is notable for being the birthplace of Nanaline Holt, who would eventually go on to become one of the New York’s most sought-after socialites, grace the cover of Time magazine in 1931, have a university founded by and named for her family (Duke University), and give birth to “poor little rich girl” Doris Duke. Nanaline Holt Inman Duke's first marriage was to an Atlanta cotton merchant, but it was her marriage to tobacco baron James Duke that vaulted her into the country’s wealthiest elite.
![Photo of Nanaline holt Inman duke](https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/nanaline_holt_inman_duke_9d9a378d-ee7b-4c5c-9444-2b40b7fb5420.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.4904&fp-y=0.3489&h=320&q=80&w=320&s=db07ed3fa3f9793711eaba870aa91a4b 320w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/nanaline_holt_inman_duke_9d9a378d-ee7b-4c5c-9444-2b40b7fb5420.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.4904&fp-y=0.3489&h=540&q=80&w=540&s=43dbac87856fd2a8cb2465f1e330216c 540w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/nanaline_holt_inman_duke_9d9a378d-ee7b-4c5c-9444-2b40b7fb5420.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=min&fp-x=0.4904&fp-y=0.3489&h=768&q=80&w=768&s=8e85f63e4f7506a061d15285e1c4957d 625w)
THE BEALL-JORDAN-DUNLAP HOUSE
315 College Street
The Georgian-style mansion was built in 1860 by cotton plantation owner Nathan Beall. Though it now belongs to Mercer University, it is perhaps most famously recognized as the house where The Allman Brothers Band shot the cover of their first album in 1969. Band members also lived next door, at 309 College Street, for a time after moving to Macon.
![Photo of the Allman Brothers Band](https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/allman_d6b8a925-6697-46f6-8e18-ccb92d60ce35.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=b900d2814835e921e79332770d8dcb10 320w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/allman_d6b8a925-6697-46f6-8e18-ccb92d60ce35.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=67117d27d4d09f108594b2549dd9478f 540w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/allman_d6b8a925-6697-46f6-8e18-ccb92d60ce35.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=9b98fb45594f2ea4f5c47ba9b7d3c6c5 768w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/allman_d6b8a925-6697-46f6-8e18-ccb92d60ce35.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=b275dd2f6c0c7adb7258d029ac9dbf1c 1024w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/allman_d6b8a925-6697-46f6-8e18-ccb92d60ce35.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1200&s=571e834d45dee988e69d57cf6e0d31e4 1200w)
WALKER-SHINHOLSER-RUSHIN HOUSE
397 College Street
Though you’d never know it today, this exquisite Louis XVI French chateau-style mansion was first built in 1889 as a red brick Victorian. Famed local architect Neel Reid redesigned it in 1917, as well as personally overseeing the interior decoration. A private home, the house was once a therapeutic health spa known for its healing “vapor baths” as well as the temporary home of former First Lady of the Republic of China, Madame Chiang Kai Shek, during her tenure as a Wesleyan College student.
![Famous white house in downtown Macon](https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/5c4ec56a_c95c_4c99_a5ca_d19fea7d79fa_577d937c-f0c0-40c0-9f98-759861b5e435.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=423cb16c8359b0227c33decff92bcf12 320w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/5c4ec56a_c95c_4c99_a5ca_d19fea7d79fa_577d937c-f0c0-40c0-9f98-759861b5e435.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=afc74a2ce23fdb5bcb4290a0655c182e 540w, https://macon.imgix.net/images/blogs/5c4ec56a_c95c_4c99_a5ca_d19fea7d79fa_577d937c-f0c0-40c0-9f98-759861b5e435.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=aeaa3c2f042db19f0766d3c2ebcb8afe 640w)
For other tour options and itineraries in Macon, click here and here.