Elegant Southern Comfort
Macon's 1842 Inn offers elegant Southern comfort
by Andy Lindstrom
SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT

Country Inns magazine calls it "a Greek Revival dazzler." "American Historic Inns" rates it one of the Top 10 romantic inns in the country. The "Innkeeper's Register" lists its four-star Mobil, four-diamond AAA and four American Bed & Breakfast Association awards. The 1842 Inn in Macon, Ga., may not be everyone's idea of the perfect weekend getaway.

After all, laid-back Macon in the heart of Middle Georgia - about three hours’ drive north from Tallahassee on Interstate 75 - has neither world-class beaches nor a national championship football team. But if you like VIP treatment in an Old South setting, this is as good as it gets. For sheer elegance and consistently friendly service, innkeeper Nazario Filipponi and his staff of 18 impeccably trained associates take pampering to the level of an art form.

On my recent weekend stay, I settled into the Victorian Cottage's Douglass Room. Like all of the inn's 19 guest rooms, it was liberally furnished with fine art, antiques and reproductions. The floors were heart pine, the 12-foot walls were papered in antique patterns and the working fireplace was lined with Victorian tiles. A cut-glass vase was filled with freshly cut flowers; the queen-sized, four-poster bed had been turned down; and there was a chocolate mint wrapped in gold foil on the pillow.

In the main house, which really was built 158 years ago, JoAnn Dillard had hors d'oeuvres and drinks including a truly potent mint julep ready for the afternoon gathering the guests. Emma Williamson reminded everyone to fill out their breakfast cards and to specify whether they wished to be served in their rooms, in the parlor or outdoors on the beautifully landscaped patio.

The 1842 Inn combines historic beauty with modern luxury.

Front-desk manager E.J. Nobles recommended a trip on Mitsi, Macon's in--town trolley, which stops in front of the inn's green-shuttered, white--columned, antebellum wraparound veranda and costs only 25 cents to any site in the city. Located on a tree-lined street in one of Macon's 10 historic districts, the 1842 Inn looks right at home among some 5,500 local buildings on the National Register of Historic Sites. Fortunately, Civil War Gen. Sherman bypassed Macon after he burned Atlanta and just about everything else on his march through Georgia, which spared dozens of neighboring structures - most of them still in use as residential dwellings - to display a bewildering panorama of architectural styles dating to the city's earliest 19th-century roots.

Poet Sidney Lanier's authentically restored birthplace cottage, built in 1840 and open as a museum, is just around the corner. The Hay House - an 18,000-square-foot restoration project in progress with 24 rooms, an 8,000-gallon cistern and a walnut-walled hallway that by itself cost $360,000 to restore six years ago - looms across from Mercer University School of Law and Macon's downtown beyond.

Much like Tallahassee, Macon struggles with its sometimes-uneven downtown redevelopment. The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame has its moments, at least if you're into Bulldogs, Braves, Rambling Wrecks and such. The Georgia Music Hall of Fame gathers together an eclectically impressive gallery of musicians with Peach State credentials ranging from Macon's own Otis Redding and Little Richard to Lena Horne, Harry James and Robert Shaw.

My favorite moment was sitting in the make-believe gospel chapel while Mahalia Jackson sang Thomas A. Dorsey's soul-wrenching "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." We stayed long enough to watch the video twice. Outside of those two stops and the soon-to-be-modernized Harriet Tubman African American Museum, downtown Macon can be a quick study. But a handful of specialty shops and restaurants including The Cherry Corner and Len Berg's - "Real peach ice cream and Southern cooking the way your momma made it," promised cook Wilbur Mitcham, a veteran of 65 years in the Len Berg kitchen - make a visit worth the effort.

Macon's in-town trolley stags in front of the inn's green- shuttered, white--columned, wraparound veranda. Another of Filipponi's several entrepreneurial adventures, The Cherry Corner draws big crowds for such Italian delicacies as cannoli strawberry cheesecake, coconut biscotti and deliziosi bastoncini with sprinkles. He also provides access to fine dining at Le Lavandier's specializing in French cuisine with a chef trained at the Culinary School of Nice -and the City Club, something like Tallahassee's Governor's Club in both formal attire and limited admittance.

A native of Italy who regularly returns to visit family, Filipponi apparently also has decided to sink deep roots in Macon. Along with his downtown pastry shop, he's involved with an entertainment center called Starcadia as well as an indoor soccer and fitness center scheduled to open next year.
But it's at the 1842 Inn, which he and partner Ed Olson purchased last summer, that Filipponi's genius shines. Talk about romantic. On a recent weekend, we were told, 14 of the 19 rooms were occupied by honeymooners. The inn's special "Romance Package" includes a bottle of champagne on arrival, luxury "king deluxe" accommodations, hospitality hour and a traditional Southern breakfast - in bed, of course.

For those less involved with newlywed bliss, there's also a "Southern Gateway Package" which adds a welcome basket of regional goodies and a bus tour of the historic district. Either way, the 1842 Inn's specials are only part of the story. If you've ever wondered what it was like to spend a truly Tara-like weekend with Scarlett and Rhett, this is a great place to find out.

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