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MACON , eighty miles southeast
of Atlanta on I-75, where I-16 branches off to the coast, makes
an attractive stop en route to Savannah, especially when its 200,000
cherry trees erupt with frothy blossoms (celebrated
by a festival in the third week of March). As the highest navigable
point on the Ocmulgee River , Macon was laid
out in 1823 and became a major cotton port. Downtown is no longer
the commercial center it once was, particularly following the
arrival of the huge Macon Mall near the intersection
of the two freeways, but there are signs, everywhere, of an imminent
urban renaissance. Chief among these is the excellent Georgia
Sports Hall of Fame at 301 Cherry St (MonSat 9am5pm,
Sun 15pm; $6; tel 478/752-1585), a handsome, state-of-the-art
facility where you'll find an interactive Paralympics exhibit
alongside a celebration of the long-standing football rivalry
between the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech. Close by,
at 355 Martin Luther King Blvd, is the restored Douglass
Theatre (open for tours MonSat 9am6pm; donations; tel
478/742-2000), Macon's premier movie theatre and vaudeville hall
for African Americans during the Thirties and Forties, hosting
such blues greats as Ma Rainey, Ida Cox and Bessie Smith.
Macon was home to Little Richard, Otis Redding
and the Allman Brothers . Duane Allman and Berry
Oakley, killed here in motorcycle smashes in 1971 and 1972 respectively,
are buried in Rose Hill Cemetery on Riverside
Drive, the inspiration for various of the band's songs. That heritage
is celebrated in the exuberant Georgia Music Hall of Fame
, next door to the visitor center at Martin Luther King
Jr Boulevard and Walnut Street (MonSat 9am5pm, Sun 15pm; $8; tel
478/750-8555). A huge roster of Georgian musicians are recalled
by themed interactive displays that include a Gospel chapel, a
rock'n'roll soda shop and a country caf. As well as admiring Redding's
trademark black sweater and the B-52s' wigs, you can watch footage
of Ray Charles singing Georgia on My Mind to the state legislature,
inspect a photo of James Brown confiding to the pope, and listen
to seventy years' worth of jukebox recordings.
One of the best of its kind anywhere, the celebratory
Tubman African-American Museum , 340 Walnut St (MonSat
9am5pm, Sun 25pm; $3), has a wonderful, eclectic collection, from
African drums and textiles which schoolchildren are encouraged
to handle and play with through intricate quilts, to angry, dazzling
avant-garde work. There's a reading area, filled with studies
books, autobiographies and photograph collections, in a quiet
room. Note that the museum expects to move to larger premises
sometime in 2003. A few minutes north of town at 4182 Forsyth
Rd, the Museum of Arts and Sciences (MonThurs
& Sat 9am5pm, Fri 9am9pm, Sun 15pm; $7) is a creative ensemble
of interactive exhibits geared toward kids and an indoor "natural
habitat" complete with a treehouse from where you can observe
animals such as antelope, leopards and deer.
