Tag Archives: Georgia Musicians

Allman Brothers Band Gravesite, Macon

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Duane Allman – 20 November 1946-29 October 1971

The Allman Brothers Band is one of the best-loved groups in rock and roll history and they considered their early association with Macon integral to their success.  For nearly five decades visiting the gravesite of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley at Rose Hill Cemetery has been a pilgrimage for many of their most devoted fans. In recent years, iron fencing has been placed around the graves to prevent vandalism and other unwelcome activities.

Tragedy first struck the band on 29 October 1971, when Duane Allman died as the result of a motorcycle crash at the intersection of Hillcrest Avenue and Bartlett Street.

Berry Oakley – 4 April 1948-11 November 1972

Just over a year later, on 11 November 1972, Berry Oakley met the same fate within blocks of where Duane had crashed.

Gregg Allman – 8 December 1947-27 May 2017

After years on the road leading the band and doing his own solo projects, Gregg Allman died on 27 May 2017. It was always his wish to be reunited with Duane and Berry in Rose Hill. A formal memorial has yet to be placed, but plans have been made to expand the fencing to incorporate his gravesite. [As of 2020, a memorial has been placed].

Many fans have already visited and left souvenirs and remembrances.

To visit the site, turn right inside the gate and drive down to the Old Hebrew Burial Grounds, marked by a brick and wrought iron arch. You can usually park by the large oak tree and walk a bit down the hill to your left to reach the graves. Be warned, though, that driving in the cemetery is difficult due to very narrow lanes.

Rose Hill Cemetery, National Register of Historic Places

H & H Restaurant, Macon

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Inez Hill and Louise Hudson, affectionately known as Mama Hill and Mama Louise, opened their H & H Restaurant on the corner of Hayes and Third Street in 1959, moving to Cotton Avenue for a time before finally settling at the present Forsyth Avenue location. The establishment soon became a Macon favorite and would go on to acquire iconic status for its association with the Allman Brothers Band. In their struggling early days, the band members came into H &  H and were so broke they had to share plates. Mama Louise, sensing they were hungry, made them all their own plates, free of charge. The musicians never forgot her act of kindness and promised to make it up to her when they made it big. In 1972, they took her on tour.

For serious fans of the Allman Brothers Band, no trip to Macon would be complete without a visit to H & H. It was the hospitality of Mama Louise that helped put the place on the map and nearly fifty years later people still make their way here to feel a connection to rock history. The memorabilia-lined walls never fail to amaze. The Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, and countless others were H & H regulars in Macon’s musical heyday of the early 1970s. It was also an important meeting place for Macon’s civil rights leaders and activists.

Of course, people come for the history and legend but return for the excellent food. Known as Macon’s “fried chicken specialist”, H & H also offers items like country fried steak, fried fish, oxtails, and more. The meats are great, but the sides are even better. I’m not a fan of collards, but I like H & H’s. Their mashed potatoes are creamy [not runny] and the squash casserole is as good as you’ll find anywhere. They top it with cheese to make it perfect.

Mama Hill collapsed while working in the restaurant in 2007 and died the next day at the age of 92. H & H briefly closed in 2013 but reopened in early 2015. It’s been called Georgia’s most iconic restaurant and while it fits the bill, it’s not a pretentious place. You’ll feel right at home when you walk in the door, with locals and tourists alike. The staff are some of the best you’ll find anywhere and the food will not disappoint.

Beall-Jordan-Dunlap House, 1860, Macon

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When built for plantation owner Nathan Beall, this house was a large but simple Victorian. He later sold it Leonadius H. Jordan, owner of the Academy of Music [today’s Grand Opera House]. Jordan died in 1899 and in 1900 it was restored by Confederate Captain Samuel S. Dunlap, the most significant change being the addition of 18 Corinthian columns. During World War II, it was a boarding house and tea room operated by Mrs. Robert Lasseter. A photo of The Allman Brothers standing on the front porch of the house, looking a bit worse for wear, graces the cover of their eponymous debut album in 1969. In the 1970s and 1980s it was one of Macon’s most popular restaurants, known as Beall’s 1860. In 2001 it was restored by Gus Bell and donated to Mercer University in 2008. Today, it’s home to Mercer University’s Robert McDuffie Center for Strings.

Macon Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Judge Clifford Anderson House, 1859, Macon

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This Tuscan-inspired Victorian is one of the most architecturally interesting houses in the Orange Street neighborhood and a well-loved Macon landmark. It was built by Judge Clifford Anderson, who practiced law with Sidney Lanier’s father Robert for a time in Macon. He was also the brother of Sidney Lanier’s mother Mary Jane. In 1846, Anderson served as the first president of the Macon chapter of the YMCA. Anderson was a member of the Confederate Congress and a captain in the Floyd Rifles. He served several terms in the state legislature after the war and also served as state Attorney General.

National Register of Historic Places

Sidney Lanier Cottage, Circa 1840, Macon

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Built circa 1840 by Larkin Griffin, founder and namesake of Griffin, Georgia, this was the birthplace of poet, flautist, and Confederate signal corpsman Sidney Clopton Lanier on 3 February 1842. His grandparents, Sterling and Sarah Lanier were living here at the time of his birth. Sidney’s father, Robert Lanier, was a friend of the Griffins and had a law practice in Griffin. He and his wife, Mary Jane Anderson Lanier, were in Macon for Sidney’s birth because of the availability of medical facilities. The house was moved from a nearby lot to its present location around 1879 and the front porch was added. It was remodeled again in the early 1900s. After years of being owned and operated as a museum and event space by the Historic Macon Foundation, it is now privately owned.

In his time, Lanier was Georgia’s most renowned literary figure, penning the famed poems “The Marshes of Glynn” and “Song of the Chattahoochee”. He was also a well-respected musician, serving as first chair flute with Baltimore’s Peabody Symphony Orchestra for seven seasons and composing a cantata for the American centennial celebration in Philadelphia in 1876.

National Register of Historic Places

Old Macon Library, 1889

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The Macon Public Library & Historical Society, which was chartered in 1876, commissioned D. B. Woodruff to design the city’s first library, completed in 1889 in the Romanesque Revival style. The library (located here until the 1920s) was on the second floor while commercial businesses occupied the first floor. It housed numerous other tenants over the years. [David B. Woodruff was a Connecticut native who came to Georgia in 1853 and served with the Macon Volunteers (Infantry) in the Civil War. He designed several important buildings in Macon and Augusta].

In the 1960s, the building was home to the College Discotheque, a popular hangout and music venue. On 2 May 1969, the Allman Brothers Band played their first gig in Macon here. They had recently moved to town to be near Phil Walden and Capricorn Records.

After falling into disrepair and facing demolition in the late 20th century, the old library was completely restored by Tony Widner around 2007. It’s now known as the Library Ballroom and serves as an event venue.

Macon Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

2nd Street Storefronts, Macon

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The 300th block of 2nd Street is quite colorful. The blue building on the right has Vitrolite panels on the lower floor. This was most commonly found on jewelry stores and theatres in the mid-20th century, though I don’t know what this building housed.

In this same block is the restaurant, Tzango at Laniers, which has great windows honoring the poet (and flautist) Sidney Lanier, who practiced law in this structure with his father Robert S. Lanier and his uncle Clifford Anderson, from 1868-1872.

Macon Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Bronson House, 1816 & 1852, Eatonton

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From the historical marker: Andrew & Mary Ann Clopton Reid’s 1852 National Register Greek Revival Mansion’s origins reach back to the 1816 “Eagle Tavern Inn.” Rising Star Masonic Lodge F & AM Lodge #39 minutes record its first Feast of St. John the Evangelist Festival Day here on December 28, 1818. Thomas T. Napier owned and occupied it by 1820 & by 1822 its tax digest value was $3,500 ~ while most other buildings in town valued at $500 – $600. Eatonton’s famous tavern operator, William Wilkins, Sr., bought it in 1830 and lost it at sheriff’s sale November 3, 1835, to wealthy planter brothers Andrew & Alexander Sydney Reid, who operated it as Reid’s Hotel. By 1846 Andrew Reid (1806-1865) owned it alone and by 1848 began the conversion to his private residence. James M. Broadfield (1815-1899) was the carpenter-architect who turned the earlier Inn into the Greek house. Twelve massive wooden fluted Doric columns, the massive entrance, interior Egyptian-style door, window & mantel molding & the hallway floor’s marbleized squares added sophistication. In 1874, Reid’s administrators sold to Francis Asberry Leverette, CSA (1845-1895), appointed U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Georgia by President Cleveland. Leverette moved to Macon and died there after selling on February 5, 1894 to James M. Rainey, who began renting rooms for $2.00 a day and even housed by 1901 Dr. Hopkins’ dental office. Mr. & Mrs. Emerson Foote Bronson rented it from Rainey in 1911 and bought from him in 1914. Bronson relocated from Tennille, GA, in 1908 as the new Central of GA Railroad Depot Agent. In 1931, his widow Nena Norwood Bronson (1868-1961), converted to a boarding house and then into 7 apartments, including her own. She preserved the property, careful not to remove architectural features. Her daughter Eunice Bronson (Frank P.) Stubbs (1896-1985) inherited, moved in and continued the family preservation tradition. Her six children, in tribute to their grandmother, mother and their preservation interest, sold it on Oct. 10, 1985, to the Eatonton-Putnam County Historical Society, Inc. for its headquarters. The Society opened the house on Dec. 14, 1985, for a lavish donors’ reception.

It’s also believed that Joel Chandler Harris and his mother lived in a small cottage on the property for a time.

Eatonton Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Round Oak, Georgia

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Founded as Sylvania in 1807, Round Oak is one of the oldest settlements in Jones County. The name was changed to honor an ancient oak known as a gathering place for Native Americans. A depot was built in 1885 and brought a thriving economy which persisted until the early 1920s. The Big O Ranch, home of Otis Redding‘s widow Zelma, is located on Otis Redding Road just outside town, though it is not open to the public.

Tom Darby & Jimmie Tarlton’s “Columbus Stockade Blues”

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Tom Darby (l) & Jimmie Tarlton. Real Photo Promotional Postcard, 1927. Collection of Brian Brown.

This postcard came into my possession through the estate of a cousin, who was a great niece of Tom Darby. Largely forgotten today, Thomas P. (Tom) Darby [1892-1971] and James J. (Jimmie) Tarlton [1892-1979] were considered not only legendary bluesmen but pioneers of country music as well. They’ve been called the first country musicians to employ the steel guitar. Their most famous work, “Columbus Stockade Blues”, has been covered by artists ranging from Doc Watson and Willie Nelson to Bill Monroe, Jimmie Davis, and Bob Dylan. When they made the recording for Columbia in Atlanta in November 1927 Tom Darby pressed for a flat payment of $150 but Jimmie Tarlton wanted royalties. The song took off and sold over 200,000 copies in a short time and though the duo recorded 63 more songs dating to 1933, hostilities over lost royalties finally drove them apart. They reunited in 1965 for a symphony appearance in Columbus but no further collaborative recordings were made. Tarlton, always considered the standout of the duo, did make solo recordings in the 1960s. Search Amazon for compilations, which are available and provide valuable insight into the birth of American popular music.