Wednesday 26 December - Thomasville GA and Macon FL

Slow B & B start again today with home cooked breakfast including grilled local sausages. Then on the road to Thomasville back in Georgia  (and spotted a large vulture on the road feasting on some road kill) to visit the Pebble Hill Plantation. Thomasville was a popular holiday spot for northerners who would spend the winter months from November to April in the area. Many bought or built large homes. Apparently Jackie Kennedy escaped to Thomasville to avoid the press and people after her husband's assassination.

Pebble Hill was bought by a wealthy Cleveland family and expanded and then totally redesigned and rebuilt after a fire destroyed the majority of the original house in the early 1930s. There was even a log cabin school built so that the children of the family and visiting children could continue their education whilst the family took the long winter vacation. The photo below shows the main entrance of the home which strangely does not have a drive or major pathways leading to it. The carriage entrance is at the rear and the main vehicular entrance is at the left hand side.

After our tour of the house - no photos allowed inside and no touching of anything  (Alison was almost smacked by the guide for touching the marble bench top in the pastry kitchen), we walked around the grounds to look at the gardens, family cemetery and various buildings.

Then into Thomasville proper to enjoy lunch at Jonah's Fish and Grits Restaurant which had been recommended by our B & B host. Unfortunately, lunch was only served until 2pm and we arrived at 2.15pm. We have got into the habit of eating one main meal in the day which depending on where it falls with regards to the clock is called "linner" or "dunch". Disappointed we headed back to Monticello and instead opted for traditional comfort food of buffalo wings and pizza from the local Pizza Hut. We had very friendly staff and the restaurant to ourselves. Large pizza, 15 boneless chicken wings with dipping sauce and bottomless sodas for just over $20!

To work off the lunch we dropped our valuables back at at our abode and then set off on a walking tour of the local Monticello historic area. The first public building of note was the Jefferson County High School which was built in 1859 - quite an impressive building and it is no longer the school but is being renovated.

Monticello Court House which sits in a round-a-bout in the middle of the town

We were lucky to score a look at the Monticello Opera House which opened in 1890, seats 600 and is located on the second floor of the building in which it is housed. (The brick building on the right of the photo above.) Ended our walk with a visit to the old cemetery with a section for Confederate soldiers killed in the Civil War.

The Confederate Soldier section is under the tree in the centre draped in Spanish Moss

All rooms at John Denham House are to be occupied tonight so we will pray that none of the other guests feels disposed to turn on the central heating for the second floor. Las night, after our first night of extreme hot flushes, we had the heating off and slept with one of our windows open and still felt the need at times for only a sheet as cover. Clouds have cleared today and the breeze has come up so the air may be a little cooler and less humid.