The Antebellum Trail begins in Athens, GA.  Start at the Church-Waddel-Brumby House Museum, aka The Athens Visitor Center.  It is a Federal-style house, circa 1820, and believed to be the city’s oldest surviving residence.  Here you meet your guide for a Historic City Tour that includes the Ware-Lyndon House, circa 1856.  The House became Athens’ first city recreation center and has been completely restored as both a house museum and the centerpiece of the Lyndon House Arts Center complex.

After checking into your hotel for a two-night stay.  A dinner of Southern Low-Country cooking is included this evening. (D)

After breakfast, start the day in Watkinsville, affectionately known as the “Artland of Georgia” for having more artists per capita than any other city in Georgia and has been able to maintain the historic beauty of the area.

You first visit the Eagle Tavern Museum, which once served as a stagecoach stop for travelers traveling from Milledgeville to Athens.  It is an 1801 plain-style structure and the house-museum offers a glimpse into travel during the 19th century.  You also visit the Elder Mill Covered Bridge, one of the few covered bridges left in Georgia it is one of the most visited and photographed sites in the community.

After a break for lunch on own in historic downtown Watkinsville, visit Happy Valley Pottery, a working studio with on-site pottery and glass blowing demonstrations.  After your tour, stop by their gift shop where you can purchase pieces from local artists.

This afternoon return to Athens, home to the University of Georgia (the birthplace of public higher education in America), this vibrant college town is known for its blend of traditional heritage and trend-setting southern culture and music.  Enjoy a free evening in downtown Athens.  A vibrant, restored Victorian-era downtown teems with art galleries, boutiques, antique shops and distinctive restaurants.  Dinner is on your own this evening. (B)

Start the day in Madison, GA, another town Sherman refused to burn.  Its National Register Historic District is one of the state’s largest collections of Pre-Civil War architecture.  Visit Heritage Hall on Main Street.  It continues to inspire those who pass by with its grandeur and stateliness – a time capsule of how some of Madison’s wealthiest citizens lived before the Civil War.  This historic house museum offers you a chance to step back in time.  As you enter through the giant wood door, you are greeted in the parlor by local Madisonians, excited to share the home’s ongoing story of preservation, perseverance and even a bit of peculiarity.

Next, visit the local horse farm Southern Cross Guest Ranch.  Enjoy a guided tour of the barn that give you a change to learn about their horses.  Then you sit down to a wonderful lunch with Southern Hospitality.

Continuing along the Antebellum Trail, stop in Eatonton for a guided tour.  The Historic District of Eatonton features over 100 antebellum and Victorian-era structures, as well as many examples of Greek Revival, Queen Anne, Folk Victorian, and Gothic Revival homes.

Then visit Macon, GA, which has more historic structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places than any other city in Georgia.  The city is known for its beautiful historic downtown district and large boulevards.  It is home to the oldest private university in Georgia, Mercer University, and Wesleyan College, the first college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women.

Check into your local hotel for an overnight stay.  Then tour the Hay House, one of the South’s most exquisite Renaissance Revival homes.  You’ll be transported back in time in this 18,000-square-foot mansion spanning four levels and crowned by a two-story cupola.  Built between 1855 and 1859 for William Butler Johnston and his wife, Anne Tracy Johnston, in the Italian Renaissance Revival style.  It boasts beautiful 18th-Century furnishings, Italian Carrara Marble fireplaces, some of the country’s finest examples of marbleized and trompe l’oeil finishes, a music room with a 30-foot clerestory ceiling, exquisite plaster work with 24-karat gold leafing and spectacular stained glass.

A wonderful, catered Southern Dinner is included here this evening. (B,L,D)

Your last stop on the Antebellum Trail is Milledgeville, a town that calls itself the “First Lady of Georgia.”  Founded in 1803, it served as the capital of Georgia for more than 60 years.  “Milley the Trolley” is the best way to take in the town and you climb aboard for a guided drive through the historic district past the former State Capitol, old churches and many historic homes.

You will also visit the Old Governor’s Mansion, one of the finest examples of High Greek Revival architecture in the nation.  It  looms over Milledgeville with stately columns and an imposing facade.  It served as the residence for Georgia’s chief executives for over thirty years.  The history encompasses the antebellum, Civil War, and early Reconstruction phases of the state’s history.  During the Civil War, the Mansion was claimed as a “prize” in the “March to the Sea,” and General William T. Sherman headquartered in the building.  Following the war, Georgia’s seat of government was relocated to Atlanta, and the Mansion was abandoned.

You have time for lunch on before departing for home. (B)