We ate at Five Guys because I wouldn’t let Joe take us to the Grill, which is a disgusting 24 our diner. It’s one of those places that people love, probably out of nostalgia, but I just feel dirty in there.
From Athens we made our way to Watkinsville. We were traveling on the route that was saved from burning when Sherman went on his rampage of burning Georgia.
In Watkinsville we stopped by Eagle Tavern which was “the center of social and political life in Watkinsville for more than a hundred years”
On our way out we drove by my cousin’s house. They live in a historical home and it looks like they are redoing the entrance to the estate.
We drove to the Elder Mill Covered Bridge which was built in 1897 and is “one of the few covered bridges in Georgia continuing to to carry traffic without underlying steel beams.”
From Watkinsville we stayed on the path and drove down to Madison in Morgan County. Apparently Madison’s claim to fame is that when Sherman came through he couldn’t burn Madison, he apparently said it was too pretty to burn. And really, it was very pretty. I would like to go back and tour some of the homes and spend more time looking around, but we didn’t stay long, we still had to continue the route towards Eatonton.
On our way down we saw a sign for Rock Eagle Mound. I originally didn’t want to go, but the entrance to place seemed so large, I decided we should stop by. Rock Eagle Mound is apparently of prehistoric origin. It is a mound of white quartz rocks in the shape of an Eagle. “Only two such configurations discovered East of the Mississippi River, both are in Putnam County.”
After this little diversion we finally arrived to our major destination of the day. Uncle Remus’ house! It was constructed from three slave cabins that the author of the Brer stories, Joel Chandler Harris would have heard the stories on the plantation.
Inside the museum there are various pictures from the book and creations of the Brer characters. There is one painting that Walt Disney presented to the museum of the man who played Uncle Remus and the little boy from The Song of the South. I’m sure you know, but Magic Mountain in Disneyland is based on the Brer characters. You can’t buy the movie in America, we got our copy on eBay from Japan. There were also some Civil War things in the museum, like some Confederate money bills and books. It was small, but there was some interesting stuff to look at.
Other than the Uncle Remus' Museum, Eatonton seemed boring.
We drove back home going through Social Circle which has the famous Blue Willow Inn restaurant and Monroe & sunny Winder. It was a thrilling day. Tons of driving, but we saw lots of awesome rural Georgia. I think it was worth it.
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