SoCon Off-season thread - 2023-2024

[FUBeAR]

I want to go to Macon. The Big House. Capricorn Studios museum, Harriot Tubman museum, and the Native American Mounds (that I can't remember how to spell)outside of town.

Atta guy!

Ocmulgee Mounds are really cool.
Capricorn Studios is just amazing!
Never went to the Big House … always wanted to, but ended up at H&H Soul Food Restaurant instead. YUM!

If you go, stay @ Hotel 45 downtown. It’s a Marriott property and cool. They are proud of their rooms though…not as proud as some of those downtown GVL Hotels, but still pretty dang proud.

[caribbeanhen]

[/CENTER]
Tribute to FUBeAR & Mrs. FUBeAR’s wedding & honeymoon site?

How did you know?




Honeymoon Suite with mirrored headboard!

This is funny

[ElCid]

Welp… ‘96 is nearing 3 decades ago and most of the renaissance in Macon, coincidentally or not, has taken shape since the rebirth of Mercer Football in the early 2010’s.

But don’t take FUBeAR’s word for it … or even the AJC’s. Just to look to everyone’s most trusted news source … CNN…just yesterday.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/23/trave...ica/index.html

America’s Best Towns to Visit 2024
Macon is No. 7 on the list thanks to its musical history, thriving downtown and new national park push

How the Southern city of Macon went from ‘ghost town’ to ‘popping’ destination

Macon, Georgia (CNN)
Stroll through downtown Macon, and you’ll find craft brewpubs not far from a lounge that’s been keeping music lovers entertained for half a century. A beloved new bagel shop is a half-mile walk from a soul food classic that’s still serving fried chicken and collard greens 65 years after opening.

The past and the present are both alive and well along streets lined with architectural beauties dating as far back as the 1820s.

But not too long ago, this hilly city on the Fall Line between Georgia’s Piedmont and Coastal Plain had fallen on hard times.

“When I first got here, Macon was a ghost town,” said Richard Brent, who arrived in central Georgia in 2007 as a construction project manager and eventually went from a volunteer to executive director at The Big House Museum, which is packed with memorabilia from its time as headquarters for the Allman Brothers Band. “I traded in a hardhat for some AC and rock ‘n’ roll music,” Brent said.

As I said, it might have improved. It's was always sort of dilapidated. Probably since Sherman visited. I was last there at a game in 14. Last time there at all was in 15. Very rarely went to Macon. Especially at night. Too much crime. Downtown was about 25 miles from the house. I will say, you could see some improvements over the years, so if it continued, it might have turned the corner by now.

[ElCid]

I want to go to Macon. The Big House. Capricorn Studios museum, Harriot Tubman museum, and the Native American Mounds (that I can't remember how to spell)outside of town.

Luckily, I can go to games at Wofford, Furman and WCU real easy. Only 35 miles to Furman and 50 to WCU. Heck I pass WCU all the time going on drives. All are 1 hr to 90 minute drives. ETSU is a bit further at about two hours, and then UTC is good haul only because there is no direct route. Charleston is actually easier than UTC at 4:30. Macon is about the same. VMI and Samford are to hell and gone. Never been to Samford.

If you go to Macon, take the time to go down the aviation museum in Warner Robins just south of the base. If you like airplanes. They got a huge number.

[Milktruck74]

Front page of the AJC today.

If you’re a SoCon Fan and you haven’t been to Macon and a game @ Mercer yet, you’re just not doing it right…

Embedded Tweet
If you can see this refresh the page to see the embedded tweet.

Today, there are about 1,000 residents living in 734 lofts. The 83 blocks that make up downtown have roughly 200 storefront-level businesses, 80% of them locally owned.

More than $958 million has been invested in the immediate square-mile heart of downtown since 1996.

The most-noticeable signs of revival are at night. Over two dozen thriving restaurants, bars, breweries and sidewalk cafes dot the streetscape. And, in a telling sign of modern vibrance, there are enough clear-bulbed, outdoor string lights twinkling over gathering spots to stretch to Savannah.

The Otis Redding Center for the Arts is being built on a corner near the City Auditorium, across historic Cotton Avenue from a one-time office building that in recent years was turned into Hotel Forty Five, a 94-room boutique space.

Just down Cherry Street, the Tubman African American Museum and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame anchor the district’s eastern edge, along with another loft development at the famed Capricorn Studios, preserved as a museum and still-in-use recording venue.

I was in Maconga for two weeks to train a new hire back in '13. Then it wasn't the best or worst place I had been, it was just meh.... However, I was in the midst of training for an Ironman, so I went for a 10 or 12 mile run that took me all around the area...the next day I told the local where all I had been, and she informed me that I was very fortunate to not have contracted a case of Accelerated Lead Poisoning. I really didn't think it was that bad...but I've also lived in Memphis!!!

I should probably check it out, I love thriving downtowns. I never thought I would live in a downtown area, but I'm glad I do now. I love being able to walk to restaurants and walk home after a libation or 3.

[FUBeAR]

I was in Maconga for two weeks to train a new hire back in '13. Then it wasn't the best or worst place I had been, it was just meh.... However, I was in the midst of training for an Ironman, so I went for a 10 or 12 mile run that took me all around the area...the next day I told the local where all I had been, and she informed me that I was very fortunate to not have contracted a case of Accelerated Lead Poisoning. I really didn't think it was that bad...but I've also lived in Memphis!!!

I should probably check it out, I love thriving downtowns. I never thought I would live in a downtown area, but I'm glad I do now. I love being able to walk to restaurants and walk home after a libation or 3.

Yeah - things were just starting to get a little better in 2013 (after several decades of decline) as the infrastructure for positive change - the consolidation of Macon & Bibb County Gov’t in 2012, then MAP, then Knight Foundation investment grant(s)…and all sorts of other entities (like Mercer U), investments, and people - began ‘falling into place.’ 2013 was the 1st year FUBeAR spent many weekends in Maconga … and you had to squint real hard … and sometimes cover parts of your eyes, but you could see it had potential. Steady improvement since then… and certainly up to … “Dang, this place is really cool!” by 2020.

[caribbeanhen]

Yeah - things were just starting to get a little better in 2013 (after several decades of decline) as the infrastructure for positive change - the consolidation of Macon & Bibb County Gov’t in 2012, then MAP, then Knight Foundation investment grant(s)…and all sorts of other entities (like Mercer U), investments, and people - began ‘falling into place.’ 2013 was the 1st year FUBeAR spent many weekends in Maconga … and you had to squint real hard … and sometimes cover parts of your eyes, but you could see it had potential. Steady improvement since then… and certainly up to … “Dang, this place is really cool!” by 2020.

Is it as cool as this …

bucket list!

[PaladinNation]

Furman is starting out the 2025 recruiting season with a bang two confirmed and tomorrow could be another.

Brady Smith — CPA, - TN
6-2 280 OL
https://x.com/bradyw_smith/status/1804314719160791074

Hunter Taylor — Greenville, HS -SC
6-6 295 OL
https://x.com/HunterTaylor74/status/1806024967701606534

3 Star TB CJ Nettles announces tomorrow-could be another big pickup for the DINS.
https://x.com/CJNettles5/status/1801709637697474720

[Tribe4SF]

Furman is starting out the 2025 recruiting season with a bang two confirmed and tomorrow could be another.

Brady Smith — CPA, - TN
6-2 280 OL
https://x.com/bradyw_smith/status/1804314719160791074

Hunter Taylor — Greenville, HS -SC
6-6 295 OL
https://x.com/HunterTaylor74/status/1806024967701606534

3 Star TB CJ Nettles announces tomorrow-could be another big pickup for the DINS.
https://x.com/CJNettles5/status/1801709637697474720

W&M has seen the hottest recruiting start ever. Top guy is Leon Clark, 3* RB with offers from Va Tech, Texas A&M, UNC, Maryland, Syracuse and a number of G5 schools.

[Milktruck74]

Is it as cool as this …

bucket list!?

The girl? or the town?