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Thomasville By Nancy and Richard Woodworth Barely a century ago, the small southwestern Georgia city of Thomasville was celebrated as one of the most fashionable places in the world to visit. The railroad ended at Thomasville – "the best winter resort on three continents," according to Harpers magazine in 1897. A dozen downtown hotels and 25 boarding houses beckoned Northern industrialists and socialites to spend the winter in the pine-scented uplands known as the Tallahassee Red Hills, away from the malaria-plagued Florida coast. They paid $4 a night for a room, but found they could buy an acre of land for $3. The sprawling old cotton plantations could be acquired for a song. Early snowbirds built more than 50 grand houses along Hansell and Dawson streets in town, and turned the outlying plantation properties into quail-hunting and pleasure retreats. People like Cleveland steel magnate Howard Melville Hanna walked the red clay streets and bought two plantations in one day. The resort era lasted three decades until the early 1900s. Henry Flagler’s railroad opened up the Florida coast and construction of the Panama Canal proved how land drainage could reduce the breeding of yellow-fever and malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Southern Florida killed Thomasville’s Hotel Era almost overnight. Its plantations remain to this day, however. Seventy-one plantations cover about 300,000 acres – the largest such cluster in the country. All are still private residences, except for Pebble Hill, an outstanding museum, and Melhana, a swanky new resort. Although the old hotels are gone and the plantations generally hidden from public view, vestiges of the resort era beckon today’s traveler to this city of 20,000 just twelve miles above the Florida state line. The city has seven official historic districts, most reflecting its Victorian heyday. The grand houses represent an unusual variety of architectural styles. Among them is the magnificent Lapham-Patterson House, a quirky structure with no square rooms or right angles. The South’s first indoor residential bowling alley is part of the outstanding local history museum. The oldest church drew Jacqueline Kennedy for solace after the president’s assassination – she was a guest at John Hay Whitney’s plantation – before it changed its affiliation from Catholic to Episcopal. One of the historic districts includes the downtown, an early model for the national Main Street revival program. Most buildings were erected in 1886, and inscriptions reveal their original use. Locally owned shops and restaurants thrive in restored buildings that prompt visitors to look up and around. The elaborate walls and ceilings may be of as much interest as the merchandise and food. More than 10,000 rose bushes bloom throughout the city during the annual Rose Show & Festival in late April and lead to the moniker, "The Rose City." There are twelve other parks, including one called Yankee Paradise. The oldest attraction is "The Big Oak," a downtown live oak that’s wider than Niagara Falls is deep. The railroad still runs at grade level through the streets, stopping through traffic in its tracks. Just as well. Thomasville is a languorous place in which to pause and, as its hospitable Southern residents say, to stay a spell. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places in the Southeast, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2000. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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