If you do a search for the most charming Southern town, I have no doubt that Madison, GA will probably pop up! No doubt, Madison has quaint and charming covered and every time I go there, I come away and say, I could live here! It really is the quintessential Southern town with so much to offer and see. Their historic district is second to none and if you stroll the streets of Madison, you’ll see what I mean. When I was invited by the hosts of the Madison Spring Tour of Homes to come back and visit, of course I jumped at the chance. It’s been 6 years since I’ve been and it was so nice to be back. I enjoyed a day and 1/2 in charming Madison, so I’ll share the home tour, where I stayed and where I ate. If you go to Madison, there is no shortage of good food and things to see and do. The home tour always opens up all the churches and historic buildings too, so you can see them all in one weekend. I visited several during my weekend there, but I’m only sharing the home tour today. Come along and see the tour!

Unfortunately Mark couldn’t make the trip with me this time, even though I know he would have enjoyed the weekend. His mom went in the hospital and then we ended up moving her to assisted living (the same one my parents were in) a week ago, so it’s been an eventful week.

The Madison-Morgan Cultural Center is housed in an old elementary school that’s so full of charm. I’m so glad they kept this beauty, it’s an iconic building on Main Street. The Romanesque Revival building was constructed in 1895 as one of the first graded public schools in the South. It functioned as a public school until 1957.

I’ve been in here several times and the old wood floors and auditorium harkens back to days gone by when elementary school was a simpler time. Isn’t it gorgeous? Since 1976, the Cultural Center is a thriving arts organization and a venue for performing and visual arts. It’s also a history museum rich with local and regional history and houses a restored 1895 classroom. I picked up my map and off I went on the self walking and driving tour. I saw 7 houses in all. I won’t get into all the history of each house, but will share a bit about them. I took pics inside most of them, as well as some garden areas and I hope they don’t mind being shared as they were all featured in pictures in the Madison tour paper.

Chapman-Bell House, ca. 1895

This Victorian cottage’s current owner, Brad Chapman, has renovated and decorated the house to reflect his combination modern taste with respect for the past. He did a great job!

Back of the house.

The Porch House, ca. 1897

Home owners: Mike and Laurie Becker. Most homes of this era have been renovated and added onto and The Porch House got its name from the addition of this wrap around porch sometime around 1921.

The porch was extra special!

This porch is so spacious and welcoming.

Alfred Shaw House, ca. 1847, restyled 1880’s

The Queen Anne owned by Cade Cowan, has been made his own with a keen eye for maintaining the long-standing historic character of the house. The kitchen was extensively overhauled adding heart pine floors and painted wood. This kitchen and whole house might be my favorite of the tour.

Isn’t this beautiful and so unique?

Love this Victorian porch that was added on.

View from the yard.

Flower garden and outbuildings. There was also a guest house to the left of where I’m standing.

LeSeuer-Overby-Rhodes House, ca. 1875

Current homeowners: Reginald and Kebby Holden and they have done an amazing job of being careful stewards to this historic house, with thoughtful additions.

I loved how this home was decorated, with pretty saturated colors.

This stop is where I ran into a reader, Julie, who reads my blog and follows me. I always love to chat with you all, so if you see me out and about, please say hello! It was great to meet you, Julie!

Bonar Hall, ca. 1839

Homeowner: Betsy Wagenhauser

This elegant Georgian style antebellum home, has mostly been left unchanged from renovations over the years and deserves its place on the National Register of Historic Places. It has a mix of original and relocated outbuildings spread across 13 acres.

The original kitchen.

The property and gardens were beautiful.

The Whiteside House, ca. 1920

Current owners: Clarence and Kathy Whiteside

The Whiteside’s made several renovations to the home after acquiring in 2018. It’s filled with American antiques from the large historic estate that they previously owned in Madison and from their former mountain home.

House of Janus ca. 1998

By the end of the tour, I wasn’t taking as many pics. This home is owned by Steve and Linda Huggins and is on a private road with half a dozen lots, all of which are 7 acres or more. It’s country living near the heart of town. The house is fairly new and the current owners added a breezeway and garage. The backyard was really pretty and I should have gotten a picture of it with the pool.

Downtown Madison is in a square and so very well done. I was there for dinner and also had breakfast the next morning on the square.

I want to give a big shoutout to Mad Hospitality, who hosted me in a stay at the newly renovated motor inn in town, New South Motor Inn. It’s a quaint inn just like the old motels we all stayed in growing up, but each of the rooms have been refurbished and made new. It was a delightful place to stay, with no front office check in. You get everything by email with a code to get in the door.

It was spacious and well appointed, clean and comfortable.

I would highly recommend a stay here if you’re in Madison.

Mad Hospitality also treated me to dinner at The Dining Room, downtown Madison.  Owned by real estate developer Thomas Preston, the company has opened several restaurants in the historic square of Madison. The Dining Room was so exceptional with farm to table fine dining and I enjoyed every single bite of my dinner. I appreciate their hospitality so much and that was one fabulous dinner! Truly memorable.

The next morning I stopped by Patisserie for breakfast (also owned by Mad Hospitality), snagging a ham and cheese croissant, which I heard were delicious. They are!

I also took home a box of pastry treats and a loaf of sourdough bread. Mark love pastries and was very happy when he saw all of this. It was all superb and tasty!

It was such a treat to once again visit Madison and enjoy their Southern hospitality for myself. Thank you again, Madison, for the invitation and treats, so memorable for me. I hope you all enjoyed seeing the tour of homes this year. I took so many pictures of the beautiful historic homes lining the streets, so I will also do a post showing those as well as the antiques shop I visited again. It’s always fun to visit Madison!

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Mark and I really do enjoy touring homes together and this month held the Georgia Trust Expedition in Senoia, GA, a small town known for being in the film industry. Namely, The Walking Dead is their main attraction. There have been lots of movies filmed in and around Senoia, so while it’s known for that, it’s also known for Southern small town charm and historic homes are abundant. We enjoyed our day in Senoia and it ended up being a hot one. I didn’t want to intrude into privacy too much, so I only took a few shots mostly outside the homes and a few inside, so I hope that no one gets mad at me for the sharing. They put their homes on the tour, so hopefully a little social media won’t hurt anything. There were 17 homes/historic structures  on the tour and we made it to about 10 of them, before we pooped out from the heat and headed home.

It was such a pleasure to go back and tour a Southern Living Idea house, a historic home that was renovated by Southern Living back in 2012. I was invited then by Southern Living to come to a party they were throwing and that was the year after I moved back to Georgia, so I was so excited to get included in these festive events. Ballard Designs was there and that’s when I first got introduced to those ladies. I can’t believe that was all 13 years ago. I’ve had a whirlwind of events since then, but those are slowing down now as things have changed. If you want to see what the house looked like inside back then, just click that link above and there are 2 posts that I shared.

The house was sold after that to a couple and I think they are the original owners all this time. It was fun to see the changes they’ve made. That little community has really grown in these 13 years and so many things have been built around it.

Love the front porch and all the Americana.

This is the landing upstairs. I distinctly remember the Ikea kitchen in this house and it was still there, looking as good as ever. That is what made me really lean towards Ikea kitchen cabinets in my fixer upper house.

Back porch.

Looks like a cozy place to hang out.

They put in a pool that reminds me of ours and it looks great back here. I love that retractable awning and it was there when SL renovated the house, the new owners changed the cover. I would love to get one of these for our backyard patio over the sectional seating area. Maybe next year!

Backyard plants.

Another look at the patio and dining area with the awning. Isn’t it gorgeous? We met the homeover and enjoyed talking to him.

Travis House, 1906

We visited this cute Victorian cottage first thing and it was very nice.

More homes along the way that we didn’t tour, but I can’t resist a pretty house.

This one too. So many were ready for the 4th of July festivities and that made me buy bunting for our front porch.

Another home on the tour, this is a 1920’s house.

Another new home built in the historic district. I love these new homes made to look old, that’s what I would want if we were in the market for a new house, which we are not.

Another pretty home along the way.

This is a townhouse built in the historic district and these fit in nicely with the area.

It was the prettiest townhome I’ve ever seen. Wish I could have taken more pics inside, but again didn’t want to invade their privacy too much.

The outdoors has a pretty little pool area, perfect and secluded.

Front porch.

Landing area by the stairs.

Painting over the fireplace that I really loved. I came home and hunted down a landscape painting for my mantel and found a pretty one I’ll share later.

McKnight House, 1905

Loved this newel post. Built int he Neoclassical Revival style, first renovated in the mid-1980’s and the current owners have lived here since 2012. Lots of history in this house.

The backyard patio.

View from the second floor window.

Another home along the street.

From the front.

This decked out 1910 beauty is the Mann house and it’s said this house appeared in an episode of The Walking Dead. I’ve never watched that show, so can’t comment on it. It’s just not my type of show.

Bradenburg-Merrick-Hoff House, 1873 – Gothic Revival architecture

It had an expansive porch.

Davis-Tyre House, 1896

If I remember correctly, this house wasn’t occupied, but was empty during the tour.

The Bedenbaugh House, 1878 built in the Plantation style.

It was a very pretty and interesting historic home and renovations completed in 2023 added porches, an office suite, pool, and recreation court.

Pool area with a pickleball court behind.

They definitely had a party-ready backyard!

Very nice outdoor space.

Carmichael House, 1870, this Gothic Revival cottage houses the Senoia Area Historical Society and museum.

Private home of Steve & Leslee Maloy, built in 1894, believed to be the only example of Saddlebag architecture in Coweta County, which features two adjacent rooms connected with a central hallway.

This house was a treat to see and we really enjoyed the backyard. Steve had opened up the kickoff of the tour that morning at the church, sharing a bit of Senoia history.

We meandered in the backyard, marveling at all the beauty back here and then we ran into Steve, who urged us to go completely to the back of the property for a fun garden surprise. This lovely table was beautifully set.

Perfect for summer.

We passed the large detached garage and went past the fire pit of Adirondack chairs.

Nice setup!

Then we arrived at the back of the property and this charming garden, which he said his wife was responsible for. That’s her garden shed.

I just love shady gardens and how secluded and secret they feel.

Cute blue door on the she shed.

Lush Lenton Rose.

Such a cute area.

I’m glad he told us to walk further and check it all out.

It was a nice respite from the heat and then as we walked back to the street, past the garage, he offered to show Mark what was inside his garage. It was filled with vintage muscle cars and of course, that is right down Mark’s alley. They got to talk about their favorites, something that Mark loves to this day, talking about his teenage boyhood fast cars. That never leaves a man, does it?

And that’s a look at many of the Senoia historic homes on this year’s expedition. If you’re in Georgia and don’t know anything about the Georgia Trust, get on their mailing list for all the Rambles and Expeditions going on across the state. We’ve done a few of these and always enjoy them and they always have something going on in Georgia.

 

 

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