EAR TO THE GROUND: Cotton Avenue is on a new roll
Almost 200 years ago, the lines for Macon's grid of streets were being laid out. However, not everyone was interested in fitting in with these defined lines.
According to historian Conie Mac Darnell, one farmer followed the old Federal Road built to bring cotton to the river, with his own wagon filled high with the crop, and the city engineers planted their stakes around the farmer's path, weaving the stubborn journey of cotton into the layout of Macon, creating Cotton Avenue. As Darnell himself says, "Macon's history cannot be told in neat square blocks."
Cotton Avenue has seen its fair share of history. As the aforementioned path carrying the South's cash crop to the river on the backs of slaves, and then as the thriving black business district, to its resurgence today, with new African American-owned businesses like beauty destination Le' Face to men's clothing store LDW's Haberdashery.
Always dressed in towering heels, impeccable make-up, stylish clothes and a dazzling smile, statuesque Chicago native and Le' Face owner Doretha Curtis puts any customer at ease.
It's pretty darn easy to put your beauty faith in the hands of someone who looks so stunning. With her own line of customizable mineral cosmetics, and an impressive selection of skincare products, it's easy to get carried away after getting your eyebrows masterfully threaded or following an exquisite facial.
Just a few doors down, the sharp-dressed father and son duo of Louis and Doug White have brought their quality menswear store to downtown Macon after opening their first LDW's Men's Designer Fashions on Mercer University Drive seven years ago.
The store feels like a swanky men's lounge, complete with leather couches and dark wood armoires, plus a glorious array of suits, shirts, ties and pocket squares (which I'm tempted to re-purpose as neck scarves that will stand out a mile).
And then there's my own office at the Otis Redding Foundation, keeping the legacy alive through the sweet sound of music education. Next door at the Otis Redding Center for Creative Arts, local kids take music lessons and the Dream Choir practices for its performances.
You can check out the fruits of their labor at tonight's Macon Pops performance, "Songs of the Soul."
Looking to the future of Cotton Avenue, it's important to look back at its past. Historic Macon is bringing some new attention to Cotton Avenue's history with a new African American Walking Tour brochure.
It covers such monumental locations as Tremont Temple Baptist Church (a vital space for local black businesses to organize as well as a preaching stop for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.), the Capricorn Records office building (home to Redwal Music Co.), and Hutchings Funeral Home.
While the Capricorn Records building is undergoing renovations, and Hutchings Funeral Home is today run by sisters Sharon Hutchings and Starr Hutchings Purdue, not all the locations were so lucky. Tremont Temple Baptist Church was demolished in 2014, and it's not the only one on the list no longer standing.
To showcase the new brochure, Historic Macon will be hosting the free Cotton Avenue Roll at 10 a.m. Feb. 27, kicking off with a biscuit bar breakfast by H&H at the Ruth Hartley Mosley Memorial Center, followed by a trolley tour led by George Muhammad.
This event offers an incredible chance to learn about the vitally important history of a street that has always made its own rules.
Leila Regan-Porter is the administrative assistant at the Otis Redding Foundation, the marketing co-chair for Bragg Jam president of the Main Street Macon board. Follow her on Twitter@theleila.com.
This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 9:37 PM with the headline "EAR TO THE GROUND: Cotton Avenue is on a new roll ."