Thieves steal sign at Macon’s historic Cannonball House

Yankee soldiers are not suspected.

But the scoundrel who made off with the sign outside Macon’s tourist-attracting Cannonball House might be less than welcome at the renowned Georgia Avenue home.

An out-of-town visitor informed workers in the house Wednesday that the square, painted-metal sign that usually hangs on hooks near an ornate iron fence along the sidewalk out front was missing.

The 2-foot-by-2-foot sign, valued at about $500, reads “The Cannonball House ... Gift Shop & Confederate Museum.”

Nicole Thurston, the house’s executive director, figures the culprit took the sign either to cash in on the metal at a scrap yard or as a prank.

She also wondered if it might have been “a target” because of its Confederate connections.

“I can’t say,” Thurston said. “You can come up with any number of different scenarios.”

Either way, she doesn’t expect to get the sign back.

“It’s unfortunate when you think of the travelers coming through,” she said. “We’re hoping (people) will plug our address into GPS to find us.”

The Cannonball House name is a misnomer as it was struck during the Civil War by a Union artillery shell, not a cannonball. The shell slammed into a porch column and tore up other parts of the home.

On Thursday, Thurston was just glad the sign thief didn’t do any damage.

“We have sustained enough,” she said.

To contact writer Joe Kovac Jr., call 744-4397. Follow him on Twitter@joekovacjr.

This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 6:39 PM with the headline "Thieves steal sign at Macon’s historic Cannonball House ."