Macon and the Allman Brothers Band have come full-circle. Please visit Macon and walk in the footsteps of the band. Drive down Duane Allman Boulevard, cross the Raymond Berry Oakley II Bridge, dine at the H&H, reflect at Rose Hill, and see the Big House – only then can you truly appreciate the magnitude of this band and its importance to rock music and the South.
H&H Restraunt in Macon, Ga
Mama Louise’s H and H Restaurant is still downtown, still serving up those sweet potato pies and smiles with a side of collard greens, just like always. The Big House is right there on Vineville, of course, full of its memories and its ghosts and its will to live on. Capricorn Records is still here, too—well, the building, at least, with it its own set of legends and lore. The Georgia Music Hall of Fame is pretty new, as Macon things go, but already it’s doing a fine job of keeping the history of all these places and people fresh in our minds and our hearts.
Stroll along the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail and take in the view of historic Rose Hill Cemetery overlooking the river, anchoring the city, guarding the cherished legacy of the Allman Brothers just as it’s guarded the generations of Macon folks who passed before them. Macon folks. That’s what we call our own. Duane and Gregg and Berry and all the others were Macon folks. So are Little Richard, and Otis Redding, too.
So here’s the question: could The Big House have come to exist in any other place on earth besides Macon, Georgia? Probably. Could the Allman Brothers have made their magic somewhere else? Possibly. Would any of it have been as real, as timeless, as exciting, as memorable, as it was here in Macon?