You Never Know What You’re Going To Get

My husband and I decided to embark on a road trip to our hometown – Cincinnati Ohio – starting from Tampa, where we now reside.  
Basically, it’s just “down the street a ways” on I-75. A thousand miles or so.
 
Our first stop was Macon, Georgia, six hours from Tampa. I googled bed and breakfasts and the Burke Mansion popped up immediately. 


 
It is a Queen Anne Victorian residence built in 1877, sporting the largest butler’s pantry in Macon, highly decorative molding and fireplace mantels throughout and a massive front porch. Not to mention, the proliferation of stain glass windows and exquisite furnishings gracing every room. 
 

 
Of course, when you by-pass word-of-mouth suggestions, and go straight to the internet for your research, you just never know what you are going to get. However, I just had a feeling the Burke Mansion was my kind of place: old, charming, low key – with maybe a few ghosts hanging around. And, in the stillness of the night, maybe a few walls that would speak of past grand events.
 
I booked it immediately. 
 
 
The mansion was constructed by Thomas C. Burke, referred to locally as a “Merchant Prince” in 1877. Townspeople remarked that an invite to the Burke Mansion was “highly coveted.” 
You know the kind of house: the one you gaze at longingly from the street, thinking that “If I lived there, I’d be happy forever.”
 
Apparently, even the Burkes weren’t immune to sorrow penetrating their grand fortress. Public records revealed the Burkes had five children, but only two daughters made it to adulthood. 
 
The two surviving daughters, May and Martina, never married nor had children. After the death of both parents, they split their time between their Macon antebellum mansion and New York City, where they resided at The Plaza Hotel. 
 


 
Rumors hinted at a sisterly rift, as it appeared the two did not dine together. Actually, they did – each ate at opposite ends of the immensely long dining room table in the enormous dining room – thus those passing by saw each of them through a different window and assumed it was in different rooms!
 
On the one night we were there, my husband retired early so I spent the entire evening roaming the house – getting acquainted with its bones. No ghosts were sighted. No walls spoke of past intrigues. Only a quiet dignified silence accompanied me as I roamed from room to room. The house drew me back to a bygone era – an era where a whole room was devoted to sewing and multiple first floor sitting rooms were devoted to entertaining company engaged in lively conversation. And people actually sat in their front porches rocking, relaxing and hanging out.
 

 
The childless sisters lived in their family home until their respective deaths in the 1960’s. Proceeds from the sale of the Burke Mansion  started the T. C. Burke Foundation, which cares for terminally ill cancer patients in Bibb County. It’s still flourishing today. 
 
FYI: American actor, producer and director Tyler Perry recently rented The Burke Mansion for $25,000. Its massive dining room will be featured in his next upcoming movie “A Jazzman’s Blues” for all of 14 seconds.
 
You never know that you’re going to get when you are in the midst of Preserving Your Bloom.
 
Iris Ruth Pastor