Photo by shioshvili on flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons.

There’s no better cure for a lazy summer day in Macon, Georgia, than sitting on the back porch while the blinds shield the scorching, thick heat, enjoying some delicious peach ice cream from Dickey Farms.

Made and produced just outside the heart of Georgia, Dickey Farms peaches seem to hold a special spot in Macon’s culture. Many Maconites’ summer days have been spent driving forty minutes to the farm just to satisfy their peach craving. At Dickey Farms, you’ll find the very popular peach ice cream, peach fritters, delicious peach lollipops, peach salsa, peach hot sauce, peach syrup and peach jelly, to name a few. Nothing signifies true Southern friendliness more than the gift of a crate of peaches.

With a “hey y’all” waiting around every corner, it’s hard not to get caught up in the friendliness of the area. There’s an unspoken “Southern hospitality” inherent in Macon residents. The sense of community arises because, in one way or another, the residents are all connected. While Macon is not the small “rural town” that people may imagine when they think of any place outside of Atlanta, you still feel like you know almost everyone. Your friend’s crazy uncle Bubba or Grandma Mimi becomes a part of your family, too, and you find yourself strawberry-picking at Elliott Farms with Miss Julie or Papa Bert.

Teenagers become acquainted while “cruising the Zeb,” the street with the movie theater and fast food restaurants. Spend your Friday and Saturday nights on Zebulon Road and you’re bound to make at least a handful of new friends. You can sit outside the theater waiting to walk over to Wal-Mart or get food, or you can chat it up with the Blockbuster employees. The ‘Z-strip’ is the essence of Macon’s teenage nightlife, and I’m proud to say that my friends and I even spent part of prom night making a pit stop to roam the aisles of Wal-Mart.

The nightlife of those twenty-one and over consists of watching local bands at The Rookery or $3 movies at the Capitol Theatre, popular for serving IVP pizza to complete your cinematic experience. IVP, short for Ingleside Village Pizza, is the best pizza in town by far. It’s the perfect spot to kick back with the gang or the family after watching the Dawgs of the University of Georgia dominate SEC football. Another popular eatery is the Grey Goose Players Club, located two minutes down the street from Idle Hour, the town country club where it’s common courtesy (and pretty much law) for drivers to stop for golfers. After playing eighteen holes at Idle Hour, the Grey Goose Burger is enough to reward you for shooting under par.

But Macon is more than just peaches and Zeb cruisin’. It is also the home of a rich Southern history. Every Sunday morning on your ride down the bumpy cobblestone street from church to biscuits and brunch, you’ll likely pass by historic sites such as the Hay House, Cannonball House, or the cottage of the great Southern poet Sidney Lanier, who was born in Macon. Zipping through the small one-way streets that seem like child’s play compared to Atlanta’s street system, you’ll pass the Douglass Theatre, which hosted jazz and blues greats such as Otis Redding, Bessie Smith, James Brown, Ma Rainey and Little Richard.

You can get to pretty much any point in Macon from the three main streets by knowing the shortcuts. If you drive down the hill near Mercer University in downtown, in minutes flat you’re on the north side on Riverside, the alternative “Zebulon Road.” To get to Riverside from downtown, you can also cruise by the beautiful Rose Hill Cemetery, the site of a picnic on an easy-going October afternoon. If you’re like any other old Southern soul, you know the importance of this cemetery. Southern rock seems to replace lullabies; this appreciation starts early, and any Maconite can tell you that Rose Hill was an inspiration for great Southern rock legends the Allman Brothers Band. The brothers used to hang out in the cemetery, and several of their songs, including “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” were inspired by those buried there. Band members Duane Allman and Berry Oakley are buried in this cemetery, side by side.

The “Cherry Blossom Capital of the World,” Macon hosts the Cherry Blossom Festival annually. The 300,000 Yoshino trees begin to blossom during March and truly transform the city. Driving down the north side of town with the beautiful, varied shades of pink lining the roads and creating a canopy of majestic petals is enough to signal the arrival of spring. The festival, rated one of the top events in the United States, attracts tourists from all over the world and was started by William A. Fickling, Sr. To most Macon residents, though, the Cherry Blosson Festival means one other very important thing: Pink ice cream at Chik-Fil-A. It’s a once-a-year event, but it’s worth it. Venture to Chik-Fil-A around noon on any day (except Sunday, since it’s closed) and you’ll be stuck in a drive-thru line that’ll keep you waiting for fifteen minutes. The wait isn’t unbearable, though; you often have conversations with friends or parents walking in for their daily chicken nugget fix.

The most exciting thing to recently take place in Macon was a visit from Chicago’s famous Oprah Winfrey in November of 2007. On a weekday at 4 p.m., more than 50 percent of Macon’s televisions are tuned into the Oprah show; therefore, Ms. Winfrey chose Macon as the site for her famous “My Favorite Things” episode. Oprah visited the famous H & H diner, one of the best soul food restaurants in Georgia and a must-visit for any tourist. She also visited Nu-Way, a hot dog joint that first opened in 1916 on Cotton Avenue in Macon. The city was in a true state of excitement; people drove downtown just to try to catch a glimpse of the famous talk show host.

Oprah’s car drove through my school — she didn’t even leave her car — and students were running through the high school halls yelling in excitement. High school girls’ phones were blowing up with text messages from their moms, who skipped work that day to stake out spots downtown near the places that they heard, through the popular and very effective “mommy hotline,” that Oprah might visit. Once 3:20 rolled around, I was the first one out of the high school parking lot, cutting down Vineville Road, making shortcuts behind Freedom Park (your home during spring baseball and softball season), just praying to catch a glimpse of Ms. Winfrey. My best friend took a half-day of school for this event. It was definitely one of the biggest things to happen to Macon in the past few years and is revered now almost like a holiday.

While Macon may offer a slower-paced lifestyle than many Northern cities, its style and Southern hospitality make it a memorable place worth visiting. After a visit to town, you’re guaranteed to leave with a bit of a Georgia twang, a new appreciation for Southerners’ friendliness and the perfect crate of peaches.