Tour historic homes, sites on Georgia Trust’s Fall Ramble

Event also offers dining experiences at some locations.

More than 45 historic homes and sites in Madison will be open for tours Friday-Oct. 15 during the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s three-day Fall Ramble. The event will offer visitors and residents alike a rare opportunity to explore private homes not usually open to the public and significant historic sites.

On Friday, “ramblers” will tour a wide variety of architectural styles spanning the early 19th and 20th centuries, including Cedar Lane Farm, an authentically restored 1830s farmhouse with award-winning formal gardens, and Hilltop, the historic home of the Lambert family since 1923.

Saturday’s Ramble will begin at the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center with a brief orientation and history of the city, followed by a book lecture about the Trust’s new publication, “Architecture of the Last Colony” by Editor Mark McDonald.

Sites on Saturday’s Ramble

include the Joshua Hill House, a circa-1842 house that was built for U.S. Sen. Joshua Hill, the “man who saved Madison” from Sherman’s March to the Sea; the Peter Walton House, one of Madison’s most impressive Queen Anne style mansions; and Boxwood, a historic residence that was featured in Garden & Gun magazine.

On Oct. 15, registrants will explore Bonar Hall, a Georgian manor house with formal gardens; the

Foster-Thomason-Miller-Minnix House, a former Georgia Trust Place in Peril that has undergone an extensive restoration; and several downtown residential lofts.

The Ramble also includes special dining experiences held at historic sites throughout the weekend. After Friday’s Ramble, guests are invited to dinner and cocktails on the grounds of The Oaks, a rarely-open-to-thepublic 1832 Greek Revival private residence in the Morgan County countryside. Saturday morning, guests will be served breakfast at the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center, a restored 1895 Romanesque Revival building that was once home to one of the South’s first graded public schools.

On Saturday night, “ramblers” will enjoy dinner and cocktails at Boxwood, one of the most prominent homes in Madison. Finally, a Sunday brunch will be held at Empire Mills, a former oil mill complex that has been rehabilitated into a uniquely beautiful event venue.

Tickets will be available through Wednesday. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit GeorgiaTrust.org.