Insider's Guide: Madison, Georgia

Imagine a place so lovely and well-preserved that their National Register Historic District is actually the town’s top tourist attraction. Welcome to Madison, Georgia.

This great old Southern town was founded in 1809, survived Sherman’s march during the Civil War, and has been the beneficiary of a population dedicated to historic preservation ever since. We are all better off for that, because Madison is home to enough Greek Revival, Italianate, Victorian, and early 20th century structures to fill four or five such towns with houses left over. In fact, it contains more than 100 antebellum structures.

If you have only a brief few hours in Madison, it is still possible to catch a good number of the great old houses, and that is the subject of today’s post. More importantly, I’m going to give you directions to a few iconic structures nearby that aren’t widely advertised.

One such, pictured above, is the Nathan Bennett House, circa 1850, also known to Southern Voice readers as “The Poker Game House”.