Toombs County, Georgia History and Genealogy Project

Toombs County, Georgia

Presenting Macon Houses In The Jim Barfield Style

     ATLANTA — When I mentioned Living Macon Style a couple of times previously in this column, I hadn’t seen the actual book of that title, written by Vidalia native Jim Barfield.

     All I had seen were black-and-white photocopies of the book’s jacket and one of its 25 chapters. Jim had sent those to me.

     Now I have seen the actual book, and — Wow! & mdash; what a masterful work of art it is! A hardcopy book of coffee-table dimensions, it profiles 25 Macon houses, one to a chapter, in a brilliantly executed presentation.

     The history and distinctive features of each house are described in text written by Jim, and each house is illustrated with pages of breathtaking photography, all in color, of both the houses’ exteriors and interiors. The photography is by William G. Elliott.

Opulence Incidental

     One of the houses, as reported here earlier, is the home of Jim’s cousin, concert pianist Louise Barfield. Located on Forsyth Street (now also known as Duane Allman Boulevard) in the city’s historic district, it was chosen not because of Ms. Barfield’s kinship to Jim but because it’s the oldest existing house designed by renowned architect Neel Reid.

     Two houses on the street where Jim himself lives, but not his own, are included. That’s Oakcliff Road in fashionable Shirley Hills, considered in some quarters to be Macon’s “Old Money” residential district.

     None of the spectacular “McMansions” on Howard Oaks Drive on the city’s far north side, off Bass Road, is included. Neither is the home, said to have the highest tax evaluation of any house in Bibb County, of Kevin Brown, who pulls down a reported $15 million a year pitching for the New York Yankees.

Hey, Hey! No Hay

     But the William A. Flickling house on Ingleside and the Comer house on Vineville, perephaps Macons’s most visible and memorable mansions, are included in the Barfield book.

     An “About the Author” sketch on the back of the book’s jacket has this to say about Jim: “James Everett Barfield, Jr., is the fifth generation of his family to live in Bibb County. A retired history teacher, he has written numerous articles on local preservation efforts and on architectural history. An ardent preservationist, he has served as president of the Middle Georgia Historical Society and the Macon Heritage Foundation, and as founding president of the Historic Rose Hill Cemetery Foundation.

     I stopped by the Washington Memorial Library in Macon to see a copy of Jim’s book. Then, when I arrived in Vidalia, I learned there’s also a copy at the Ohoopee Regional Library there.

     Ask to see it. You’ll glory in the literary and artistic handiwork of a native son.

E-mail: raytapley@juno.com

The Advance, Wednesday, November 09, 2005, page 7L.

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URL: http://toombs.150m.com/news/A-P/columnist/Ray/Tapley/2005/Nov/9.htm Updated: Saturday, November 05, 2005. Top