Summer can eat an entire plate of country fried dicks.
A DM between a couple of Redditors about one considering to move to Macon and the other, a lifer.
Hi. I left a response on your r/Macon post. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. I’ve been here all my life and glad to answer/address any concerns you may have.
Best,
Mark
8:15pm
Thank you! I am in a weird place i guess. Torn between staying in Rhode Island vs moving to Macon.
Whats the deal down there? I have visited, it seemed fine mostly. Guess im mostly concerned that if my business goes under, whats my survival strategy. I know thats not something you can answer for me, so... whats your experience?
8:16 PM
Oh, I just saw your comment. I love kayaking and swimming!
You mentioning there are opportunities down there does help me feel a bit more at ease!
10:30pm
I had a couple of businesses here for 20+ years. Freelance at first, grew fast, employees, taxes, etc. I was in advertising/design/photo/tech. In 2015 I got so tired of client work and running a business hassle. that I knew I needed a change. I was going insane. But terrified of making a change, all the adages of “working for the man”, “no longer a man of my destiny”, bullshit running through my head, I held on too long. The industry’s landscape was changing really fast too. l Had a health scare and decided to prep for the leap.
Got hired as a communications flunky at the local govt office and life immediately got better! It didn’t take long to adjust to working a literal 9-5, no weekends, getting a real paycheck that could cash and I didn’t have to chase down, real medical insurance, retirement match, and other great benefits made the transition super easy in hindsight. I no longer had to struggle to meet my monthly nut.
In short, I was where I think you are now. That’s why I reached out.
Macon (aka “Macon-Bibb” since city/county consolidation in 2014)
I’ve always referred to it as an armpit up until 2017/2018. It’s midsized city with a small town vibe that has been positively been reshaping itself substantially since Covid. A huge influx of federal-covid dollars helped, but I don’t know how to say it, but it’s gone through a monumental improvement and it seems to be getting better. The “sense of place” is just somehow better.
There’s plenty of things to do—especially if you’re on a budget. There’s plenty to do, if you’ve got money to spend. Anything from joining a hobbyist astronomical thing at the local planetarium, catching a play at one of the local theaters, awesome local breweries, incredible places to eat, signing up to be an extra in a movie (my wife will be an extra next week in a movie coming out in 2027 and they’re shooting another Superman in July. I watched them film the latest Superman in my office back in 2024—it was The Daily Planet). There are tons of social opportunities beyond church-iness. Decent bars, some real great dive bars, Live music—speaking of… music is its own genre here. Look up: Bragg Jam, and also check out Macon music history. We’ve got/had/have everything from Otis Redding (his son and I were childhood friends long ago), to Allman Brothers, most southern rock stars passed through here often. There’s a lot of current and past country music, not my thing though—makes my ears bleed.
Logistically speaking, you’re a few hours from the mountains, a few hours from the Gulf, a few hours from the Atlantic (not to mention Savannah and Charleston), an hour from Atlanta and 10 minutes to the Ocmulgee Indian Mounds about to be designated a National Park—the only one in the state, 20 minutes to several big lakes (look up Lake Juliette), Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge and the Oconee National Forest. The Ocmulgee river (pronounced: “Oak Muggy”) runs from the north (Lake Jackson), through downtown and down into eventually the Atlantic. The record setting big mouth bass was caught on the southern part of the Ocmulgee a hundred years ago. I guy I went to grammar school with caught a record setting shoal bass a few years ago behind what was then my office. There’s great flatwater kayaking too with a hundreds of miles of shoreline with an hour’s drive (see: Lake Juliette, Lake Sinclair, Lake Oconee, Lake Jackson, Tobosofkee Lake) not to mention 50 miles of the Ocmulgee River too. Hunting is big here, I’m not much of a hunter, but with the national forests, and The Piedmont, Bonds Swamp, etc., there are hundreds of thousands of acres to get outside and just do your thing!
Sports? We have a local hockey team, local baseball team (Macon Bacon), the largest pickleball courts in the world, golf (a few local courses in the county)—world class golf up at Lake Oconee. I feel like I’m leaving something out, but if theres a sport I’ve not mentioned, like “frisbee golf” it’s here.
Traffic? I can get anywhere across the entire county in 15 minutes or less. I-75 is the main interstate and I-16 is a straight shot from Macon to Savannah (and I-95, if you need to book it up to New England). From a traveling perspective, Hartsfield-Jackson Airport: I can leave my house and be parked, and through TSA in an hour and go anywhere. Or, I can get picked up from my house and be at the Macon Airport loading gate in 15 minutes for $5. Although, only Concourse Airlines, regional, services that airport.
Cost of living: Cheap. I live in a 2300sf three bedroom, 2.5 bath, two car garage, home on .75 acre lot in a safe, very nice neighborhood and if I had to guess, if I were to sell tomorrow, it’d would appraise out around $225k. Some of the massive older intown mansions can be bought from $300k up. Groceries: I bought a months worth of (healthy!) food yesterday for less than $270. Gas: it’s just hitting $4/gal. The state repealed fuel tax when the Iran thing started making fuel prices crunchy, that’s helped keep fuel lower. Related: our natural gas bills are on the lower end of the spectrum too due to some gas pipeline that runs through the area. Heating bills are low because we have very little winter. Electricity during the summer can bite though with our satanic summers. I think the most we’ve paid is a little over $500/mo last July but we keep it cold.
Let me send this to you before my phone burps and I lose it all. The second installment will be some of the things I don’t particularly care for here.
11:20pm
Macon can be cliquey. Although in discussions with friends who’ve moved and been here 8-10 years, it’s getting so much better and it depends a lot on you as a person. If you’re one for higher social strata, folks are going to want to know:
- “what do you do”
- “where do you go to church?”
- what’d “your daddy do?”
It’s not small talk. They’re judging to see if they’ll allow you into their circle. More than likely, they won’t. This is referred to as “Old Macon”. Old Macon is dying.
Racism can be a surprising gut punch when you encounter it here from the outside, but it’s not as sinister (or as pervasive) as you would think. Macon was a slave town. Its older neighborhoods bear this out in terms of segmentation. For example, you may have these incredible 150 year old mansions sitting adjacent to neighboring shot gun houses. In short, the mansions were homes to the wealthy and the adjacent houses were home to the slaves, who remained on as “the help”, and later generations later, their families have remained or returned. By the way, some of those shotgun houses have been turned into architectural masterpieces! Absolutely stunning smaller homes.
But by and large, you will encounter angry white people and angry black people, but it’s surprisingly different—less hateful—than what I’ve seen in places like LA & Chicago or even small towns in Indiana/Ohio/Pennsylvania.
Religion: church is worshipped here, Baptist mostly. If you’re not religious, bite your tongue when the going gets tough and you want to point out the hypocrisy. It’s worked for me. I was raised Baptist, and I learned early, I can challenge someone’s beliefs, but I’m not going to change their beliefs by quoting scripture back at them. Or asking “why did Christ choose suicide?” or positing the question “did God make man or did man make god?” Live and let live—it’s easier.
There is an entire spectrum of RedNeckery. If that bothers you, it’ll bother you worse here. On one end you have “the good Ol’ boy” who is every part of every wealthy stereotype you can dream up. From clean shaven good Ol’ boy to meth’d fueled idiot with too many kids with questionable DNA—mostly WalMartians. But I guess you can get that anywhere.
Crime: Crime makes the news but I live in a good neighborhood and I work across town “in da ‘hood” but I don’t see it that much. In conversations I’ve had with friends who work with the sheriff’s department, most things that make the news as”Gang Violence” is either across a couple of true gangs in the county (there are only like three/four gangs tops) or they’re teen wannabes. I’m a photographer, I like night photography. I’ve been in downtown,alone, at 1am/2am, and my guard was up, but I’ve never been frightened.
Homeless: rumor has it, back in the day, Atlanta area police force(s) would buy a $10/$20/$whatever Greyhound bus ticket and put a homeless person on a bus. The destination bus terminal was usually Macon. That was back in the 1980s. Not sure if it’s still a practice. But we do have a homeless population. Thankfully there are a few local, dedicated agencies who do a lot to help them with food, shelter, cell phones, etc. They offer a real chance to getting the persons back on their feet—only if they choose help.
Summer: It’s May. Fuck. Summer can eat an entire plate of country fried dicks.
It’s oppressive.
It can be 90• at 6:30am.
Fall is incredible here!
Winter, not bad at all.
Spring, short but good.
Summer, man fuck summer.
Any way… If this was too long or seemingly self-absorbed, my apologies. I hope this makes your choice(s) easier.
Day or two later
Mark... lmao I laughed quite a few times.
Im wildly Impressed with not only the details but the way you articulated the 4 chapter guide to Macon livin'. Publish this haha
I am also a photographer! Photography makes up half my business. I work with models, shoot film, develop at home, and make photographs in my darkroom. My work is a bit risqué but tasteful.
I lived in Florida, im pretty sure i will adjust to the summers with no problem.
Im not much of a writer, but in person I never shut up.
Thank you so much for the insight, this was all very helpful!
I do love kayaking, hiking, and fishing. You have gators doen there?
Thanks for the advice, I published it.