A Walk in the Park

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown,

for going out, I found, was really going in."

- John Muir

The place you call home - whether it be for the first time with a family, for four short years at a private university, or for a lifetime in a city filled with history - is very important. So why choose Macon, Georgia? In the course of this blog, I hope to leave you asking why not Macon, Georgia? And more specifically, I hope to explain how the College Hill Corridor initiative fits into the puzzle.

For those of you unfamiliar with the College Hill Corridor initiative, it is a collaboration of everything that makes a community into more than sidewalks and turns strangers into neighbors and friends. With the tag line hip and historic at the heart of these efforts, the College Hill movement takes pride in the restoration and revitalization of homes and neighborhoods, the push for cleaner, bike-filled streets, and the invitation to enjoy community-centered events. With a calendar chock-full full of exciting happenings, the Corridor is the place to be. As shown in the map below, the Corridor encompasses Mercer University towards Riverside Drive and is bounded by I-75 as well as First and New Streets in Downtown Macon.

I had the opportunity to get the inside scoop from Alex Morrison, now serving as the Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority Executive Director and one of the students behind the College Hill idea as it was first developed in a senior capstone class. Alex described the original vision as the result of noticing a disconnect between Mercer University and the community right outside its parameters. A sort of invisible wall, Alex describes, separates students from residents, and the idea was a development strategy that would permanently erase those walls. A strong emphasis was placed on walkability - the beautification, branding, and development of a community that needed a little push in the right direction. That kind of vision allowed Alex to fall in love with, as he puts it "the potential and what someone can accomplish here just by believing." I love that kind of spirit! For the future, Alex hopes to see a sense of stability for the Corridor because, as he puts it, "the greatest gift to any community is its own people loving exactly where they are." 

So, now that you know a little bit more about the Corridor itself, take a walk in its ideology, a metaphorical walk in the park. Join us at one of our free community events like this Satuday's Mercer Village St. Patrick's Day Festival or volunteer with our Second Sunday Brunch on April 1st. Stay tuned to my exploration of what it truly means to be in the Corridor! 

- Kelsey Jones, College Hill Alliance Communication Intern