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Americus, Georgia, has a small yet charming downtown to walk through. It’s only a few blocks long and contains many original historic buildings.
Windsor Hotel
The most prominent building in downtown Americus is the Windsor Hotel, now run as the Best Western Plus Windsor Hotel. This historic hotel was built in 1892 and designed by Gottfried Leonard Norrman and has hosted important politicians such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter. It originally had 100 rooms until it closed in the 1970s. The hotel reopened in 1991 and is said to be haunted. We walked by both in the morning and at night when it was beautifully lit.
Foard Hospital
Across the hotel on Jackson Street is the site of a former Confederate hospital, Foard Hospital. The hospital burned down in 1864.
Streets in Downtown Americus
The first of the two major streets we walked down in Americus was Lamar Street. It contains several historic buildings, including the Rylander Theatre (1921) and the Rylander Building (1916). The Rylander Building now serves as the international headquarters for Habitat for Humanity. Another Rylander building built in 1920 sits next to it. Also on Lamar Street is the Municipal Building, where a welcome center is located.
The other street we walked down was Forsyth Street. It also had some historic buildings but wasn’t as nice as Lamar Street.
Soapy
Finally, I have to tell you about our wonderful experience at Soapy’s Barber Shop, which sits on Lamar Street across from the Municipal Building. During our trip to the US, Marisol had been surprised she hadn’t seen fruit stands on the street like we see in Colombia, until she spotted one in Americus. Fresh fruits and vegetables along with decorative cotton sat outside a small barber shop so we walked over to buy a few things.
A friendly man with a Southern drawl, James Herndon (nicknamed Soapy), came out of the barber shop and began chatting with us. We told him that we were so happy to finally see a fruit stand. He explained that he had been grandfathered in by the city, allowing him to be the only person in town to sell fruits on the street. He then invited us in where we spoke for a good 15 minutes.
Soapy showed us photos and told us about his life, his family, how Americus has changed over the years, and how he was Jimmy Carter’s barber. He also proudly explained that someone even filmed a documentary about him called Soapy. It was an enjoyable few minutes that we’ll never forget.
