Local Knowledge: The first Macon trivia of the 2025 New Year

Local Knowledge returns to ring in the new year one question and answer at a time.

1. What is the name of the oldest church in Macon, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and is celebrating its bicentennial this year? (Hint: Poet Sidney Lanier was married there.)

(A) Martha Bowman Methodist.

(B) Christ Episcopal.

(C) Vineville Baptist.

(D) Harvest Cathedral.

2. Macon-born actor and Academy Award winner Charles Coburn made his film debut in “Of Human Hearts” in 1938.  He was cast in that movie with another Georgia native, Sterling Holloway, who was best known as the voice of which cartoon character?

(A) Porky Pig

(B) Bugs Bunny

(C) Winnie the Pooh

(D) Charlie Brown

3. Which Southern dish was popularized by a movie filmed in Juliette in 1991 and prompted the birth of a popular restaurant?

(A) Fried Green Tomatoes

(B) Chitlins

(C) Hoecakes

(D) Pot Likker

4.  Jim Williams, who was born in Gordon in Wilkinson County, was an antiques dealer in Savannah. He was accused of murdering his assistant, Danny Lewis Hansford, in May 1981, and is the only person in Georgia to be tried four times for the same crime. The story was detailed in what best-selling book, published 30 years ago this month in January 1994?

(A) “Where the Crawdads Sing”

(B) “How To Win Friends and Influence People”

(C) “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”

(D) “In Cold Blood”

5.  The Ocmulgee Indian Mounds and Fort Hawkins (the birthplace of Macon) are located on Emery Highway. Who was Ambrose R. Emery?

(A) President of “Emery” University. 

(B) Inventor of the emery board. 

(C) Renowned anthropologist from Jeffersonville.

(D) The first commander of Camp Wheeler.

6. This year marks the bicentennial of which revolutionary war hero’s (and famous ally of George Washington) visit to Macon?  

 (A) Napoleon Bonaparte 

 (B) George Patton

 (C) George Custer

 (D) Marquis de Lafayette.

7.  Author Evelyn Hanna attended Wesleyan College in Macon, and also studied at Agnes Scott, Emory and UCLA. She was a contemporary of Margaret Mitchell, who wrote “Gone With the Wind.” What was the name of Hanna’s most famous novel, published in 1938?

(A) “Strawberry Spring”

(B) “Blackberry Winter”

(C) “Blueberry Summer”

(D) “Huckleberry Fall”

8.  George Riley Puckett was a member of the band Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers and was regarded as a pioneer in country music as both an instrumentalist and vocalist. What was his connection to Macon?

(A) He was a sound engineer at Capricorn Records.

(B) He wrote jingles for WMAZ radio.

(C) He learned to play the piano as a student at the Georgia Academy for the Blind.

(D) He was the manager of the gift shop at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

9. Which Georgia college campus is the largest in the world, covering  27,000 acres – almost double the size of Manhattan?

(A) Berry College in Rome

(B) Morris Brown in Atlanta

(C) Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton

(D) Savannah College of Art and Design

10.  Scenes from the NBC-TV miniseries “King, ’’ about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., were filmed in Macon. Which actor/actress did NOT appear in the series, which earned nine Emmy Award nominations?

 (A) Paul Winfield

(B) Richard Pryor

(C) Tony Bennett

 (D) Cicely Tyson 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ANSWERS

(1) B.

(2) C.

(3) A.

(4) C.

(5) D.

(6) D.

(7) B.

(8) C.

(9) A.

(10) B.

REPORT CARD:

(9-10) Unsinkable.

(7-8) All hands on deck.

(5-6) Row, row, row your boat.

(3-4) Save Our Ship.

(0-2) Man overboard.