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ABOUT Antiques | by james barfield Photography by danny gilleland bacon's Macon memories preserved in family heirlooms Dottie Sparks deBlanc poses in front of a portrait of Virginia Lamar Bacon's grandmother, which was in the senator's house. The somber lady in her lace cap was Dottie's great-great-great grandmother. A Swiss music box that belonged to Sen. Bacon was stocked mostly with "old Southern tunes" and "Dixieland" is usually in place. On the mahogany case is stamped "Mira", the name of the manufacturer. The records are actually pierced metal discs, and power is supplied by winding with a detachable hand crank. Dottie deBlanc said that as a little girl she tried to improve some of the discs by making holes in them with a can opener. Those still intact have a wonderful sound first heard more than 125 years ago. Even though dedicated collectors of antiques generally have a passion for the hunt, they often prize the pieces they have inherited even more highly than those they have discovered. Objects passed down through generations of a family acquire for its members a value totally apart from money. And when the heirloom originally belonged to a family member of distinction, even of historical note, then the value becomes even greater. Dottie Sparks deBlanc is the current caretaker of her family's heirlooms passed down from her great-great grandfather, U.S. Sen. Augustus Octavius Bacon. While she lives most of the time in the Virgin Islands, Dottie maintains the house built by her parents in Macon's Shirley Hills as something akin to a small museum of her family's treasures. On her frequent visits in Macon she is happy to talk about her family and to show its heirlooms to people interested in local history and antiques. Bacon was not a Macon native, but after serving in the Confederate Army and graduating from the University of Georgia he came here in 1866 to practice law. He married a local girl, Virginia Lamar. In 1871 he was elected to the state legislature where he quickly rose to be Speaker of the House. In 1896 he became a U.S. senator and subsequently rose to the position of President Pro Tempore, a position he held until his death in 1914. The senator's Macon home was on his large estate on the east side of the Ocmulgee River, which he called "Baconsfield." Bacon gave a portion of his land to the Masonic Order to establish a home for orphans, and that institution is still in operation. Much of the former estate is now the residential area of North Highlands and Shirley Hills, which bears the name of his granddaughter. The acreage that surrounded the senator's house was bequeathed to the city of Macon for use as a park, and it A neo-classical upholstered bench with roll arms and a heavily carved mahogany frame has sat in the entry hall of the Sparks home in Shirley Hills since 1949. It was a gift to Dottie's grandmother, Mary Louisa Bacon, Mrs. Willis B. Sparks, from her friend Margaret Mitchell, author of "Gone with the Wind." 70 l Macon Magazine april/MAy 2013