Macon Magazine

october/noveMber 2013 Macon Magazine i 43 John-Wesley Villas Retirement Living at its Finest • Independent & Assisted Living • Recuperative Care • Limousine transportation • Turn-down Service • Full calendar of activities • Delicious Cuisine • All ground-level apartments • Valet Trash Service • Maintenance-free Living 5471 Thomaston Rd. ∙ 478-207-7172 John-Wesley Villas, Inc. ∙ www.JohnWesleyVillas.com proceeds from the sale of his house in the new venture. It was not successful, and in 1849 Cowles left Macon for New York City. He built a house on Madison Avenue and sought to regain his fortune. At the outbreak of war in 1861, Cowles returned to Macon and swore an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. He started an iron business as his way of aiding the Southern cause. After the war he traveled the South seeking new opportunities, but with little apparent success. Clark maintained that he never lost his spirit or sense of humor. The judge also recalled Cowles preferred the company of young people and couldn't tolerate "old fogies." He remembered Cowles' infectious laugh, which he said was often inspired by his own jokes. Cowles died while on a visit to his family in New York in March 1877. His body was returned to Macon for burial at Rose Hill Cemetery. His grave is literally a stone's throw from that of his old friend, colleague and collaborator Alexander. It was near the end of his life that Cowles became involved in a controversy over his role in the founding of Wesleyan College. He claimed a female college was his idea and that he deserved credit. It may never be determined what his exact role in the founding of the world's first college created to grant degrees to women was, but it is well documented that his part was a leading one. He was a member of a committee in 1835 that sought the establishment of a "female college" and he was as ardent an advocate for that cause as for his railroads. When subscriptions were first taken to create the college, his was the single largest at $1,000. He endorsed the sentiment expressed in The Macon Telegraph in 1836 by the founders' belief in "liberty and equal rights for women." No street, no hill, no building, no landmark in Macon bears his name. Where once they did, his name has been removed. His real monuments are the two extraordinary houses he built, which continue to perpetuate a feeling of his era and to link his time to the present. Experts call the 1830 house built by Elam Alexander for Jerry Cowles one of the finest Greek Revival cottages in the nation. Its pleasing form, perfect proportions and refined details have inspired many copies in Macon and other cities. The cottage was saved from demolition almost 70 years ago by the Sams family who continue to occupy it today.

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