Château Élan Winery & Resort
Surrounded by verdant countryside, Château Élan is a hilltop winery that replicates a 16th-century French estate. Though its first wines were produced in 1985, the winery has already garnered more than 200 awards.Guided tours are given daily between 11am and 4pm (call ahead for exact times). On view are the crushing and pressing machines, oak barrels used to age and flavor the wines, the cask room, and the bottling area. The tours conclude with a wine tasting. Grapes ripen in July/August, so if you're here during harvesting in August and September, you'll actually see the winemaking procedure. More than 300 tons of grapes are harvested and processed each year. The interior of the château, a stage-set version of a Paris street, has a quarry-stone floor, wrought-iron fences, and street lamps. The building houses an art gallery offering monthly exhibits by regional and national artists, displays of antique European winemaking equipment, and a wine market.There are also three on-premises restaurants, so plan to eat lunch or dinner here. Café Élan, open daily from 11am to 10pm, features sandwiches, salads, and light entrees. It's a charming setting, with seating under a green awning. Paddy's Irish Pub, open Saturday at noon, Sunday at 12:30pm, and the rest of the week at 2pm (closing hours vary), serves traditional Irish fare and spirits. The fancier Le Clos, with pale pink walls, lace-curtained French doors, and tables covered with crisp white linen, is open for dinner only Wednesday through Saturday evenings, with seatings from 6:30 to 9:30pm. A seven- or eight-course prix-fixe meal beginning at $78 or $88 features haute-cuisine entrees; appropriate Château Élan wines are served with each course. Reservations are imperative. Men are required to wear a coat and tie.You might also consider an overnight or longer stay at the 277-room Inn at Château Élan, a luxurious resort where facilities include three golf courses (two 18-hole and one par-3, 9-hole) and seven tennis courts (offering pro shops and instruction), an equestrian center, a full-service European-style health spa and salon ("days of pampering" are an option), an outdoor Olympic-size pool, an indoor heated pool, and a fitness center. Room rates begin at $180 double; call the numbers below for details and to inquire about golf, tennis, spa, and other packages. There are also four restaurants at the adjoining Château Élan resort. If the lovely grounds beckon, you can order a gourmet picnic basket from the kitchen at the hotel.

Ebenezer Baptist Church
Founded in 1886, Ebenezer was a spiritual center of the civil rights movement from 1960 to 1968, during which time Martin Luther King, Jr., served as co-pastor. King's grandfather, the Rev. A. D. Williams, dedicated the church to "the advancement of black people and every righteous and social movement." His son-in-law and successor, Martin Luther King, Sr., worked for voting rights and other aspects of black civil and social advancement, following Williams's activist example. Later, Martin Luther King, Jr., would join his ancestors in pursuing justice for African Americans.The congregation has built a new sanctuary directly across the street, but the older building, where Martin Luther King, Jr., preached, continues to be open to the public. Short but informative tours of the sanctuary, conducted by members of the Ebenezer congregation, are given Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm, Saturday 9am to 2pm, and Sunday 2 to 4pm. One of the best things to do is attend a Sunday morning worship service in the new sanctuary. The public is welcome -- and you'll realize just how welcome when the members of the congregation leave their seats at the beginning of the service to shake the hands of as many visitors as possible. It's a living testimonial to all that the church's most famous son stood for. Sunday services are at 7:45am and 10:45am. The sanctuary is usually packed, so it's a good idea to arrive well ahead of time. Groups of 6 or more should call the church office at tel. 404/688-7263 to make reservations. An ecumenical service also takes place here every year during King week (January 9-15).

Wren's Nest
Named for a family of wrens that once nested in the mailbox, Wren's Nest is the former home of Joel Chandler Harris, who chronicled the wily deeds of fictional African characters Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Fox. It's been open to the public since 1913, when Harris's widow sold it to the Uncle Remus Memorial Association.Harris's literary career began at the age of 13, when he apprenticed on the Countryman, a quarterly plantation newspaper. During the four years that he spent learning at the Countryman, young Harris spent many an evening hanging about the slave quarters, drinking in African folk tales and fables spun by George Terrell, a plantation patriarch who became the prototype for Uncle Remus. Sherman's army put the Countryman out of business, and Harris went on to other newspapers, working his way up to editorial writer at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution by age 28. There, plagued by writer's block one gloomy winter afternoon, he remembered the plantation stories of his youth and evoked Uncle Remus to fill his column. Enthralled readers clamored for more, and the rest is history.The house itself is an 1870s farmhouse with a Queen Anne-style Victorian facade added in 1884. Harris lived here from 1881 until his death in 1908, doing most of his writing in a rocking chair on the wraparound front porch. On a 30-minute tour, including a slide presentation about Harris's life, you'll see a good deal of memorabilia: the stuffed great horned owl over the study door was a gift from Theodore Roosevelt, whose White House Harris visited; the original wren's nest mailbox reposes on the study mantel; and all of Harris's books, along with signed first editions from major authors of his day (Mark Twain and others) are displayed in a bookcase.The house is interesting, but the best part is the storytelling. Call ahead to find out when the storyteller-in-residence will be telling stories culled from African and African-American folklore; it's a real treat.

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