Macon's Cherry Blossoms

A Brief History

In 1949 William Arthur Fickling, Sr. built his dream home on Ingleside Avenue here in Macon, Georgia.  Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, this action started a chain of events that had a dramatic effect on Macon and Bibb County.  For in the front yard of his home was planted a mysterious tree that bloomed quite beautifully in the spring.  Mr. Fickling had hired a landscape company to assist in planning and planting the gardens around his new home.  The landscape company had planted several varieties of exotic blooming trees around the house, but one in particular caught Mr. Fickling's eye.  In the early spring it bloomed in a profusion of small, white to light pink blossoms.  From a distance the blossoms were so dense as to resemble snow covering the tree's branches. 

Click for a rare early painted photograph of Mr. Fickling's home showing the young trees:

Others also noticed the beautiful trees and asked Mr. Fickling what they were.  The tag identifying the tree had washed off in a storm, and so Mr. Fickling did not know what they were initially.  He began rooting cuttings from the trees to give to many of his friends who requested them.  Soon, the beautiful trees were to be found in many yards around the city, but still no one knew what they were.

While on a trip to Washington to Mr. Fickling happened to visit the Tidal Basin in the spring while the trees surrounding the basin were in bloom.  He immediately noticed the similarity to the trees in his front yard, and took a small cutting to compare with his trees.  In this manner he discovered in 1952 that his beautiful trees were in fact Japanese Yoshino Cherry Trees.  The original trees were a gift of friendship from the Japanese government to the American people during President Taft's administration, who had them planted around the Tidal Basin. 

Some years later Carolyn Crayton, head of the Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful Commission, asked Mr. Fickling to donate a large number of the trees to beautify the city each year for several years, which he agreed to do.  Soon, the trees were planted en masse around the city.  The trees contributed so greatly to the beauty of the community that Mrs. Crayton asked Mr. Fickling for his support in organizing a festival to celebrate the beauty of the trees, and of Macon, and thus was born the now famous Macon Georgia International Cherry Blossom Festival.  You can learn more about the Cherry Blossom Festival by clicking on the button below: