The Fitzpatrick Hotel

Stained-glass windows and wrought-iron balconies mark the terra-cotta exterior of the Fitzpatrick, which faces Courthouse Square in historical downtown Washington, Georgia. Originally constructed in 1898 and restored in 2004, the three-story hotel has 17 guest rooms with ornate Victorian period furnishings throughout, including gentleman's chairs, upholstered ottomans, antique claw-foot tubs, and vases wearing corsets. Some guest rooms even have fireplaces. Each morning, the innkeepers lay out a complimentary continental breakfast spread of fruits, cereals, breads, coffee, and tea.

The first city to be named after George Washington (about 18 years before Washington, DC), the antebellum community of Washington, Georgia charms with its Victorian and colonial homes. Only 7 miles from the hotel, the Callaway Plantation—built in 1875—houses many original 18th-century artifacts. You can tour the homes, barns, outbuildings, and the cemetery on its 3,000-acre cotton plantation, featuring an unaltered Great Manor house, a Greek Revival–style mansion furnished with 150-year-old doors.