The Partridge Inn has celebrated a century of service to visitors to Augusta. Linda and I started her 60th birthday celebration in Augusta, Georgia. Why Augusta? you might ask. She spent part of her youth in Augusta while her father was stationed at Fort Gordon. Linda wanted to stay at the historic Partridge Inn and dine at the famous La Maison on Telfair, and I wanted to tour the Augusta Canal.

Columbia and Augusta have a lot in common. Augusta was Georgia’s second capital city; Columbia was South Carolina’s second capital city. Both cities were located on the Fall Line on major rivers. Both have historic canals. Both had Confederate munition factories. Woodrow Wilson slept in both cities. Augusta has the Masters and James Brown. Columbia has St. Patrick’s Day in Five Points and Hootie and the Blowfish.

Augusta has a population of 194,149 (113th in the US) and is second only to Atlanta in Georgia. Augusta and Richmond County consolidated in 1996. Columbia (189th in the US), the largest city in South Carolina, has a population of 127,029 (320,677 with Richland County).

La Maison on Telfair has a restaurant, a wine bar, and a tapas lounge in the historic section of Augusta. Linda booked our room at the Partridge Inn, and we were there in less than two hours traveling on the blue highways. The inn is over 100 years old and is known as the Grand Hotel of the Classic South. It sits on a hilltop overlooking Augusta and the Savannah River.

In her usual manner, Linda chose the best room, one facing east with a porch and a rocking chair. As she sipped her gourmet coffee, she said very Palin–like, “From our porch I can see South Carolina!”

The village on the hill is known as Summerville, the place where wealthy Augustans have always taken refuge from the summer heat and mosquitoes. After the Civil War Summerville attracted northern capitalists who built mills along the river and elegant homes on the hill.

Chef Heinz has owned La Maison on Telfair since 1992. The Partridge Inn property was originally owned by one of Georgia’s signers of the Declaration of Independence, then a residence until the Civil War. Morris Partridge turned it into a resort hotel around 1900 and hosted President Harding in 1923. It became apartments in the 1960s, a neglected relict in the 1970s, and was restored in the 1980s.

We arrived at La Maison for the 7 o’clock seating. The restaurant is in a Victorian house in downtown Augusta. Ownership ran through the Newton, Hopkins, Ham, Emery, Howell, and Gardelle families before it became a restaurant in 1970.

We were welcomed by Chef Heinz, the only man I know who peddles 450 bottles of wine with prices ranging from $42 to $6500 per bottle. Oouch! Heinz J. Sowinski immigrated from West Germany to California as a 19–year–old apprentice cook then moved to Walt Disney World and on to Atlanta and the Hilton chain as a member of the Academy of Chefs. In 1992 he purchased La Maison where he practices culinary excellence.

Our room in the Partridge Inn was quite nice. My birthday girl allowed me to choose the wine. The chianti classico was served with a chef’s gift of dainty stuffed grape leaves. A nice touch.

For appetizers we selected delicious smoked ostrich carpaccio and creamy Charleston she crab soup. Can you believe Linda selected the ostrich? She was pleased with the extremely thin cuts topped with truffle oil.

The crowd was hushed, the wait staff polite and efficient, and the wine mellow as I presented Linda with her birthday present, a personally designed necklace with her birthstone embedded in the gold numbers 60.

Our entrees were veal scallopini marsala for the lady and surf and turf for the gentleman. Everything was presented well and cooked to perfection.

For dessert Linda chose creme brulée. I chose just to watch my wonderful wife. She is so divine.

Next week: Augusta Canal v.

Columbia Canal