Savannah, GA (October 2nd - 4th)

We arrived in Savannah and Skidaway Island State park south of the city on Wednesday afternoon. The campground is very nice with most sites having electric and water hookups and the newly renovated sites have full hookups with 50 amp service and cable TV.  Many of the pull through sites are at least 100' long.  The gravel driveways and table/firepit areas are bordered by 8X8 timbers.  The sites are widely spaced, level and the trees and bushes provide a level of privacy.  The restrooms have showers and a laundry room for camper's use.  As I said a very nice State Park.

Thursday

We started with a trolley tour of the city and then got off at River Street.  Along the way our trolley driver pointed out all the places Forest Gump was filmed,  Also Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil along with a number of supposed facts that some were later found to be false.  We've come to question the validity of  many of the claims.

The remaining stops on the trolley route were all within walking distance of River Street.  We checked out what we thought was the extent of it and left to see other things when we reached the building that bridges the street.  More on that later.

There were lots of shops, restaurants and bars. It seemed pretty "touristy" but because of the age of the buildings, some well more than 200 years old, more than made up for it.

The Cotton Exchange from across one of the many squares. The city was built around these squares. They all contained a memorial to someone important to the city and were all landscaped beautifully and had fountains or seating where one could sit and watch all the activity.

A good friend's daughter has a friend that lives in Savannah.  She sent us a interactive Google Map of the city with the things to do highlighted.  One was the Old Pink House so we went there for lunch. It was a good choice with excellent food and service.  Thanks Rachel for the recommendations!!!!

Besides the Quilt shops tour of the US we are also on an Ice Cream tour.  Leopold's was supposed to be the very best.  Well, we can't judge the ice cream even though we had some.  We ordered Chocolate Nut Sundaes that we weren't able to finish.  With all the nuts, chocolate, whipped cream and cherry, it was difficult to taste the ice cream.  I did manage to take care of most of mine.

City Market was another stop on our walking tour of the city and it is much different than the City Market in Charleston.  It is more of a sidewalk mall with restaurants and shops.

There are a number of places to catch a bite, a cold beverage or just sit in the shade and watch the people go by.

I did some of the sitting in the shade while Linda checked out some of the shops.

In addition to a number of trolley companies there are also a number of horse drawn carriages helping to clog the narrow and busy streets.  Somehow all seem to coexist.

On the recommendation of our Chicago friends we took the tour of the First African Baptist Church. It is the oldest continuous black congregation in the United States.  It was first organized in 1777 and has been meeting ever since.  In December it will celebrate its 237th year.  The church itself was constructed in 1859, before the Civil War.

Our trolley driver told us that Martin Luther King, Jr. had practiced his "I've Got a Dream" speech here.  When we ended the tour of the church we asked about this fact, as they hadn't mentioned it. According to church officials, no such thing happened.  It was suggested that Martin Luther King Jr. might have been an acquaintance of one of the previous pastors of the church.

That was one of the things that made us question the validity of statements and there were some others.

In order to take a picture of the church interior, someone had to be in the picture.  This is because in the past people have taken pictures and converted them into post cards for sale.

Friday

We began the day by going out to see Fort Pulaski.  It was another Civil War fort that played a role in the defense of Savannah.

The fort was built of bricks eight feet thick and it was felt that it was impenetrable as the Union positions were too far away on Tybee Island.for round ball shots to do much damage.  The Union told the fort commander to surrender or they would open fire.  He refused.  The Union Army had rifled canons that could send projectiles much further and more accurately.  After being under fire for a day and a half the walls were breached and the munitions magazine was almost hit.  At that point the fort surrendered.  Had the magazine been hit all in the fort would undoubtedly have been killed.

The new red bricks indicate where the walls were breached.

The hole in the center still contains an embedded cannon ball.

Below is visible damage to the walls.

The Union flag from that time that currently flies over the fort.

Damage to the upper portions of the walls and one of the cannons.

Tybee Island lighthouse is one of seven colonial period lighthouses still in operation (modernized of course).

Linda's friend Elaine insisted that we needed to go to Tybee Island and the beach to see what it was like.  She said it hasn't really changed much from the time she spent there growing up in Savannah. Summers at the beach!  It was a very busy place.

At lot of fishing but not much catching.

This could have been any beach town street.

Saturday

This morning we toured Wormsloe Plantation Historic Site not too far from our campground.  There isn't a plantation home but just the foundation of the original compound and home,  The beauty of the Oaks with Spanish moss hanging from them was worth the trip.

Wormsloe was built by a carpenter, surveyor and physician named Noble Jones.  He and his family were part of a group of colonists who arrived in 1733 with James Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia. He wasn't a nobleman but through his hard work and expertise he was able to create a plantation of 1500 acres and accumulate considerable wealth.  It wasn't a plantation in the popular sense as no more than 100 acres were worked at any one time.  Its crop was hardwood lumber that was shipped to England for a hefty profit.

The compound was made of Tabby, a mixture like cement but made up of sand, oyster shells and lime.  The shells came from a huge mound on the property of oysters eaten by the Native Americans over hundreds of years.

The house inside the compound was about the size of a two car garage.  It was considered very large at the time.  Later it was torn down to reuse the material to build a larger more suitable plantation home.  That home was built by Jones' son but it was still small by plantation standards.

Noble Jones and his family were buried here until a hurricane took several feet of shoreline leaving the grave site in peril should another hurricane take more.  They were moved twice to other cemeteries in Savannah.

This picture, a short distance from the grave site, is a view of marsh which was open water of the inter-coastal waterway at that time.

Now to complete the story on River Street.
Linda's friend said she had to try Low Country Boil meal which is a soup or stew of seafood, sausages, potatoes and other vegetables.  This was our last day in Savannah so she searched for the best Low Country Boil in Savannah and found a place on River Street,  Off we went.

We took Martin Luther King Blvd all the way to West River Street and attempted to find a place to park. This was a section of River Street we had missed on Thursday and it really looked interesting. We passed two parking areas that were both full and then we came to the building that bridged the street.  It was blocked off on the other side and traffic was being sent back up the hill.  There was some event going on in town and the street, sidewalks, restaurants, shops and bars were packed with thousands of people.  It took us awhile but we managed to get back onto a street that took us out of town.

Unfortunately we had missed that section and it appeared to be the most interesting stretch of River Street.  Next time we come here.....

Tomorrow we start our return to the west with a stop for a few days in Great Smoky Mountain NP. We only have a little more than three weeks left of our trip but plan to enjoy every day and minute of it.