Month: February 2023

After our 2 hour walking tour we had our bearings and set out for a number of interesting days exploring. It was also time for us to get back out and do some exercising. Temps have been in the high 60s during the day and mid to high 40s at night. Beats the negative 10 temps we would have been experiencing back in NY.

First stop, the Savannah History Museum. It was designed around the old railroad depot and covered the city’s history from the 1600s to the present.

Savannah is also the home to the founder of the Girl Scouts. Juliette Gordon Low met Robert Baden Powell in Europe and enjoyed the thoughts he had regarding his Boy Scouts becoming ready for military action and having fun too. She started the Girl Guides in 1912 and by 1915 they were renamed the Girl Scouts.

The Battle of Savannah in 1779 found the colonists trying to retake the city from the British. That failed but they did get one good shot in. Poor house. The section of the clapboard siding was here in the museum. Looks like there was a bit of fixing done before being put on display. Notice the board on the right is clean cut?

We spent another fine day in Savannah touring the Sorrel Weed house. It is named for a doctor from the area back in the mid 1800s. He performed many surgeries in the basement when the survival rate was not all that great. Word is that only half his surgery patients survived! Maybe we should have signed up for the nightly ghost tour instead of the historical guided tour . Besides being a doctor he evidently enjoyed travelling, or at least, enjoyed not being in one place for too long. Sound familiar?

While visiting everyone asked us if we had visited Tybee Island just south of the city proper. Of course, we took our bikes down there to explore.

We spent our last day in Savannah back in the historical section. The riverfront offered many historical placards, restaurants and views of some major commerce going on.

Crab chowder and a local IPA for me. The waitress was nice enough to take our happy picture. We feel that we will revisit Savannah, Georgia again sometime in the near future.

Another beautiful Southern belle of a city is Savannah. We planned a full week this time around as our previous trip allotted only one day and 2 nights of exploration. It is absolutely fascinating and pleasureful to spend the day wandering around the city’s 22 “squares” on coble stone streets. These squares were an intentional design back in 1733. Each had its own neighborhood feel to it. James Oglethorpe was sent to the area by the then King George II to set up a town that could be used to buffer the city of Charleston from invasion from the south where the Spanish and French had outposts. Oglethorpe was a philanthropist and a military general. Not sure how those two titles go together but his design for the city is still basically the same as it is today almost 300 years later. The port of Savannah played a major role in the American Revolution and the American Civil War.

Our guide pointed out some interesting architectural objects. Below are a drain spout for the gutters on one older house and a trash can in one of the squares. Many such downspouts were incorporated into a house’s design because the myth is that evil spirits cannot cross water so the spout signifies that all evil spirits must turn back. Never mind the superstition involved here, the abundance of these throughout the city makes for a pleasant look and much conversation. The trash can, as most in the city, is shaped to look like a pineapple. Old customs state that a pineapple is placed as a center piece on the table before a party started letting folks know they are welcome there. When the hostess decides the party is over, she takes the pineapple away. This signifies to the guests that it is time to go. By making the trash cans look like pineapples, the city is saying all are welcome to stay.

Below are two hitching posts from another era. They no longer serve their original purpose but the historical society wanted them left in place. There are a number of them we “ran into” in the city. If the horse is facing toward the street it was a public post to be used by all but it faced the house it was known to be private and for use by the owner of the house. The one on the left has two rings for two horses but they are not facing the street or the house?

This iconic red phone booth is outside the famous Six Pence Tavern. The tavern and phone booth have appeared in many famous films. Julia Roberts played in the movie “Something to Talk About” in 1995.

Anyone recognize the famous spot below?

The house pictured below is called the Green-Meldrim House and is part of the complex for St. John’s church. General Sherman of the Union army used it as his headquarters after marching there from his terror campaign in Atlanta. He sent President Lincoln a wire giving him Savannah as a Christmas present.

Interesting story told to us by our guide was that as the parsonage building he was staying in was right next to the church he would be awoken by the church bells ringing every morning. When the ladies that rung the bell learned he was not pleased, they graciously decided to ring the bell all the time and not just on the hour. Sherman decided that this would not work so he had the bells removed! When the caretaker sent a note to her friend, Lincoln’s wife Mary, and told her of this Mary had her husband tell Sherman to put the bells back. He returned the bells, but did not return the clappers (the thing inside the bell that hits the side). Upon vacating the city he did return them.

Below are a few random shots of beauty in Savannah to leave you with

We have been asked by many “How the heck do you comment on a post?” Best we can tell is that you should click on each individual post name before reading it. The comment box will then be available to write in at the bottom of the post. I also believe that when you do this you can give your email address and you will get an email notification when future posts are published.

This example of a southern city with an abundance of charm and history called us back after our initial exploration on our last trip. It was founded in 1670 becoming the 5th largest city in the colonies within a decade. We took a 2 hour walking tour of the historic district with a very knowledgeable guide. He talked at length about a former mayor of the city for 40 years and his efforts to make the city more historically accurate. He had all utility wires buried and offered home and business owners a tax credit to install working gas lanterns on the outside of their house. Government has a use at some times we suppose.

Unfortunately, Charleston also has the distinction as the hub of slavery back in the day. Estimates have it that over half of the slaves imported to North America were “processed” in the city of Charleston. Below is a picture of one of the more prolific sites for the import and auction of slaves.

There was a large earthquake along the fault line that runs through the city back in 1886. Many of the city’s buildings were leveled but some managed to escape that fate. The folks were concerned about the structural integrity of these remaining buildings so horizontal steel rods were used to hold the walls erect in case of more quakes in the future. Supposedly there is a large quake here every 100 years or so. That means the city is “due”.

The steel rods were deemed unattractive so covers were designed to make their ends look a bit more pleasing to the eye. As with everything else in life, some folks could afford a nicer version of those covers. On the left if the standard cover we saw on many of the building there and the right is a version of a more expensive and elaborate cover. Turns out that these steel rods were not the best idea and no one is quite sure what will happen when the next “big one” come. They make the building too rigid they say. New construction uses techniques that allow the building to sway with the motion.

The picture below is of a random street made of English cobble. Stones are lumped into 3 categories: gravel, cobble and boulders. It was cobble that most of the ships coming from England used as ballast. Most ships left England with a few supplies but remained basically empty so they could take on more cargo and sail it back to the mother country. These ballast stones weighed enough to make sure the ship was not top heavy. When the ships were loaded with cargo for the return trip, the cobble ballast stones were either thrown overboard or used to erect buildings or make streets like the one shown. So many stones were thrown overboard that the shoreline eventually ended up 1/4 mile from where it is today. Cool to be walking on stones that came from England centuries ago.

It was very interesting to come across a fire tower in the middle of an urban setting. Fire was the biggest risk to buildings back in the day when all buildings were basically made of wood. By standing on top of the tower, the caretaker could locate a fire anywhere nearby and alert the authorities.

Below, find a picture of a nice sunset from a pier downtown as well as a “typical” scene of a park in Charleston.

We chose to spend one of our days touring a few historic sites in the area. First stop was the Angel Tree. Its birth year is in question but most figure it to be over 1000 years old. Massive tree with tons of Spanish moss and resurrection fern growing on its limbs. All it takes is one rain to bring back the browning fern back to a healthy green hence the name resurrection fern.

Off to the Charleston Tea Plantation. They now call it a tea garden and not plantation. It never did have slaves working the land so….We learned some of the traditional teas like earl gray, black and green are all made from the same plant. It is all about the processing.

With all our sightseeing we needed to get out on the bikes as the temperature climbed into the 70 degree range. Turns out the 7 mile bike path from near our campground to the bridge that crosses into Charleston is not a true rail-trail path but the remains of a military earthworks to help repel the Union army during the Civil War. See placard below. A nice ride was had by all.

We took a day while downtown to get a tour of the Old Exchange building also known as the Dungeon. As the building was directly on the water back in the day, all goods being shipped into the colony had to go through “customs” at this house. All the taxes collected at this customs house was sent back to England, of course!

After the American Revolution George Washington took what was billed as his “Southern Tour”. While in Charleston he was regaled as a hero and large parties were held in his honor. Lore has it that he danced with all 400 women present at a ball in the main room upstairs in the Old Exchange. Wonder what Martha would have thought??