Our first day here was Saturday, and we took a little faux-trolley tour around the historic part of Savannah, to hear some of the local stories; our tourguide had grown up here and pointed out the neighborhoods that had been slums in the 1950s (restored to million-dollar mansions now) and where voodoo is practiced (you had to take the ghost tour to get the details on that, but he assured us that "there is evil here." I thought that was a nice unexpected touch for a 90-minute tour). Here's our trolley:
The oldest part of town has buildings dating back to the 1700s, including an area where pirates drank and "recruited" new sailors (pulled drunk men onto the ship and set sail before they could revive). Here's the famous Pirate's House. Tales about it inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write Treasure Island:
Most of the 18th century buildings burned up in a series of fires, but a few remain. Then you can see the antebellum mansions, built out of cheap local brick (they finally got the idea, after all the fires). Here is one below. It was stuccoed over because some folks thought brick looked cheap. They thought that stucco looked much classier.
They raised the entrances up above the street level to keep the sandy dirt out and help air circulation in the humid summers. So now everyone can have a rental apartment down below, where the slaves or potatoes once lived.
One of the prettiest things about Savannah is its squares; the city was planned by a Brit named Oglethorpe who decided that every two blocks there would be a square acre of park. The little parks are attractively designed spots to sit and view the beautiful homes lining them. If only Oglethorpe had designed Rocklin! Here is a picture of Forsyth Park, not really a square, but it shows the beauty there
At the corner of Oglethorpe and Abercorn is the Colonial cemetary, with folks buried as far back as when we were just colonies of Brittain (Oglethorpe's day). It was occupied by soldiers during the Revolutionary War, and then again during the Civil War, when someone decided to stack all the damaged headstones in a pile. After the war, they were hung on a wall at the back of the cemetary. No records were kept to show where they actually belong (where the bodies are). Here are some pics:
Here's a section of the wall.
This guy was a doctor, and only 30 when he died in 1785. I tried doing a rubbing, but the words didn't come out at all, and only the roughest details of the angel did.
Here is another delicate little one:
This girl was only 17. Look at the sweet carving at the top:
My favorite one was this one. It's located just inside the gate. I think her husband should have sprung for a nicer stone, considering she gave him 15 kids (she died after the last one--who could blame her). Only 41 years old at the time.
Here's a wide shot showing the grounds a little:
Beside the cemetary is the old dueling ground (convenient location). Now it has a playground on it, which Katie enjoyed. Here's a picture taken from the jungle-gym, looking back at the dueling ground:
That's a woman practicing her incredibly fast softball pitch.
Here is an old part of town called City Market, which was once a slave market. Now you can get ice cream there instead.
Near City Market is River Road, the riverfront, where the cotton exchange once stood, setting the cotton price for the South. Now the old brick buildings house tourist shops and restaurants instead, but they the buildings are interesting, because they are at river level on the river side, but the street on the other side is three or four stories higher (steep riverbank), so you walk into the 4th story at ground level on that side. Here's a picture; the pink circle shows the street level, which is at the 4th story on the river side:
Here are the not-to-code steps leading down:
Out past the antebellum homes, there are blocks of Victorian homes like these (these three are identical, except for their condition):
Then grand homes from the 20s and maybe 30s:
I love their old busstop signs:
With so many beautifully restored homes in Savannah, it might seem like there are no good deals to be had. Not so! Here's one, in the oldest part of town:
In the 1950s, many neighborhoods looked like this, and housing prices were really cheap, right up into the 70s. Sigh. Why oh why couldn't I be psychic, just a little?
On Sunday we drove to nearby Tybee Island; on the way we passed an old plantation, named Wormsloe, in the little town of Sandfly. One resident filled their front yard with edifying signs like this:
Once at Tybee Island, we found the Marine Science Center, right on the beach. An artist was painting waves on the bathroom walls, and said she was going to put fish, critters, and mermaids and mermen on them afterwards. I love what she did; maybe for our bathroom walls someday too...
Maybe she painted their van too:
There was a touch tank at the marine center, and Katie spent about an hour there, picking up horseshoe crabs, spider crabs, conchs, etc. Upstairs was a free kids movie about dolphins, and sand from all over the world, with microscopes so kids could see the grains up close. I talked to the biologist working there and decided to send her sand I collected from Canyonlands, Utah and Black Sands Beach (at Shelter Cove, CA).
Well, today is Thursday and we're off to Atlanta (Alatoona Lake, actually, north of Atlanta I think). Maybe I'll get to garage sale on Saturday, if I'm lucky. Been reading a book my sister-in-law Christie told me about, called A Treasure's Trove. If you haven't heard of it, it's a children's fairy tale, but there are 12 jewels hidden around the US, and if you figure out where one is, using puzzles in the book, you can go to the spot, find a gold token, and claim your prize. Too intriguing to resist! The book came out in November, and so far, none have been found. The puzzles can be tricky (there's even morse code hidden in one of the borders). If we find anything, we will post it!!