Savannah, Georgia
On Friday morning when we left St. Augustine, the weather was still quite warm in the mid 80’s and humid. It would be a reasonable drive of about 175 miles up the coast to Savannah (SA). We left early arriving shortly after noon. Wayne and Lynn arrived less than 1 hour later so after setting up and having some lunch, we got together and shared stories of what we had been doing since we last saw them in Ft. Myers back in mid March. The park we were in wasn’t the best, but it was shady and we had great company. The four of us discussed the plans for the next two days in Savannah and dined on Kathy’s world famous homemade lasagna that evening.
The next morning the 4 of us were out at the camp gate waiting for the trolley shuttle to take us to town. While we waited we met a nice couple from California (Bill and Marilyn) who happened to be parked beside us that told us that they had a free pet walking service at the park, so I quickly arranged this before we left.
We arrived in town before 10 am and embarked on a 90 minute trolley tour of the historic part of Savannah. SA was founded in 1733 by James Oglethorpe and is a very unique city as it was one of the first designed in a true grid pattern. Within the grid of the old historic area, there were originally 24 “Squares” that would be ½ to 1 acre in size. Twenty two still exist today. In their day, these squares would be a central meeting area for residents neighborhood. Today, not only are the parks adorned by many huge old live oak trees, but the entire historic downtown is covered in a canopy of trees, many being large oak as in the pictures. Combined with the Spanish moss hanging from the trees, the area is quite amazing.
In its day, SA had the world’s second largest Cotton Exchange. (see pic). See the attached pic about “Savannah’s Waving Girl. For 44 years she waved at every shipped that arrived or departed the Port of Savannah with a handkerchief, using a lantern at night.
After our guided tour, we grabbed some lunch (a disaster) then Kathy and I headed out on foot to retrace a bit of the tour route and then some to get a closer look. Even with the abundance of tree’s, it was a humid day to say the least. We arrived back at the camp by shuttle at around 5:30 with tired feet.
The next day, Wayne decided to drive into SA, so the 4 of us headed in around 11 and we spent the afternoon touring other areas that didn’t get covered the prior day. This would be primarily the water front with its shops and eateries. Another hot day in SA, but luckily we dodged some bad weather that was circling in the area.
Lots of interesting and historic sites had been seen over the two days. We would definitely recommend a visit to SA for its beauty and old world charm. It has lots of history, but part two coming up trumps it!
Moving on up the coast tomorrow (April 13th). Stay tuned…….
One of many beautiful churches
Other end of the same church – previous pic
Pedal power – many bridal parties in town
Architecture abounds
SA has 22 city parks (squares)
Kathy sitting at a bench in the one Square where Forrest Gump was filmed when he said “Life is like a box of chocolates…..”
One of many old grandeur homes
Walkway towards Forsyth Park
Forsyth fountain
Confederate Memorial
“Old Duke” – the fire bell signaled which square was the closest to the fire by the number of rings
Another Square
Pretty in pink!
Savannah Cotton Exchange
SA Cotton Exchange
A canopy of live oak trees
Port of Savannah
The Pirate House – dating back to 1753. We had dinner there one evening.
The Waving Girl – Florence Martus
The ferry that took us across the river to the convention center
Looking back to Savannah
I love Spanish moss on the big old trees too. Hopefully they have some younger trees planted to replace the old ones as they die off. The pet walking service would go over well in many camp grounds I bet. Thanks for keeping up your blog this whole long journey. It will be great reading in your old age!
Love Dianne