Savannah–jewel of Georgia

From Charleston we drove south to the town of Hardeeville, Ga. The Hardeeville RV Park is a Passport America park. By staying there for a few days, I can save up some money before hitting the expensive parks of the Florida coast (at least I hope so!) Also from the Hardeeville Park it is a very easy drive into Savannah. Down a back road, over a very big bridge, take a left and park. No driving in the city at all. Once we were parked we opted to start with a  90 minute overview trolley tour.

Savannah is considered to be an urban masterpiece and America’s best walking city. It is 2.5 square miles and has over 2,000 historically significant colonial and Victorian homes and buildings, most of them completely restored.  Savannah was laid out in 1733 on a perfect grid by its founder, British general James Oglethorpe. The city is arranged around 21 one acre squares. Each square is now dedicated to someone from the past, and while each square has a statue of someone, the two names are seldom the same. So the Telfair square might have a statue to Franklin and the Pulaski square might have the statue of Telfair! Go figure!

 

At President Lincoln’s request, Savannah’s fabled architecture was spared burning during Sherman’s march to the sea in 1864. Thus there are many beautiful homes including these two called the Twin Ladies:

Savannah became rich on King Cotton and many mansions were built surrounding each square.

The original cotton exchange building on the waterfront.

 

 

 

 

After the trolley ride, we got out and walked around. We walked down to the waterfront. Today, as in the past, Savannah is a major shipping port with water access to many points north.

There are lots of tourist shops all along the water front:

 

This City Hall has a dome covered in gold mined from the Georgia mountains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ate lunch in a waterfront restaurant. It was Restaurant Week in Savannah so we were able to eat a fancy lunch for two for $20. Lee had crab cake and fries and I had tilapia and asparagus. We started with roasted mushroom soup and a side salad. A great lunch with no room for dessert.

 

After lunch we stopped at the First African Baptist Church. We missed the beginning of the tour, but joined in for the last few minutes.

Throughout the church’s lower level were these designs of holes. They were used as air holes for slaves escaping through the underground railroad. Today the church continues to be an important part of Savannah’s religious life.

And of course there was the requisite stop for afternoon coffee and dessert. This time we stopped at Paula Dean’s Lady and Sons restaurant. Lee ordered the Pecan Pie with Ice Cream and I had a mini Peach Cobbler. Both were incredible! In addition, one of the servers stopped by with johnnie cakes and cheese biscuits. I explained that we weren’t having lunch, just dessert and she said it was ok…they were free to anyone. So Lee put syrup on his johnnie cake and made an extra dessert! I asked if we could buy another biscuit and again she said ‘no, they were free and she would give me another one’. Great…now I had part of our dinner!

And then we tried to walk off some of the dessert!

We stopped at the tourist center which includes a very nice museum. Here is the bench used for Forrest Gump:

Another great tourist day ends as we drive back over the bridge and out of town.

Past swamp land:

And back to our peaceful spot at Hardeeville Campground:

Hope your day was interesting and your night peaceful!