Savannah; A Birthday Drenching; A History Lesson

We are drifters, Gypsies, vagabonds, latter-day Kerouacs in an absurdly large Ford. Had Allison and I lived a hundred years ago, I truly believe you would have found us (IF you found us) curled in an empty boxcar, restlessly yearning toward the sunrise, our destination only realized when railroad police evict us, set us afoot, at a forgotten, dusty depot in some unnamed territory. (author's note: WARNING! WARNING! ROMANTIC, IDEALIZED CRAP ALERT!!!)

Toward the end of March we loaded up the dogs and our bindles (look it up, but it's more nostalgic hogwash, we use a space-age, waterproof nylon suitcase) and once again headed to the coast, this time a touch further north and the Southern Belle called Savannah. We were (as you may be) interested in the city's history, the aura of Americana surrounding this 'Flower of the South'; since we arrived in GA we had been advised uncountable times that no stay is complete without having spent time there. THEY WERE RIGHT.

Savannah was settled by a guy named James Oglethorpe in 1733. You can read his story at
http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/people/oglethorpe.html
and I highly recommend it for perspective. The area almost immediately became a center of commerce for exporting the products of the New World to England, France, and The Netherlands. Money and manufactured goods were likewise flowing back across the Atlantic, and the original colonists and their descendants did VERY well for themselves; the area grew and became strategically and politically influential.

Before we went there, this author had perceived the city mainly in the context of the American Civil War. In my weak defense, I am (not uniquely, I'm certain) a product of my experience and education; I only knew that which I had been told, been taught, or read. Georgia was the Old South; Savannah (Atlanta, Charleston, Birmingham, insert your choice here) epitomized the Confederacy, its traditions and mores, that became the iconic conflict, good vs. evil, that almost destroyed the United States in the mid-19th century. To be sure, much of the history of Savannah is inextricably woven into the dark fabric of that shameful and inexcusable era of the 'peculiar institution' also known as African Slavery. But it is also so much more...

My preconceptions were immediately demonstrated to be unforgivably naive, simplistic and uninformed. A closer look at this area and its people recounts a story of almost-unbelievable courage, endurance, and sacrifice. Unfathomable hardships were endured by the city's founders (and the first generation after them), that the fledgling democracy first conceived in Philadelphia in 1776 would not draw its last breath in the same decade as its first. To paraphrase (badly, I fear) Thomas Jefferson's famous quote: the blood of patriots (and their brave British and Loyalist adversaries) consecrates the very foundations of this city. See here http://www.americanrevolution.com/BattleofSavannah.htm
for what I believe is the definitive account of these inspirational (and poignant) events.

Well! Enough sermonizing and enough of my annoying newfound habit of burdening you, dear reader (apologies to Stephen King), with additional homework. Suffice it to say that we knew NOTHING about this beautiful, graceful, dignified city until we came here, until we listened carefully to the whispers of ghosts that reputedly prowl restlessly the narrow alleys, the ruined fortifications, the misty harbor. I am humbled by (and ashamed of) my ignorance.

Now here are the photographs. As always, click on the pic for a larger view. If you are persistent and thorough, you will discover what I mean by 'A Birthday Drenching' as contained in the title of this post. I'm sure you will find it comical; I did.

Statue Of James Oglethorpe, Chippewa Square:


Forsythe Square... They Really Have Dead Guys Under The Statues!


Oglethorpe Landed Here... This Is The Cotton Exchange


I'm about worn out now. Lots more pictures tomorrow.

S.

OK, here's some more stuff from Savannah. Sorry about the delay, I am just now recovering from a MOST UNPLEASANT medical 'oops!'. The procedure is called Lithotripsy, an arcane, misleadingly bland word essentially meaning 'you have a kidney stone the size of a marble; if we don't get it out, you are an excellent candidate for dialysis and, ultimately, placement on a transplant list, so we are gonna blast it outta ya with a hypersonic death ray, BWWAAAHHH HAA HAAA HAA!!!' (evil guffaw and demonic wringing of hands unsettlingly reminiscent of Snidely Whiplash).

The Riverboat We Had Allison's Birthday Cruise On:


THIS Is The 'Birthday Drenching'. The Waiter Apparently Decided I Needed A 32-Ounce Savannah Sling, Ice And All, Down The Back Of My Neck:

NOTE: There were about a hundred people in our section of the ship's dining room when this happened. The room became VERY silent for about 15 seconds; after that, well, have you ever heard the sound of about fifty cell-phone cameras, video cameras, and regular digital cameras ALL FIRING SIMULTANEOUSLY!?! These people were tourists from all over the U.S., and about a half dozen other countries. I sincerely hope this is not, for me, what Andy Warhol had in mind when he uttered his iconic 'fifteen minutes of fame' remark...

NOTE 2: When this happened, my shirt was tucked in, net effect of which is that ALL the ice in the drink found its way down the back of my jeans. HA! FUNNY!

We did the Historic District in an unorthodox (for Savannah) way, but one in which everyone who knows us will find no surprise. We parked every day south of downtown, unlimbered our bikes, and rode the entire area. I highly recommend that you do it this way; we had no traffic problems and Savannah's famous Squares are all bicycle-friendly. In effect, we went right through and around all twenty-one of them, something that would be impossible in a car or on a guided tour.

RECOMMENDED READING: Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil. The Quintessential and authoritative reference on the Savannah we saw. AMAZINGLY on target, highly accurate both sociologically and geographically.

Jim Williams' Mercer House From The Book:


Forsythe Park, Also Featured Prominently In The Book:


From The Front Patio, Owens-Thomas House. Looking At Square:


Colonial Park Cemetery, SEE NOTE BELOW PHOTO

NOTE BELOW PHOTO (HA! humor!) During the Civil War, Union troops were stationed at the cemetery because it was ideal for horses. The troops often searched for valuables among the graves. Some of the soldiers were mischievous; they tampered with dates on some of the tombstones. If the (modified) dates were correct, the oldest person buried there lived to be over a thousand years old!
This joint was closed to new burials in 1853. The oldest graves here date from 1750. Note the gravestones along the back wall; these were moved around and knocked over by the Union soldiers. There were no reliable records about who was where, so they just placed those stones along the back wall and called it good.

That's all for today. We are leaving Georgia on the 8th of April, and I got lotsa work to do to get us ready to travel. BUT: Check back often in the next few days, Dear Readers, as I'm not even CLOSE to being done with Savannah, its history, and the pictures. This is going to be a long, involved post, but I promise it will be worth your while to stick with it. I haven't yet showed you 'impregnable' Fort Pulaski, on Cockspur Island, that was brought to its knees (does a fort have knees?) by the Union in 1862. In thirty hours a newfangled, high-tech artillery technology called the 'rifled barrel' punched holes in this thing, and that very day the nature of warfare changed forever. And we still have to visit Tybee Island, and its pirates and patriarchs. Oh, my, I have LOTS more. Stay tuned.

Later,
S.