Historic Savannah

We spent a couple of days in Savannah, Georgia, and on one of those days, we took a tour of historic Savannah, via the hop-on hop-off bus there.  It gave us a chance to see this lovely city, full of parks and history.

Our first stop was the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.  It was formed in the late 18^th century when French immigrants from France and Haiti seeking refuge landed in Savannah.  It started as a church, and became a cathedral in 1850.  It’s so beautiful, it’s hard to believe that it was almost totally destroyed by fire in 1898.  It was rebuilt about 2 years later, in 1900.  However, I think much of its beauty today can be attributed to the restoration efforts that happened in 2000.

Flannery O’Connor was an author of short stories.  I’ve heard her style referred to as “Southern Gothic”.  I particularly enjoy a quote of hers when referring to her writing style  - “Anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the Northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it’s going to be called realistic.”  I was very appreciative of her writing, and how different it was from anything I’d read up to that point.   She won the O. Henry award for best short story of the year three different times.  She referred to this house as the “house I was raised in”.  They did offer tours of this house – unfortunately, not while we were there (darn!).  Flannery O’Connor lived a short life, dying at age 39 in 1964, from lupus.  

One of the things I enjoyed most about Savannah was the number of parks sprinkled throughout the city there were.  I believe that I heard there are about 21 or 22 parks currently.  There were 2 more originally – however, one is now under a road and the other part of the bridge (see below) along the river, so they cannot be reclaimed by the City.  It kept the city of Savannah from feeling too overwhelmingly like a city, and reminded me of the neighborhood in Chicago where I spent my very young childhood years – a block from a huge city park, and about ½ block from a large boulevard that seemed more like a park than a median of a city street.  I noticed that one of the Savannah parks contained a cemetery of military soldiers.

When we got off the hop on, hop off bus and walked to the riverfront to stop at one of the many restaurants and pubs to grab lunch, we walked past this very cool mural painted on a cement wall.  It reflected the sentiments of some of the somewhat religious groups back during Prohibition in the US, from 1920 until 1933.  I found it particularly amusing, as, like I said, we were walking down the street towards the area where liquor was flowing freely!

The area along the riverfront was full of lovely picturesque shops, restaurants and pubs that kept the historic look and feel of the buildings there.  This was one of my favorite!

And, finally, this is the bridge I referred to above.  It will take you from Georgia to South Carolina.  One interesting tidbit about Georgia and South Carolina.  Although Georgia is known as “The Peach State”, South Carolina actually grows more peaches each year!  I didn’t read this anywhere – the tour guide on the hop on, hop off bus said it……so it must be true! 

Enjoy!