Savannah, Georgia

So far we have had some travel problems.  When we were getting ready to pull out of Rainbow one of our slides would not come in.  With the help of a couple of our neighbors we convinced it to move.  We figured that it was likely corrosion from the high humidity over the winter.  That put our departure behind a couple of hours.  We got ready to pull out of St. Augustine Thursday morning and we could not get the landing gear to lift the 5th for hook up.  We finally called a repair man who for $60 got it to work.  Seems there was a blown switch hiding in the basement.  Must have been a power surge on the electrical.  In any event it was fixed and again we were a few hours behind our planned departure time.  They say RV'ing has its surprises!!

We arrived at the Savannah Oaks RV Park on Thursday afternoon without further incident.  Not a bad park.  Convenient to the I95 but the pool is closed for cleaning and the gym is closed for renovations.  Again we have poor internet and poor cell reception.  But we settled in and on Friday morning we caught the shuttle to take us into Savannah for the Old Town Tours again.

In 1733 General Oglethorpe and 120 passengers landed on a bluff high along the Savannah River.  He named the colony Georgia after England's King George II.  Savannah became its first city.  Savannah is known as America's first planned city. Oglethorpe laid the city out in a series of grids that allowed for wide open streets intertwined with shady public squares and parks that served as town meeting places and centers of business.  Savannah had 24 original squares, 22 still remain today.

Interesting bit of history on how Savannah escaped destruction during the Civil War.  Union General Sherman burned the city of Atlanta and everything else in his path on his "March to the Sea".  Upon arriving in Savannah he was so impressed by its beauty that he could not destroy it.  On Dec 22,1864 he sent the famous telegram to President Abraham Lincoln, offering the city as a Christmas present.  Lincoln accepted and the city was spared.  This is the reason that there are all those beautiful old houses still standing. Unfortunately all the old plantations that surrounded the city were destroyed.  What a horrible loss!!

Since it was a very chilly, overcast and rainy day we decided that we would just take the tour around and see the sights.  If we saw anything that we wanted to spend more time at we would come back the next day.   The tour was very interesting.  We travelled all over the city viewing all the beautiful squares with their monuments and statues and got to see all the historic houses and churches along the way.

One of the most beautiful squares is Forsyth Park.

When we found the trolley taking a turn down a narrow cobblestone lane curving down to the river we decided to get off for a walk about.  The cobblestones were actually ballast stones we were told.  They were used to all ballas to the ships when they came into port.  When they were ready to load up with the cotton or rice from the port the ballast stones were no longer required and they were tossed onto the shore.  The stones that line the riverfront are from all over the world.   Here you can see the stones that line the road that leads up from the riverfront.

As we walked back up this lane and up the flight of stairs at the back we were able to see that alley that runs along behind all the buildings that were all warehouses at one time.  The wagons loaded with cotton or rice would be brought along this alley.  The buyers would walk out onto the catwalks above from their warehouses to inspect the goods and bid on them.

We walked along the riverfront.  All the old warehouses are now shops and restaurants.

On the riverfront there were a couple paddleboats that you could take a cruise on if you were so inclined.  The weather was not conducive to that today.  We walked up those stairs and wandered around the historic market district where we stopped for lunch before catching the trolley to return to our starting point.

We saw this t-shirt in a shop.  Reminded us of John Hollinger who does put ketchup on everything!!!

  The gold dome on a government building is only allowed for the capital of the state. Savannah was at one time the capital of Georgia before it was changed to Atlanta.  The gold dome is tissue paper thin, 23 karat gold leaf on the City Hall. Beautiful.

St. Augustine was held by the Catholic Spanish and Savannah was Protestant British.  Sworn enemies but the cities are very much alike.

We got back to our park soaked to the skin - again looking like drawn rats.

I was somewhat disappointed with Savannah.  I was expecting that since it is spring that the magnolia trees would all be in bloom but there was not a flower to be seen.  Nothing much on the tour really caught our eye. We are not that interested in walking through old houses.  Been there - done that.  So on Saturday we are just taking a down day.  It is still chilly and overcast so we will see what happens.

Until next time - safe travels.