liebgard

In 2 hrs and 15 min. we drove from Charleston to Hilton Head Island with Sea Pines Golf Course, famous for international golf tournaments. It was a pretty drive through forests. We drove around the island, saw a heron; no place to park, so had to skip the photo; stopped at Harbor Town on Calibogue Sound. Another hour further south brought us to Savannah in the State of Georgia. We drove over the Savannah River on a bridge similar to the Cooper River Bridge in Charleston. The trees are laden with Spanish Moss. Our hotel was on Bay Street, just up from the river front. To get down to the river, one must walk chunky, hilly cobblestones and pass old brick former warehouses out of whose walls volunteer ferns grow. The River Walk was once warehouses, as the Cotton Exchange makes clear, but now it is all restaurants and shops. On the water one finds the paddlewheeler Georgia Queen, ready to take on sunset and dinner guests for a cruise on the river. Container ships also ply the water and we saw a large one from Cyprus. Focal point is a fountain with a sail ship. As twice before in my travels over the years, someone got a thrill out of having a photo of himself travel with me - asked me to take it. Coming up from the river, we find a park with a winged lion fountain and a white bench denoting the spot where Oglethorpe first pitched his tent in the area. James Edward Oglethorpe (1696 – 1785) was a British general, Member of Parliament, philanthropist, and founder of the colony of Georgia. As a social reformer, he hoped to resettle Britain's poor, especially those in debtors' prisons, in the New World. He and 114 colonists arrived in 1733. Because of the friendship between Oglethorpe and the Natives, Savannah was able to flourish unhindered by the warfare that marked the beginnings of many early American colonies. In 1733, Oglethorpe founded the oldest continuously operating Masonic Lodge in the Western Hemisphere. The oldest extant orphanage in the U.S. was founded in Savannah in 1740. Deer skin was exported and rice was grown. During the American Revolution, Savannah came under British and Loyalist control. In Nov. 1864, Gen. Sherman marched south to Savannah. His 62 thousand men lived off the land and caused more than a million dollars in property damage in Georgia.
On the State Capitol is a plaque, commemorating the first steamship to cross the Atlantic; it was named Savannah and started from here in 1819.
Marshall House: In 1851, businesswoman Mary Marshall, noting that Savannah was woefully in need of visitor accommodations, built the four-story Marshall House Hotel. It served as a hospital for soldiers during the Civil War. Original features include authentic 19th Century doors, windows, railings, mouldings, and high ceilings. Some rooms have antique claws-foot tubs. Nearby is a pocket park with a monument to John Wesley (1703-1791) who founded Methodism, a highly successful evangelical movement in the United Kingdom, which encouraged people to experience Jesus Christ personally. In 1735, he and his brother sailed to Savannah at the request of James Oglethorpe. He had problems from a woman when he broke off a romantic relationship and returned to England, where he started open-air preaching and was often attacked for his views contrary to the Church of England.
Later in the afternoon, we sought out the Bonaventure Cemetery, six miles east of town. The cemetery became famous when it was featured in the 1994 novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, and in the movie, directed by Clint Eastwood, based on the book. I noticed many German names; one grave monument even said: Ruhe im Frieden (rest in peace in German.)
There are some graves from the Colonial period here.
The cemetery is close to Fort Pulaski, so we thought we would take a look. it is named for Count Casimir Pulaski, the Polish hero of the American Revolution who lost his life in the unsuccessful siege of Savannah against the British and Loyalists. After Georgia seceded in 1861, the state transferred the fort to the Confederacy. Federal troops overpowered it with new weapons in 1862 and used it to house several political prisoners. There is a model which shows the gun emplacements on the top of the fort. There is a moat with drawbridge and a resident alligator.

the cobblestone road down to the river (and up again)


difficult walking


a former warehouse on the River Front


The Cotton Exchange


warehouses converted to reastaurants and shops on the River Front


Georgia Queen


Oglethorpe's bench


stranger, who wanted me to take his picture; now he has the fame he sought.


Marshall House


Bonaventure cemetery


Fort Pulaski moat alligator

photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

Enjoyed your series on Savannah,my son went with friends recently,also to the Fort.

liebgard

thank you for your comment; interesting and historic place.

photo guy Loc: Chippewa Falls, WI

Nice set of photos.

liebgard

thank you, photo guy

Raider Fan Loc: Lake County, IL.

All are fantastic but the cemetery shot is superb!! Great work!!

liebgard

Thank you; I do like that shot.

WVHillbilly Loc: West Virginia

Very nice series. One son lives in Savannah so have been often and always get hooked photographing the cobbled streets, so interesting.

liebgard

thank you; the cobbled streets are hard walking; almost turned my ankle, but they look great.

WVHillbilly Loc: West Virginia

I have to agree, hard walking regardless of how charming a sight. Even so, I think it was a pretty inovative way to use the balast from all those foreign ships coming for the cotton, "no cost" paving!

liebgard

very good historical point you make