GEORGIA… IT’S STILL ON OUR MIND…

View from our site

Now it’s onto Savannah and the Red Gate Campground and RVResort.  We arrive and our space is water and electric only… but the good news is we are off away from the main campground, nestled under the Spanish moss draped oaks with views of the ponds.  This family farm turned RV Park has great history and was a Confederate and later a Union encampment during the Civil war. They still find Civil War artifacts on the land.

City Squares everywhere

As we arrive in Savannah, pink tutu clad folks have just finished a Susan G Komen Race for the Cure. We stroll through the historic district.  This is a spectacularly beautiful city. It reminds us a bit of Boston… but Boston on Prozac.  No one is in a hurry.  In the historic district, every few blocks is a city square with statues or fountains and the ever-present moss draped oaks.

Splashing in Ellis Sq.

This is definitely a walking city. We stop by the Cathedral of St. John TheBaptist the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Georgia.  This is truly a beautiful cathedral with all the trimmings:  frescos, stained glass, statues… the works!  After, we stop at the Moon River Brewery for some tasty adult beverages.  The couple next to us orders brews that are served in a different glass.  Curious. We inquire and are introduced to Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale… Thank you young couple from Cincinnati, Ohio  On our way to the waterfront there’s a Tea Party Rally in the park.  Not much of a turn out tho… there are more kids splashing in the fountain.  Along the Savannah River there are lots of touristy shops and restaurants.  We grab a hot dog from a cart and watch huge ships come up the Savannah River. On our way back to the parking garage we pass through the park, the tea party is over and the fountain is still full of splashing children.
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Beach

Tybee Island is Savannah’s beach.  Every April for almost thirty years, college students have an impromptu beach party: Orange Crush.  Town officials try to guess the date but it’s a social media event.  It doesn’t happen while we are here.  The Beach is quiet.

Tybee Island Lighthouse

The Tybee Island Museum is located within the walls of Battery Garland of Fort Screven. It’s a strange museum with continuity issues, limited artifacts but lots of laminated posters with information about the island. Battery Garland was constructed in 1898-1899 to mount a huge 12-inch “non-disappearing” rifled, long-range cannon.    Across from the Battery is the Tybee Island lighthouse.  We tour the grounds and light keeper’s cottage and climb up in circles for what seems like forever (ok it’s only four stories) to the top of the station for some incredible views of the area with a little acrophobia as the walkway seems a bit sketchy. (Guess that’s why they only allow 25 visitors up at a time.

Gothic headstones

The Bonaventure Cemetery is located on a scenic bluff on the Wilmington River, east of Savannah. It’s 160 acres of breathtakingly beautiful filled with history and pseudo-history. It was featured in the 1994 novel, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt and the movie based on the book.  In 1867 John Muir wrote his chapter “Camping Among the Tombs” about his six days and nights sleeping on the graves as it was the safest and cheapest accommodation he could find while waiting for money to be expressed from home. It is the final resting place of Oscar Wilde, Johnny Mercer and Conrad Aiken. It’s a “World’s Most Haunted Cemetery” in a World’s Most Haunted City. (Not sure how they qualify this.) But there’s really nothing creepy here… just a sense of beauty and tranquility.

Cannon Ball holes

Fort Pulaski sits between Savannah and Tybee Island. Originally built as a main defense against overseas enemies it stands as a landmark for the turning point in Military History.  During the Civil War the Union army blasted the masonry walls with a rifled cannon, breaching the perimeter. Ordinances landed perilously close the Confederate munitions supply compelling them to surrender.  The breech in the exterior walls was immediately repaired once the Union took control, but the exterior walls still show the ravages of war. 

Cockspur Lighthouse

The Cockspur lighthouse sits off in the distance marking the south channel of the Savannah River.  Although open to the public, it is only accessible by foot during low tide.

Well… Easter is coming and we have a date in Atlanta…