Traversing Savannah

As I indicated in the previous post, we are staying in the Ballastone Inn here in Savannah. This unique venue is right in the middle of the Historic District and is only a few blocks away from everything that is a must-see in this fascinating place. Our Inn was built in 1838 by the merchant George W. Anderson, and his son, Major George W. Anderson Jr. of the Confederate States Army, inherited the house upon George Sr.'s death in 1874. Major Anderson was the commanding officer of nearby Fort McAllister, during the Civil War, and he defended that fort gallantly until he was forced to surrender it to General Sherman in 1864. After serving as a home for the Andersons' and prior to becoming an Inn, it served as a branch office for Girl Scouts of America (because it is next door to the birthplace of Juliet Gordon Low who founded Girl Scouts, in Savannah, in 1912) and it also served as a bordello.  Celebrities such as Matt Damon, Robert Redford, Paul Newman and Gym Moore have stayed in this Inn.

Ballastone Inn

In the Inn today, there are 15 completely unique rooms on four floors, a double parlour and a breakfast room. They have a great breakfast, serve english-style tea at 4 P.M and have bar service and appetizers from 6 to 7 P.M. It has a AAA - four diamond award for 2011 and is highly recommended by Frommer's Guide. The staff here are great! The only negative is that there are only 6 parking spots in the back. I witnessed a terrible battle between two ladies for the last empty spot yesterday. Fortunately, Mrs. Gym won the battle and I wheeled the Taurus into that last spot. It was a little messy for the next 24 hours or so in the Inn but that other couple has now checked out.

Savannah is a very unique place. The Historic District is laid out like most towns in North America with criss-crossing streets running perpendicular to each other, but there are also 22 town squares set down at regular intervals in a grid which covers an area of roughly 144 blocks (12 north-south and 12 east-west blocks). Each square is unique, with some squares containing memorials to war heros or other historic figures and other squares containing playgrounds or parks. One of the squares featured prominently in  the movie Forrest Gump (see below). They reversed the traffic flow for 72 hours around that particular square, to finish those scenes. The bench that Tom Hanks sat on was just a prop for the movie but it is now a treasured piece in a museum.

Forrest narrating his life story in Chippewa Square, Savannah 

I think we have now seen the majority of the 22 town squares. Mrs. Gym and I have traversed the Historic District a couple of times and we also took a 90-minute trolley tour which was very comprehensive. Today, we also strolled along Riverfront Plaza which is about 12 blocks long and runs along the enttire length of the Historic District, adjacent to the Savannah River. The area is full of shops and restaurants which are built into the old warehouses and office buildings that originally housed the burgeoning cotton trade during the mid-1800s.

One of the things that stands out for me here, in this relatively small city of about 132,000 people, is the incredible number of beautiful mansions and churches which have been lovingly cared for by the people of this city for generations. And significantly, when General Sherman burnt down the rest of Georgia during the Civil War, the people of Savannah convinced him to spare Savannah, and he did so, making Savannah a Christmas present for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Thank God!

Tonight we are going to a show at the very old Savannah Theatre and then a late dinner. Tomorrow we will leave Savannah and re-enter South Carolina. We will then blast through South Carolina and up to Wilmington, North Carolina to visit some kinfolk and do some other cool stuff.  Until then, here are a few shots of Savannah.

Forsyth Fountain down one of the tree-lined paths which radiate out from it in all directions

Forsyth Fountain up close - they turn the water  green every St. Patricks Day

Old Sorrel House is said to be haunted like many of these old mansions. Sorrel was a Confederate General that survived the war and General Robert E. Lee visited this house in the early years of the war.

Memorial to the fallen Confederate soldiers in Forsyth Park 

This is the Talmadge Memorial Bridge from The Riverfront Plaza. We went over this coming from Hilton Head Island. 

A Paddlewheeler moored on the Riverfront Plaza

Cotton bales loaded on wagons would be driven down this alley overlooked by 'Cotton Factors' or merchants, who would buy the cotton from the growers and sell it for export to Europe

Cotton Factors Walk with City Hall in the Background