The Beautiful City of Savannah, Georgia

John and I spent 3 wonderful days in Savannah, a historical town of incredible old trees dripping with Spanish Moss. We spent our time wandering and enjoying learning about the history here–Revolutionary War, Civil War, and more.

There is really so much history here in Savannah–so many war heroes and important people. This was the heart of the Southern States and an important waterway–from England and for all the cotton and ironworks that went out from here. It is a port town. Still one of the 3 busiest container ports in the country.

On our first day, we walked along the NO KINGS rally routes, proud that people are standing up and saying NO.

I really can’t get enough of the trees here. There are parks dotting the city, every neighborhood has a park where you can sit and enjoy the trees, fountains, historical markers and often street musicians.

We took a bus tour to learn the layout of the town and some of the history. After getting our bearings, we figured out all the places we wanted to return to for a closer look. It was about $40 each for the daytime tour. You can get off and on as often as you like. There are about 10 stops in the 1.5 hours of touring. It gives a nice overview of the town in an easy way. Listen and see. If you want to get off, you get off and look around, then get back on a later trolley.

After getting off the trolley, we walked to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. It’s a Cathedral/Basilica. A Cathedral is the church of a Bishop of a Diocese. To be a basilica, you have to be approved by Rome because of historical/cultural/beauty/location. There was a man there who spoke to us for about 15 min, explaining things about this cathedral. It was really beautiful, with stained glass from Innsbruck, Austria and Stations of the Cross carved in Munich.

Here is the church where the composer of “Jingle Bells” served.

We learned that these huge trees ARE oaks–Living Oaks. Living because they don’t drop their leaves–they are evergreen. And the leaves are oval-shaped, not oak-leaf-shaped.

And the Spanish Moss isn’t really MOSS, it’s an air plant (an epiphyte) from the pineapple family that grows on trees for support, getting nutrients from the air and rain. This moss is a common sight in the humid South East and is used by wildlife for nesting and has historically been used for stuffing, fire tinder, and crafting materials. They used to stuff mattresses with it, until they found little biting bugs living in the moss. “Good night, sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” They also used it to pad the seats in old Model T cars.

We walked through an old Cemetery that has about 10,000 bodies in it, but only about 700 headstones remain. It seemed so not crowded, until we later learned that so many of the stones have been lost. Of the remaining, they said only about 100 are legible. Many buried here died in the great Yellow Fever epidemic of 1820. Hundreds died.

Savannah does a nice job telling her history, with plaques and markers and explanations. We’ve learned a lot about what happened here and who lived here.

Many of the sidewalks in Savannah are made from crushed sea shells. Interesting!

We toured the Weed-Sorrell House ($14). We had to wait until 4:00 for the next tour, so we found a sandwich place and shared a Philly Cheese steak sandwich. Yum. Enjoyed sitting in the courtyard of the Weed house by the carriage house. Then took the tour, the last of the day with only one other couple. We were able to take our time looking a things. It was interesting to go inside one of these old homes. Brick floors and walls. Dark and heavy. Servants’ quarters, large kitchens for cooking. Bedrooms upstairs.

We learned about the Savannah Grey Bricks, made by slaves in the 1800s from the mud by the river. You can still see fingerprints in some of the bricks. They were cheap and plentiful back in the day, then after the 1820 fire that destroyed much of Savannah, they were in high demand and they are now very valuable and very expensive.