A very southern birthday...

So since we have a 12 hour drive back up to Kentucky, we thought we'd take a different way home, and check out Savannah.

Jeff suggested it, since he figured I would like a town that was established in the 1730s, and flourished through the Victorian era, has embraced their history and does whatever they can to retain it.  In fact, they have specific rules that the repairs, and additions made to the houses in the historical district pretty much should be historically accurate.

So, on my birthday, I woke up late, had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel, and we set about doing the tourist thing.  We went to get tickets for the trolley, which is a tourbus that you can get on and off of.  We also booked tours of two houses, and tickets for a ghost tour!

A quick word on Savannah... As previously mentioned, the region was established in 1733.  It is a planned community, including 24 squares.  The region was very prosperouus, so there are many beautiful homes. A fire went through Savannah in the 1830s, but, you can still see the distinct style differences between the Georgian, Regency, Victorian and early 20thC houses/buildings.

 On the left, our hotel.  On the right, just one of the varieties of guided tours... I have spotted 3 different carriage companies, a segue tour group, a walking tour group, and 4 different trolley companies.

 Ever read "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"?  Or even watched the movie?  This house on the right (Mercer House) is apparently where the alleged murder took place.
General Hugh Weedon Mercer commenced building Mercer House in 1860 (although never finished by him; the next owners of the house finished it), later the home of Jim Williams, whose trial for murder was the centerpiece of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

 

 The house on the left has all it's bricks covered with marble dust to make the bricks appear white.  It apparently also has a reproduction of Buckingham Palace's gates.

 

 The Victorian district.  The house on the right has wisteria on it, which apparently flowers purple during summer..

 

 This is the Telfair hospital - in the early 1900s this hospital was established by Mary Telfair.  Apparently she wasn't a fan of men.  It was for women only, and the only way a man could be admitted was if he was born in the hospital.  Even then he wasn't given much of a stay.

 Remember I mentioned that there were rules in the historical district about what changes etc could be made to the houses?  Although pink was a very popular colour back in the day for houses, not this colour.  Especially not teamed with purple and teal.  This house is just outside of the district and it's owner has taken liberty.

 I honestly think that this city was designed for walking.  There are 24 squares, and while the traffic has to circle around the squares, the footpaths (with original bricks as in the photo to the left) continue in a straight line.

You can see the layout of the town in the following link..

http://www.savannahgetaways.net/Rental_Listings/Savannah/Historic_District/POI

 Beautiful Victorian House - first in the city to have electricity.

 Most of the squares have monuments or fountains in them.

The one on the right is a tribute to the Haitian soldiers from the Spanish War.  I think.
 

 Johnny Mercer.  Wrote the lyrics to "Moon River" and he also is descendent of the General Hugh Weedon Mercer (see Mercer House above).

 More squares..

Juliette Low was born in Savannah - she was the found of the Girl Scouts in America in the 1910s.  She was also a good friend of Lord Baden-Powell.

 

 On the right, the view down one of the streets from inside our trolley..

 St  John the Baptist Cathedral.  Was built in the 1870s, burnt down in 1899, was rebuilt, and then restoration commenced in the 1980s.  Is a stunning church.  We didn't go in, but you can see the inside here...

http://www.savannahcathedral.org/virtual_tour

 

 Juliette Low's house.  the first of the tours we paid for.  Only it's closed.... Until January 12.  Grrr.

 

Jones Street - the prettiest street in Savannah.

 Clary's: mentioned in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

 

On the left, the local duelling square.  just over the fence, the cemetary.  Convenient!  On the right.. The cemetery. Apparently the Union soldiers (while stationed there) changed the details on many of the gravestones, and there weren't any records to pinpoint where the graves should be, so they're now lined up along the fence. A story I'm not sure I believe is that during a really cold winter, the Union soldiers unceremoniously dumped the dead out of the crypts and slept in them.

 I love the stamped bricks.. :) Cemetary entry on the right.

Owen-Thomas House, built just before 1820.  The other house tour.  The house was built by Richard Richardson, but he went broke and sold it within 3 years.  It was a boarding house for 8 years, during which Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette stayed there and presented a speech from a balcony on the side of the house.  Eventually the house was bought by the Owens, and remained in the family until the last descendent bequeathed the house to a historical society.

 The house was very progressive, and featured running water, an ice store, marble baths, showers and flushing toilets inside the house (using cisterns in the roof).  It had other fancy bits and pieces, including optical illusion roof in one of the front drawing rooms, a curved wall in the formal dining room that had curved doors, and a bridge over the stairway connecting the front and rear of the house.

 The house was built in at the back in the 1830s to accommodate the new family.  You can see the different colour of stone.  The door in the centre back was from the original back of the house.

 Although the garden in the back is accurate to the regency period, it was not actually there originally.  The original plan of the house included a cess-pit (only a couple of metres away from the site of the water well), 2 blocks of privies, and a herb garden.  The house did have a garden originally in an adjacent block of land.

The balcony from which Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette gave his speech in 1825

  

 City Hall - GOLD roof!

After a bit of a rest, it was time to head to River St for a look around, some dinner and then go on our ghost tour!  River Street is kinda like along the Brisbane River where the woolsheds were.  Only older.  They retrain their 18th/19thC charm, with the cobbled streets and the warehouses.  The cobbles on the ramps were the ballists from empty ships entering the port.  Once they filled up with the cargo, they would pitch the stones out on the riverbank.  They were collected, and put onto the roads..

 

 

Then there's the bridge....

 

 

  

 

 

  

 

 

Eventually we picked dinner... At Spanky's!!  We ordered a small pizza, since we had a BIG lunch at 3pm.

 

 

 

 

 

And we went on our ghost tour.  Cheesy.  Some of the stories were fascinating though.

 

 When we emerged from the tour, there was a fog over the river...

And then back to the hotel for a well earned drinkie (a Woodford Reserve on the rocks)....