Savannah, Georgia

December 7-8, 2006

We’ve spent the last two days touring around Savannah, Georgia. Kristen, like so many others, has always wanted to visit Savannah after reading “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” which paints a vivid portrait of Savannah and its citizens. Savannah is as beautiful as all the tourist brochures that are printed about it. Almost all the trees have Spanish moss hanging on them and the majority of the houses in the downtown historic district have been restored so at times you feel as if you’re walking through Savannah in the late 1800s. The town is laid out around 21 squares that were originally designed for wells, baking, and general social gatherings. Almost all the squares are still intact and are all well kept, landscaped, and right now are all decorated for Christmas.

Hans fueling up with some fika (coffee & cake) before starting the walking tour.
One of the many squares—most have either a statue, fountain, or gazebo in the middle.
The Mercer-Williams House—featured in “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”
We also decorated the boat for Christmas!

Yesterday morning we started a self-guided walking tour and in the afternoon decided to bike to the marine store to get a few supplies. We were told it was only 3 miles away, but it turned out to be over 6 miles away. We definitely got our exercise! We stopped at the Bonaventure Cemetery on the bike ride back to town. The Cemetery is listed on the National Register and is spooky, even in the daylight.

Kristen biking down pretty, but busy, Victory Drive on the way to the marine store.
Kristen at a bridge that crosses the ICW.
One of the roads through the cemetery.

Some headstones & family monuments.


We went to dinner at the Moon River Brewery (thanks Nigel!) where Kristen had some baby back ribs and Hans had a sirloin steak. We started the meal off with roasted oysters with garlic and artichokes. Very good!

The City dock is located on the Savannah River which is also a very busy shipping river. Large (HUGE) container ships pass us during the day and in the evening hours. Whisper usually seems pretty small to us, but at times she feels downright miniscule!

This morning we woke up to 30 degree weather, but nevertheless, put on warm clothes (we are from Vermont and Sweden so we should be able to handle a little cold weather, right?!), and continued the walking tour.
The central fountain in Forsythe Park. This park is at the south of the historic district. The northern end of the park is a landscaped in a very formal manner, with the fountain being the focal point, the southern end of the park is for the citizens of Savannah with a playground, playing fields and tennis courts.
The Andrew Low House. Mr. Low was the grandfather of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts. She and her husband inherited the Low House and the Charter for the Girl Scouts was signed here in 1912.
A boot scraper on the main steps of the Davenport House. The house was scheduled for demolition in 1955, however seven Savannah women got together and raised $22,000 to rescue the house from a near-death. This was the start of the Historic Savannah Foundation which is the leading force behind the restoration of Savannah’s Historic district.
The Pink House, built in 1789 for John Habersham. This is the only major structure that survived the 1796 fire and is now converted to a restaurant.
River Street
A bridge leading from the old warehouses to Bay Street.
We are docked right next to the Factors Walk and River Street, the site of the original cotton warehouses. The Cotton Factors wanted their offices on Bay Street (one street south of River Street) so elaborate iron bridges were built to span the distance between the warehouses which faced the river and Bay Street.

We spent the afternoon doing a little shopping, and went back to the boat around 4PM to have some tea and cookies to warm up. Hans is currently being very masochistic and is washing Whisper’s deck. I won’t be surprised if the water freezes on deck! Tonight we’ll make a chicken dinner from a recipe from Hans’ mom, and then we’ll hit the local pubs for some Friday night drinks. We’ve asked around and have gotten some recommendations for some non-touristy pubs.

We’ve put cushions next to the port window in the vee-berth so KitKat can keep a sharp lookout while we’re not on the boat.

We’ve had so much fun in Savannah that it will be hard to leave tomorrow morning, but we’ll probably push off from the docks in the mid-morning.