One of the disadvantages of this lifestyle is that there is always a pest du jour. We have fought gnats, ants, spiders, boxelder bugs, and probably a few more that I can't remember at the moment. Usually moving on eliminates the problem. When we were in Winchester, Virginia, these stinkbugs were everywhere. Fall was coming on, and they were looking for sheltered places to overwinter. The seals around our slideouts, our awnings, and several other places on our coach provided excellent overwintering places. We, however, have been moving steadily south into warmer weather, so we have been picking these little pests out of every conceivable place in the coach. Those of you not from the midwest may ask why are they called stink bugs. Because it you squish them, they stink to high heaven. So, this means each one must be captured carefully and taken outside before the death sentence is carried out or .... Releasing them is almost a guarantee that as night and cooler air arrives, they will return to sleep with us. 
We stayed in a nice little RV park south of Savannah. Out our front window was a cute little lake with with several different types of birds. Penny got this photo of three cormorants perched on this branch. They were later joined by two more.
There were several different types of domestic and wild birds inhabiting this lake. On one end, there were several beautiful, graceful swans.
On the other end, were these Muscovy ducks with faces only a mother could love.
Toward the end of the lake was this small island with several trees and shrubs peeking out of the water. This is what they looked like during the day.
As the evening began to fall, however, flights of egrets began to emerge from the skies and land in these branches.
By the evening, just about everything was out of the water. I suspect this fellow had something to do with that.
Although we spent a day continuing to recuperate from our colds, we did manage to get out a bit more here. This is River Street. It is filled with cute little shops and restaurants on the one side, and, of course, the the Savannah River on the other side.
One of this first things we saw as we walked was this model of the S.S. Savannah. Departing from Savannah, it became the first steamship to successfully cross the Atlantic in 1819. Before departing, it was toured by President James Madison.
At one time, Savannah was the cotton capital of the world. This building was the old cotton exchange. This photo does not do the age of this building justice. When Sherman took Savannah, there were several bales of cotton in nearby warehouses. Sherman inventoried them several times, then at the insistence of Secretary of War Stanton, they were surrendered to a United States Treasury agent. Almost immediately, several thousand bales of cotton disappeared and were never accounted for. Some things never change.
At the east end of River St. is East Factor's Walk. Along this walk is this statue of the Waving Girl. It was constructed in memory of Florence Martus. After an intense but unfruitful love affair, she began waving at every arriving ship hoping one might bear her beau. Eventually, she starting waving at departing ships. From the late 1880s until 1931, often accompanied by her collie, she waved a greeting to every ship coming into port, and a farewell to every departing ship day or night. It was said she waved at over 50,000 ships during this period.
Here, River Street and the Factor's Walk curl around these walls to E. Bay Street. I wondered if these small windows were originally gun ports.
Here, River Street and the Factor's Walk curl around these walls to E. Bay Street. I wondered if these small windows were originally gun ports.
Above East Factor's Walk is Emmet Park filled with live-oaks and Spanish moss. 
As we began our walk around the city, we passed a police station. We thought these old police cars out front were a neat touch.
One of the things you notice quickly as you walk around the old residential area are the windows and doors painted this dark bluish green color. This is "haint paint" It is supposed to keep evil spirits or "haints" from entering the house.
There were lots of neat old houses near downtown. This one was the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low. For those of you who were Girl Scouts, you may remember, she founded the Girl Scouts of America.
This flashy building is the Savannah city hall. When it was built in 1901, it generated considerable controversy because of its price tag. Several architectural features of the original design were omitted to save money.
In several places, streets and walks are paved with this cement-like stuff, oystershell tabby. It is made from whole oyster shells, ground oyster shells, ashes, and sand. It is, apparently, quite durable since some has been in place for over 100 years.
This is Colonial Park Cemetery. It was filled with these neat historical markers. Bulloch was an early advocate of American Independence. You may have heard of his great-great-grandson, Theodore Roosevelt. Some of the stones behind this marker likely belonged to some of the nearly 700 Savannahians who died in the great yellow fever epidemic of 1820. The population of Savannah at the time was 7,523. They lost nearly 10% of their population.
This was one of those cool little serendipitous things. The vault you see was the first resting place of Major General Nathaniel Greene, Savannah native, and probably the most brilliant tactician of the American Revolutionary War. He was interred in the Graham family vault. For years, the whereabouts of Greene's remains were unknown.
This is a monument dedicated to General Greene. The Marquis de Lafayette laid the first cornerstone. After resting in Colonial Park Cemetery for 114 years, Greene's remains were eventually located and moved here.
After walking all over Savannah and working up a hunger, we came here to The Lady and Sons restaurant for lunch. For those of you who aren't Food Channel addicts, it belongs to Paula Deen, the Southern Foods guru. Unless you are a party of 10 or more, you must make reservations in person on the day you intend to dine. We made our reservation at 11:30 am and the next available spot was at 2:30 pm. However, the buffet cost $13.00 and was absolutely delicious. Penny had the first collard greens she ever liked. We were surprised at the quality and impressed with the organization. Service was impeccable. She has it wired.
The next day we went to Tybee Island. We had lunch at the Crab Shack shown here. My lunch was quite good, but Pen didn't care for hers. Note the light fixtures and the tables with the hole and trash can in the center. Great for discarding your empty oyster and crab shells. Everything is disposable so no dishwashers needed. For $3.00, you can buy food to feed the alligators. The owner was actually quite an alligator fan. There was a sign saying that there are 5-6 attacks on humans each year. His contention was that you should be more afraid of the family dog.
This moat surrounds one of the places that Ted wanted to see - Ft. Pulaski. Following the war of 1812, a series of coastal defenses was constructed. One of the engineers was a young Second Lieutenant Robert E. Lee. It was considered invincible. Early in the war, it was surrendered to the Confederates without a shot being fired. After it had fallen into confederate hands, General Lee visited the fort and told the commander that the Union may attempt to take the fort, but he could sleep soundly knowing it couldn't be done.
What Lee did not know about was this newly developed weapon, the thirty pounder-Parrott Rifle. This one is now at the fort, but at the time would have been on Tybee Island, aimed at the fort. It could fire further, with more accuracy, and hit harder than anything previously known.
This section of the fort, now manned by this damaged Columbiad cannon was quickly demolished by fire from nearby Tybee Island.
This is the area underneath the Columbiad shown above. It was completely demolished. When a shell was fired through the large hole in the fortification and landed only a few feet from the powder magazine, the Confederate commander, knowing that a hit on the magazine would destroy the fort and kill everyone inside elected to surrender. You can see where new brickwork, laid by the victorious Union soldiers meets the older, darker bricks. This battle was the death knell for heavy fortifications of this type. It was an object lesson on the illusive nature of invincibility
There were two, more durable, legacies. Cockspur Island, on which Ft. Pulaski is located was the landing place of John Wesley, founder of American Mathodism, when he came to America.
This flashy building is the Savannah city hall. When it was built in 1901, it generated considerable controversy because of its price tag. Several architectural features of the original design were omitted to save money.
In several places, streets and walks are paved with this cement-like stuff, oystershell tabby. It is made from whole oyster shells, ground oyster shells, ashes, and sand. It is, apparently, quite durable since some has been in place for over 100 years.
This is Colonial Park Cemetery. It was filled with these neat historical markers. Bulloch was an early advocate of American Independence. You may have heard of his great-great-grandson, Theodore Roosevelt. Some of the stones behind this marker likely belonged to some of the nearly 700 Savannahians who died in the great yellow fever epidemic of 1820. The population of Savannah at the time was 7,523. They lost nearly 10% of their population.
This was one of those cool little serendipitous things. The vault you see was the first resting place of Major General Nathaniel Greene, Savannah native, and probably the most brilliant tactician of the American Revolutionary War. He was interred in the Graham family vault. For years, the whereabouts of Greene's remains were unknown.
This is a monument dedicated to General Greene. The Marquis de Lafayette laid the first cornerstone. After resting in Colonial Park Cemetery for 114 years, Greene's remains were eventually located and moved here.
After walking all over Savannah and working up a hunger, we came here to The Lady and Sons restaurant for lunch. For those of you who aren't Food Channel addicts, it belongs to Paula Deen, the Southern Foods guru. Unless you are a party of 10 or more, you must make reservations in person on the day you intend to dine. We made our reservation at 11:30 am and the next available spot was at 2:30 pm. However, the buffet cost $13.00 and was absolutely delicious. Penny had the first collard greens she ever liked. We were surprised at the quality and impressed with the organization. Service was impeccable. She has it wired.
The next day we went to Tybee Island. We had lunch at the Crab Shack shown here. My lunch was quite good, but Pen didn't care for hers. Note the light fixtures and the tables with the hole and trash can in the center. Great for discarding your empty oyster and crab shells. Everything is disposable so no dishwashers needed. For $3.00, you can buy food to feed the alligators. The owner was actually quite an alligator fan. There was a sign saying that there are 5-6 attacks on humans each year. His contention was that you should be more afraid of the family dog.
This moat surrounds one of the places that Ted wanted to see - Ft. Pulaski. Following the war of 1812, a series of coastal defenses was constructed. One of the engineers was a young Second Lieutenant Robert E. Lee. It was considered invincible. Early in the war, it was surrendered to the Confederates without a shot being fired. After it had fallen into confederate hands, General Lee visited the fort and told the commander that the Union may attempt to take the fort, but he could sleep soundly knowing it couldn't be done.
What Lee did not know about was this newly developed weapon, the thirty pounder-Parrott Rifle. This one is now at the fort, but at the time would have been on Tybee Island, aimed at the fort. It could fire further, with more accuracy, and hit harder than anything previously known.
This section of the fort, now manned by this damaged Columbiad cannon was quickly demolished by fire from nearby Tybee Island.
This is the area underneath the Columbiad shown above. It was completely demolished. When a shell was fired through the large hole in the fortification and landed only a few feet from the powder magazine, the Confederate commander, knowing that a hit on the magazine would destroy the fort and kill everyone inside elected to surrender. You can see where new brickwork, laid by the victorious Union soldiers meets the older, darker bricks. This battle was the death knell for heavy fortifications of this type. It was an object lesson on the illusive nature of invincibility
There were two, more durable, legacies. Cockspur Island, on which Ft. Pulaski is located was the landing place of John Wesley, founder of American Mathodism, when he came to America. With the Yankees now World Champions, the second seems especially pertinent. A photo of a Union formation was taken inside the fort. In the background, a group of soldiers were playing a game defined by rules formulated by Union General Abner Doubleday. It was the earliest known photograph of a baseball game being played by. . . . a bunch of Yankees of course.
1 comment:
Great photos! Thanks for sharing!
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