Savannah was founded in 1733 by this guy below, James
Oglethorpe. He envisaged a haven for debtors, no Catholics, no lawyers, no hard
liquor or slaves. His dream didn’t last long and within a few decades the town
was a plantation centre based on slavery. These days, everyone’s in debt,
there’s a Catholic cathedral, lots of lawyers, and it’s one of the few places
in the USA where you can drink on the streets (New Orleans is another).
Ogilvy’s statue must be shedding bronze tears at night.
Savannah is full of these delightful squares, 22 of them, with
mossy trees and bordered by elegant houses.
The squares can be rented, as they frequently are for
corporate events and weddings. We were lucky enough to see a wedding. The
wedding guests were all dressed up to the nines, as expected, but the bride and
escort surprisingly arrived in a pedal rickshaw. Maybe the cost of the square
necessitated some economies.
There are some handsome buildings outside of the squares,
like the town hall with its gold leaf dome.
The oldest premises is the Pirate’s House, dating from 1734,
a year after the town’s foundation. It is said to be the inn referred to in Robert
Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, where Cap’n Flint died and his first mate, Billy
Bones, acquired the treasure map. In any event, it is now attached to a restaurant
which fully capitalises on the tale.
Historic properties are so scarce in the US that they
command big prices. This old cottage below, the size of a good garden shed,
recently sold for $550,000 (£370,000)
Some elegant churches too. This is the Independent
Presbyterian Church with the tallest spire in town. It’s a rebuild following
the fire of 1889, but there was a church here from 1755.
Oglethorpe brought plants for experiment crops so his
settlers would have commercial agriculture. These weren’t successful, but it
was soon found that growing rice tended by slaves was profitable. Cotton came
next. The port grew too, and Savannah prospered. It is today an important
container handling facility.
This prosperity came to an abrupt end when Savannah was
captured by General Sherman near the end of the Civil War. You may know the song
“Marching Through Georgia”. His army’s march through Georgia destroyed
everything in its path, but Savannah was lucky: he didn’t lay waste to the town
as it had surrendered, and anyway he wanted the port. So we are lucky too that
such a fine historic town was preserved intact for our enjoyment.
There is a civil rights museum that tells the story of
Savannah’s effective non-violent civil rights campaign. It’s odd how particular
things have unexpected impact. In the corner of the museum was an actual Ku
Klux Klan outfit, donated anonymously. You wondered what sort of outrages the
wearer had perpetrated or been witness to. No photos allowed unfortunately.
Perhaps, being surrounded by so much history, it rubs off on
everyone, including the police. Outside the Savannah PD building was a
collection of cars that the force had used through the years. The photo is of a
1950’s model Chevvy with a 60’s behind it.
It’s very much a town for strolling through, to admire the
squares and buildings. We only scratched the surface, but a lovely place with
its own individual personality.
Now we leave Georgia to return to Florida where we’ll be
stopping a few days at St Augustine en route for Orlando.
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