Savannah

April 16 – 20, 2023

Like St. Augustine, our next destination was one that we had visited before – Savannah, Georgia. It was a fairly short drive, only about 4 hours.

Creekfire RV Resort

We decided to stay at a different campground on this visit, one that was highly recommended by some of our fellow campers. CreekFire RV Resort, a 105 acre destination resort located about 20 minutes west of downtown Savannah, opened in October, 2017. They have 206 RV sites and 7 lake-side cottage rentals. Amenities include:

• 1-Mile of Nature Trail around Lake
• Kids Splash Pad and Pool
• Lazy River 
• Heated Pool and Hot Tub
• Billiard Tables, darts and ping pong
• Basketball & Volleyball
• General Store & Onsite Dining
• Tennis & Pickleball Courts

Although we encountered a problem with the power pedestal upon arrival at our site which delayed our set-up for about an hour, we found the resort immaculate and well-maintained. We even managed to squeeze in some Pickleball play with 2 couples who attending the Prevost rally at the campground.

Touring Savannah

After a day spent relaxing, we drove into downtown Savannah for a Heart of Savannah historical walking tour.

Savannah’s recorded history begins in 1733. That’s the year General James Oglethorpe and the 120 passengers of the good ship “Anne” landed on a bluff high along the Savannah River in February. Oglethorpe named the 13th and final American colony “Georgia” after England’s King George II. Savannah became its first city.

The plan was to offer a new start for England’s working poor and to strengthen the colonies by increasing trade. The colony of Georgia was also chartered as a buffer zone for South Carolina, protecting it from the advance of the Spanish in Florida.

Under the original charter, individuals were free to worship as they pleased and rum, lawyers and slavery were forbidden – for a time.

Upon settling, Oglethorpe became friends with the local Yamacraw Indian chief, Tomochichi. Oglethorpe and Tomochichi pledged mutual goodwill and the Yamacraw chief granted the new arrivals permission to settle Savannah on the bluff. As a result, the town flourished without warfare and accompanying hardship that burdened many of America’s early colonies.

visitsavannah

The Squares

Our guide met us at Wright Square (named after Sir James Wright, Georgia’s third and last Royal Governor). There, we learned about why Savannah has so many squares.

The city of Savannah, Province of Georgia, was laid out in 1733, in what was colonial America, around four open squares, each surrounded by four residential (“tything”) blocks and four civic (“trust”) blocks. The layout of a square and eight surrounding blocks was known as a “ward.” The original plan (now known as the Oglethorpe Plan) was part of a larger regional plan that included gardens, farms, and “out-lying villages.” Once the four wards were developed in the mid-1730s, two additional wards were laid. Oglethorpe’s agrarian balance was abandoned after the Georgia Trustee period. Additional squares were added during the late 18th and 19th centuries, and by 1851 there were 24 squares in the city. In the 20th century, three of the squares were demolished or altered beyond recognition, leaving 21. In 2010, one of the three “lost” squares, Ellis, was reclaimed, bringing the total to today’s 22.

wikipedia

We continued our walk through Chippewa Square which was used in the the scene where Forrest Gump waited on a bench with a box of chocolates for the bus. The bench is not there. It was a fiberglass prop which is now in the Savannah History Museum, and the traffic actually flows in the opposite direction around the square. (So much for Hollywood accuracy.)

Next we strolled though Monterrey Square which was laid out to honor the 1846 Battle of Monterey during the Mexican American War. At the center of the square is a monument to Brigadier General Count Casimir Pulaski who came from Poland to fight in the American Revolution. He is often credited with the founding of the American cavalry. He served in the Continental Army and died in the Siege of Savannah in October 1779. At the southeast corner of this square is the Mercer-Williams House. The story of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil revolves around this house.

We ended our walk at Forsyth Park, the largest and most popular park in Savannah and home to the iconic Forsyth Fountain. There, our guide took her leave and we continued on our own. Below are just a few of the sights along our way.

We eventually walked down to Bay Street to view the “Washington Guns” – George and Martha – two cannon that were captured from the British in the battle of Yorktown on the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, and gifted to the Chatham Artillery militia company by President George Washington in 1791.

By this time we were getting rather hungry so we made our way down to River Street, headed for a Cajun restaurant called Huey’s on the River. The restaurant is on the lowest level of an 1817 cotton warehouse.

On the way back to the truck we ducked into an alley to check out a speakeasy called (appropriately enough) the Alley Cat Lounge. The menu is actually a newspaper that provides a “chronological history of drinking around the world”.

Prohibition, Tapas, and Dessert

What do those things have in common? We combined all three the following day. We started the day with a guided tour of the American Prohibition Museum. Billed to be America’s only prohibition museum, the displays inside chronicle the events from

• the Temperance Movement of the 1850’s
• Carry Nation in 1900 – 1910
• the 18th Amendment that banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating beverages in 1920
• the flappers in the 1920’s
• the rum runners, moonshine makers, and gangsters in the 1920 – 1930’s
• the rise of underground speakeasies in 1925
• to the 21st Amendment that repealed prohibition

The tour concluded in the museum’s actually speakeasy where we could enjoy our choice of cocktail (or mocktail) from the menu. We both tried the Chatham Artillery Punch.

From the Prohibition Museum, we made our way to a tapas place Jazz’d Tapas Bar and Restaurant for a “light” early dinner. The Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps were awesome!

We finished off the evening at Better Than Sex for dessert. We had stumbled across this type of dessert restaurant in Key West and were delighted to discover one in Savannah. The lighting is intentionally dark with tables separated by curtains to create a more intimate setting. The menu is presented on an iPad and all offerings have suggestive names. Various libations are also available, some in chocolate-rimmed glasses. What a way to end the day!!

Ending on a sad note

As you can tell, we packed a lot into our days in Savannah. While there, we received word that a dear friend had passed and the funeral was to be in Illinois on Saturday, April 22. Consequently, we decided to leave Savannah a day early, leave the RV in Ellijay, Georgia (our next destination), and spend the weekend in Illinois.