fautrever.com

Savannah is a wonderful city. It has history, cool architecture, a great location, colorful citizens, lots of ghosts (or so they say) and plenty of charm. Thankfully, much of Savannah has weathered the trials of the past 275 years gracefully. In the years since the city’s founding by General James Oglethorpe in February of 1733, the city has burned at least three times, been occupied by enemy forces twice and almost succumbed to “progress”.

Savannah (and Georgia, for that matter) were founded with lofty ideals set by Oglethorpe and the trustees of Georgia. The idea was to transport the “worthy poor” from London’s overcrowded debtors prisons to the new land where they could work at a new life.

Of course, Georgia was also a financial proposition which the trustees undertook, hoping to realize great profits. In 1732 the ship Anne, left London for America. The 114 people on the ship were hand picked by Oglethorpe; on board were all the trades and crafts necessary to establish and run a small town.

The trustees provided the settlers with tools and supplies for one year, enough time for the settlers to build houses and plant crops. In return the settlers were expected to help provide for the safety and welfare of the new community and actively produce goods for export back to England. One third of the settlers were indentured servants, meaning they had to work for a matter of years to pay back the trustees before they could own land.

The trustees had sent wide variety of seeds, seedlings, and cuttings on the ship for the settlers to plant. Their hopes of a successful silk colony were never quite met and it was a few years before any suitable products were exported in great quantities (much to the trustees dismay).

In the 1760s rice, tobacco, cotton and deer hides were the main exports; Savannah exported over 500,000 valuable hides that decade. By that time though the port city had been turned over to the king for almost ten years.

Oglethorpe desired Savannah to be a wholesome, productive city of Anglican, English citizens. To that end Oglethorpe had four bans: No slaves, No rum (beer was allowed though), No lawyers and No Catholics. Eventually, all these rules were broken, some out of necessity and some out of greed. Within just a few months the settlement welcomed much needed Jewish doctors and Irish laborers.

When the king took over in 1751, slavery was legalized to allow Georgia to “compete economically” with other slave holding colonies (read that as greed for higher profits). I’m not sure when rum or lawyers were legalized but suffice it to say that they were.

As we strolled the streets of modern day Savannah it was with some irony that we noted that many of the grand old buildings that had been restored are lawyer’s offices. Poor Oglethorpe! So much has changed since he received permission from Tomachichi, the Yamacraw chief, to start his town on the bluff overlooking the Yamacraw River (now called the Savannah River) in 1733. And yet, through the efforts of the Historic Savannah Foundation the city still has 21 of its original 24 wards (neighborhoods built around public squares) that Oglethorpe laid out.

The city’s number one money maker is still shipping but tourism is a close second. Savannahians are eager to share their city and its history with visitors. We took a tour of the city with Oglethorpe Tours and our guide exhibited the famous “Southern Charm” and sense of humor. As we passed City Hall he invited us to “Feel free to go on in and look around. You won’t be disturbing anybody because nobody’s done any work in there in years.”

This was the same guide who later, when we crossed Lincoln Street, made sure we understood that it was not named after “That Lincoln. You won’t find much in the South named after President Lincoln.” Our guide also related the story of how a young Yale graduate came to Savannah to tutor the children of Revolutionary War hero, Major General Nathanael Greene who had recently died. (Yes, that Greene, the man who was second in command to George Washington during the War.) The young man did more than teach the children, he revolutionized the cotton ginning process.

You probably learned in school that Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin in 1793. What we may not have learned is that there already were cotton gins but they only worked on Sea Island Cotton which only grew in a limited area along the coast. Much of the rest of Georgia was suitable for growing Green-Seed Cotton but no one could figure out how to separate the fluffy stuff from the pod until Whitney. Of course, you probably also didn’t learn that Whitney’s claim to the invention was heavily disputed and he made no money on it. In fact, most of his money went to lawyers while trying to defend his claim and assert his patent.

With the new gin, King Cotton became the main export of Savannah, the city was the largest cotton shipper on the East Coast. Interestingly, the famous Savannah Cotton Exchange building stands on the site where Oglethorpe first pitched his tent those many years ago. Of course, the cotton plantation system was based on slavery which was dramatically affected by the Civil War.

In another bizarre coincidence General Sherman used the Greene mansion as his headquarters in 1864 when he gave the city to President Lincoln as a Christmas present. These days Sherman is Georgia’s scapegoat. He gets blamed for everything from destroying Atlanta to the fact that MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) doesn’t go all the way to Turner Field.

Famous Savannahians include Juliette Gordon Low, who founded the Girl Scouts in 1912, and Johnny Mercer, the songwriter who co-wrote Moon River with Henry Mancini for the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. We crossed over the Moon River on our way to Savannah, it wasn’t the inspiration for the song though. It was actually named the Moon River in honor of the native son’s most famous song.

Savannah has been featured in several movies, the floating feather and bench scenes of Forrest Gump were filmed there, parts of Something to Talk About and The Legend of Bagger Vance were also. The city’s most revealing experience was the non-fiction book and subsequent movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (which neither of us have read or seen). Apparently the novel caused quite a commotion when it was published in 1994 but now Savannahians embrace it and tours and items related to “The Book” are found all over town.

These days, foodies might be familiar with Paula Deen, who operates “The Lady and Sons” restaurant in Savannah and has a show on the Food Network. We didn’t have reservations so we were unable to enjoy a taste of the South but we did refresh ourselves at the Moon River Brewery (their IPA is delicious!). Which seemed appropriate in Savannah since a local saying goes something like this: In Atlanta they ask, ‘What’s your business?’ In Macon its ‘Where do you go to church?’ In Augusta they ask for your grandmother’s maiden name. In Savannah the first question is ‘What would you like to drink?’”

Drinking is and was big business, especially on Skidaway Island where we stayed during our time in Savannah. There were 31 still sites making moonshine on the island during Prohibition. In America people first started making homemade alcohol in earnest in 1792 after an alcohol tax was passed; some are still making it today. We’d heard it called many names over the years; moonshine, white lightning, and hooch but we’d never heard it called autumn leaves. The name comes from the alcohol’s ability to make the drinker turn color and fall down.

While most of the island is a huge, exclusive golf community called “The Landings” about 1,000 acres house a state park and several marine research facilities. During our stay we learned that the first Giant Ground Sloth fossil in North America was found on the island in 1823. The Park’s nature center had a full-size skeleton on display, towering overhead at 20 feet, the sloth is the tallest land mammal that ever lived. Of course, the most interesting animals were the live ones. From an observation tower overlooking the Skidaway Narrows stretch of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway we saw nesting Ospreys and frolicking Bottlenose Dolphins.

Walking the trails we came across several new birds: House Finch, Red-headed Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Purple Gallinule, Gray Catbird, Yellow-throated Warbler, and Brown-headed Cowbird. The bird feeders at the nature center allowed us good looks at the vibrantly colored Painted Buntings which we had only glimpsed the week before. At a nearby fresh water pond we were able to watch Wood Duck parents teaching their little ducklings.

We had a wonderful time in gracious old Savannah even the weather was perfect, sunny yet not too warm and the bug forecast was light all week. Yep, places in the South actually post the insect forecast for the day; they not only tell you the anticipated insect level (low, moderate, high) but what insects are out (mosquitoes, biting flies, chiggers, etc). Oh, and talk about neat – we saw our first fireflies of the season. I always get excited about lightning bugs, we don’t have them in southern Arizona so I can still remember when I was a kid and first saw them back in Ohio one summer.

Photos: View our photographs from Savannah, Georgia.

Notes: We stayed in Savannah, Georgia from 04/29/07 to 05/05/07.

[UPDATE: Fixed some errors and links.]