savannah, georgia

My favorite movie of all time is Gone With the Wind. I saw it for the first time with my grandmother when I was about twelve and as I sat in the dark movie theater watching the dramatic lives of Scarlet and Melanie unfold, I became intrigued with life in the South... the mansions and plantations, the long dresses with hoop skirts, the swooning, the appalling idea of slavery. And for quite some time, Savannah, Georgia is a place I wanted to visit- not because it is the setting of the story (which it isn't), but because it sounds so "Southern!" We stopped in Savannah after we left Maryland, on our way back to Arizona via Orlando, Florida.

Nothing says "the South" more than magnolia trees and azaleas. Although the magnolia trees had not yet blossomed, we did arrive just in time for the start of azalea season and it was breath-taking.  Their vibrant colors and sweet aroma were everywhere.

Azalea shrubs are everywhere... along city streets, in parks, private gardens. 

Our hotel was situated on the bank of the Savannah River and we walked along the river walk several times a day. I was surprised to learn that thanks to a series of locks and dams, large ocean-going ships traversed the Savannah River past the city of Savannah as far as Augusta, Georgia until the mid-twentieth century. Yeah, it's that big!

We enjoyed watching the sunset on the river and then the dancing lights as it became darker. Talmadge Memorial Bridge, a double suspension bridge, is in the background.

Sailing ships carried cobblestones as ballast which they then dumped along the shoreline so they could take on cargo, usually cotton. The city soon realized they had an inexpensive, fire-proof building material being deposited on their doorstep and began replacing sand and gravel roads with cobblestones as well as building fences and even buildings out of it. 

Cobblestone streets are hard to walk on even with "sensible" shoes- I was amazed to see several women RUNNING down the street in their HIGH HEELS! The women were long gone by the time I got my camera out so you just get the street...

A statue of Florence Martus (1868-1943), a well-known local woman with an intriguing story, stands just off River Street. She lived with her brother, a lighthouse keeper, in a remote cottage by the river. From an early age she welcomed passing ships with a wave of her handkerchief and soon sailors began returning her greeting by waving or with a blast of the ship's horn. She and her collie continued greeting ships, often using lanterns at night, for 44 years welcoming over 50,000 ships. Legend and speculation says that she fell in love with a sailor and was waiting for his return. However, the factual story about why she started and continued waving to the ships remains a mystery. 

The Waving Girl Statue was designed and sculpted by Felix De Weldon who also sculpted the United States Marine Corps Memorial (the Iwo Jima Memorial). 

One of the many things I enjoy about traveling is trying the local cuisine. We noticed a strong Cajun influence (perhaps because of their close proximity to Louisiana?) to many of the menus with jambalya and beignets being fairly common. But the culinary delight we tried that just screams "Southern!" was fried green tomatoes... in a word, scrumptious!

Fried green tomatoes are NOT made from a green variety of tomato but are unripe red tomatoes. They are firm and sweet and are usually paired with balsamic vinegar creating a party in your mouth!

A trip to Savannah would not be complete, at least to this Girl Scout of eighteen years, without a trip to the home of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts in the United States in 1912. While I don't agree with the direction Girl Scouts USA has recently chosen, I did find it quite interesting to get a glimpse into the life of its founder, a woman I greatly respect and admire.

Despite great personal adversity, Juliette Low championed "girl's rights." 

One of my favorite scenes in Gone With the Wind is where Scarlett is sitting on the veranda of a neighbor's plantation with a bevy of beaus while the Spanish moss-covered trees in the background gently sway in the breeze. Living in the desert my whole life (remember I was twelve at the time...) I had never seen Spanish moss and thought it looked rather like tinsel on a Christmas tree- in other words, artificial. In reality, it is quite beautiful. What I learned in Savannah is that it is neither Spanish, nor moss but a flowering plant in the angiosperm family and grows on large trees like oaks and cypress without damaging them.

I could almost see Scarlett strolling down the lane on the arm of her "beau du jour!" 

We enjoyed the Southern gentility and beauty in Savannah, the "Hostess City of the South." It was the perfect place to relax after the busyness of preparing to move.