Savannah - Second Best City In The South

 

Next stop was supposed to be St. Augustine, Florida. I was previously there in the 90's and I just couldn't get up the gumption to go there again. So, it was on to Savannah. Nothing says genteel like Savannah with it's old world charm. Southern Living named Savannah the second best city in the south after Charleston.  I would beg to differ - Savannah is like a grand old lady whereas Charleston, which has it's own charm, is more like a painted up debutante.

I was fortunate enough to be able to stay at the local Elks Lodge for almost a whole week. The only other person hanging out behind the Lodge was a food truck. I can not tell you how much time the owner spent making sure everything was spic and span before he left for the day. The task was doubly hard because it is 'Tree Pollen' season in South Carolina. Yellow pollen dust coats everything. I made the mistake of having all my windows open because it is warm and it is not snowing or cold. Everything is gritty because of the pollen. And yellow.

The night before I started my Savannah adventures, I watched the 1997 movie “Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil” which was based on a true story of a murder that happened in Savannah in the eighties. It was a real treat to actually see some of the sights that were in the movie.

The Mercer-Williams house where it all took place.

I looked at my list of things I wanted to do and since they were scattered all over the Old Town, I decided the best thing to do was to ride one of those Hop On Hop Off Trolleys. The streets were narrow, parking was limited – it was a most excellent decision, although expensive.

The South Carolina School of Art and Design(SCAD) started out life in the seventies as a place for artists of all different disciplines to be nurtured and thrive. What started out as a small college (I think the first year there were maybe 20 students) , it is now a college that has expanded internationally. There have been many artists who have achieved fame who came from SCAD. The SCAD Story is a four dimensional telling of the birth of SCAD. You are ushered into a room – pictures on the wall start moving, the fireplace opens up and you walk through it, lights move the pages of books – it was entertaining.

In the Mansion on Forsyth Street which happens to currently house a hotel is an exhibit called 'A Century of Hats'. I'm not sure it actually covered a whole century but it is a catchy title. As far as I could tell, the hats were from the 1850s to the 1960s. Ok, I guess it is a century.

circa 1860s-1870s
The hat in the middle is a wedding bonnet

1920's

1960's

The Gullah Geechee people are descendants of Africans who were enslaved on the rice, indigo and Sea Island cotton plantations of the lower Atlantic coast. They lived on isolated island and coastal plantations and as such, developed their own distinctive arts, crafts, food, music and even a language. All of which is a mixture of African and European cultures.

Pin Point was a Gullah Geechee center. The Heritage Museum is located in an old Oyster and Crab factory. This factory was the primary employer of the community. I watched the movie and the movie really stressed how close this community was. They lived off the land and had limited contact with the outside world. They were able to buy land because it was all marshy and nobody wanted it.  Nowadays, they are calling it waterfront property and with that fancy name, the land has become much more valuable.

Bottle Trees
The bottles would attract evil spirits which would enter the bottles and then become trapped.

Haint Blue
Haint is a variation of the word "haunt" that refers to a ghost or spirit.
Blue represented water and spirits can't cross water.
People would paint their ceilings, window frames and doors to keep the spirits away. 
Another explanation I heard: Haint Blue hain't green and it hain't blue.

This must have been fun and frustrating to play at the same time.

It seems that everybody in the community was given a nickname. There was Pigeon and Rabbit and one man was called Nerves because he got on everybody's nerves. One of the more interesting community members was the infamous Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. His nickname was 'Boy'. He lived in Pin Point until he was eight and comes back to visit occasionally.

Johnny Mercer is from the Savannah area.  One of his most famous songs is "Moon River". 
Here, behind the crab house is Moon River.