Signs

We saw signs throughout the historic district telling about Savannah's past.  Some are simple.  Most are metal plaques located near one of the squares or an historic building.

 

 

These two were on a house.  Most were much more fancy than these.

 

A plaque on the corner of a building in the historic district.

 

The following are some of the plaques scattered around the historic district.

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still have a bunch more photos to post in future blogs.  Have a good evening.

Night in Savannah

Debbie and I took a tour of Savannah and listened to the stories of hauntings around the historic district.  We decided to walk around after dark and visit some of the places where the ghost tour guide told us people have experienced spooky occurrences. Debbie wanted to get photos of orbs that might represent a spirit.  I used a digital camera.  Debbie used her cell phone. 

We walked to the Sorrel Weed House.  They give tours nightly of the basement where supernatural things apparently happen.

 

 

The only thing we caught on cameral near the Sorrel Weed House were the people showing up for one of the nightly tours.  We walked to the Colonial Cemetery where we were told several people have experienced the supernatural.  When we arrived, there was a tour group walking around the outside of the cemetery.  One of the "ghost tours" companies uses old hearses.  One of those was passing by the cemetery, too.  Maybe it was too early and too much activity to catch any orbs in our photos.

 

 

 

Maybe it wasn't too early.  Maybe there was not too much activity around the cemetery.  It looks like there are two orbs in the photo above. 

 

 

A photo like this made us realize the Spanish moss looks kinda cool at night.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a photo of the guard tower at the former Savannah city jail.  Stories are that the ghost of a guard can sometimes be seen in the window at the top of the tower.  Don't see anything in the window of the photo that I took.

 

 

 Debbie took this photo with her cell phone just after I took one with the digital camera.  Not sure what's going on there.

 

 

 

We stopped at Madison Square on the way back to the bed and breakfast.  No orbs.  But a cool place to hang out at night.

 

 

Savannah - Big oak trees

One of the things that Debbie and I really enjoyed seeing were the huge oak trees.  Especially the ones with Spanish moss hanging from the branches.  The photos do not do them justice.

 

A typical median along several of the streets in the historic district.

 

 

 

 

The oak trees create an arch over the sidewalk along Bay Street just south of the river.

 

 

A huge tree in a median along Jones Street not far from where we stayed.
 

 

An oak tree near Forsythe Park.  The tour guide said the tree is over 200 years old.
 

  

A statue and oak trees in Madison Square.  There are 22 squares, or parks, in the historic district.  Each of them have big oak trees with statues or fountains in the center of the square.  Most of the statues or monuments are of historical figures from Savannah's past. Very nice places to just sit and enjoy the day or night.

 

Oglethorpe Square.  Statue of the Georgia's and Savannah's founder, James Oglethorpe.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We took a bunch more photos.  I will post more later.  Hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend.  We did.

Savannah - Cobblestone streets, masonry walls, stairs and miscellaneous stuff

A few more photos from the dock area along the river.  At fairly regular intervals along the dock area, there are cobblestone paved ramps leading from the river level up to the main level of the city.  The tour guide told us these cobblestone pavers were laid down in the 1700's.  There are stairs near the upper end of the ramps.  The mosaic of the cobblestones, the ramps and the walls fascinated me.  The stairs did, too.  With a little imagination, you can see carts filled with goods recently unloaded off of ships being pushed or pulled up the ramps to shops on the upper city streets.  These are a few of the photos that I took of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The photo below is the back of one of the buildings we saw along River Street.

 

 

Check out the bottom of the downspout.  It is a fish.  Looks like one from a Dr. Seuss story.  Some people in Savannah must be Dr. Seuss fans.  Not far from Mrs. Wilkes' dining room is a store called One Fish, Two Fish. 

 

 

The building below is the Pirate House.  It is currently a restaurant.  We heard the food was good but we did not make it there to eat.  The Pirate House is another haunted place according to the tour guides.  The house was a tavern during the days of sailing ships.  There is a tunnel leading from the tavern to the river.  According to the legend, sailors would get drunk or be given a drug by ships' captains or members of their crews.  The sailors would be taken into the tunnel and knocked out either by clubbing or due to the drugs.  The sailors would then be taken to one of the ships.  When the sailor awoke the next day he would be miles at sea.  Sometimes, the sailor would die from being hit too hard on the head or from being given too much of the drug.  People who visit the Pirate House and the tunnel say they see ghosts or experience supernatural activity. 

 

 

 



I still have a bunch more photos to share.  I will post more later.  Have a good evening. 

Savannah - old buildings

There are a bunch of old buildings dating back to the 1700's along the river.  We took a tour and the guide said that the cobblestones along River Street, the ramps leading from the dock areas to Bay Street and the masonry retaining walls were placed in the 1700's.  Pretty cool to be walking along streets, stairs and paths that people walked on 200 years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is either a drunk parrot or a fake one.

 

 

 

Abe's is a tavern on Lincoln Street.  Clever. 

 

 

We went into a peanut shop.  As we were walking up to the door, this pigeon walked out of the store.  While we were inside, it kept coming in and out of the door like it was looking for peanuts.  Once in a while it would pick up something off of the floor. 

 

 

 

Statue of the Waving Girl.  Florence Martus lived on an island near the mouth of the Savannah River.  Her father was stationed at Fort Pulaski and her brother was the lighthouse keeper.  For 44 years, Ms. Martus welcomed ships entering the harbor and waved goodbye to ships leaving the harbor by either waving a hankerchief during the day or a lantern at night.  She never married.  Legend has it that she fell in love with a sailor who never came back to Savannah.  The statue is at the east end of River Street and the edge of the Historic District.

 

 

 Savannah City Hall.  The following photos are various buildings in the historic district.  There are a large variety of restaurants, taverns and shops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This building was formerly a theater.  The ghost tour guide told us that several people died suspiciously in this building.  The building sat empty for years before someone converted it into apartments.  Tenants report many strange occurrences and they never stay for very long in the apartments.  Cool building.

 

 

There are several buildings in Savannah with these cool wrought iron balconies.

 

 

 

 

Preston Hall.  Currently owned by the Savannah College of Art and Design, the building was constructed in 1892 for the Savannah Volunteer Guard Armory. 

 

The trees prevented me from getting a good photo of this building.  It was formerly an automobile dealership.  The corner windows are quarter-round glass.  Very nice.

 

 

 

 

This is the church where the feather is dropped in Forrest Gump.  The feather drops until it falls next to the bench where Forrest is sitting at Chippewa Square.

 

 

The bench is not at the square but is in the Savannah Visitor Center.  The tour guide told us this is one of the most photographed spots in Savannah.

 

 

This wrought iron balcony reminded me of Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

 



We took a bunch of photos.  Over 1000 between the two of us.  I have more to post later.  Have a good evening.