Before I share today's sights, I need to tell you what I forgot yesterday. Apparently, Savannah is very popular with the movie-making crowd. Forrest Gump, Something to Talk About, The Legend of Bagger Vance, the original Cape Fear, and of course, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil are just a scant few of the movies shot here. We got to see the park where Forrest sat as he told his life story, the pub where Julia Roberts saw her husband cheating on her in Something to Talk About and the bed & breakfast inn where Matt Damon and Kevin Spacey stayed while shooting their respective movies. Pretty neat, huh?
Okay, on to today's fun. We started at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, a gorgeous Catholic church that was built in 1873. It is still very much in use today. From there, Randy & I walked to one of the colonial cemeteries in Savannah where many of its heroes are buried. It was used from 1750 to 1853, becoming a city park in 1896. Unfortunately, many of the graves were disturbed during the Civil War and the gravestones broken or defiled in some way. Because of this, it is difficult to ascertain exactly where some folks are buried and how old they were when they died.
We picked the trolley back up and rode to River Street.
To me, this is the heart of Savannah. After all, it is a port city and all of its historical industry centered on the river. There are all kinds of boutiques, open air markets, restaurants, bars, and souvenir shops. If you want it, you can probably find it on River Street. We got off the trolley at the west end of River Street and decided we'd walk to the other end and pick up the trolley there. There are several monuments along the riverwalk, but the best is at the east end of the street.Florence Martus was known as the Waving Girl.
She lived in Savannah from 1869 to 1943 and for 44 years of her life she came down to the river twice a day to wave to the incoming and outgoing ships. The story goes that at 19 she was engaged to a sailor who left for a 7 day cruise, but never returned. She never married; for the rest of her life, Florence came to the river each morning to wave off the ships as they left port. Each evening, using a lantern, she would welcome the ships back to port. Many sailors felt that Florence was good luck for them. It is said that when she died, there were over 3000 in attendance to pay honor to her memory. What a great story!There is probably so much more to Savannah; we barely scratched the surface. But, we enjoyed our
sightseeing here. In addition to the pictures posted here, there are more at our Webshots site: http://community.webshots.com/user/guiler85/0 . Please be sure to check them out!We are going to Tybee Island tomorrow. It is east of Savannah and has more history to explore. Hopefully, I'll have more to share with you!
Until the next time . . .
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