Norton travels, USA and beyond: Savannah, GA

Savannah square monument

Savannah shops

After six weeks in Florida, we finally headed north to Savannah, Georgia. This area has a tremendous amount of history and beauty. We took a trolley tour of the historic city, which was a great way to get an overview of the city and learn many interesting tidbits of history that we would otherwise miss. Then we walked around the historic district to enjoy the beautiful squares with their majestic oak trees and statues, and take pictures of some gorgeous homes. The city is easy to walk because of its layout (it was the first planned city in America), with town squares every couple blocks that are surrounded by historic homes and churches. Most of the buildings in the area are on the National Register of Historic Places. The riverfront is all former cotton warehouses where the plantation owners would bring their crops to sell for export at the docks. Of course there are plenty of restaurants and shops to browse.

The other really interesting thing in this area is the forts; we visited three this week. The first was Fort McAllister on the Ogeechee River. It was built as an earthen fort at the beginning of the Civil War to protect the plantation owner’s interests. It remained as a Confederate defense until Sherman’s March to the Sea after the Union took Atlanta. A Confederate soldier was there to explain the history and fire his musket for us. Another day we visited the two forts on the Savannah River. Old Fort Jackson was built to defend the coast during the War of 1812. It was held by the Confederacy during the Civil War until Sherman took it in 1864. There we had a lesson on the steps to fire a cannon, which was fired with a huge bang. Further downriver is Fort Pulaski which was built shortly before the Civil War. It is a very impressive fort, but was one of the last of brick construction. Cannon technology had advanced by then allowing the Union Army to knock holes in the fort that forced its surrender early in the war. So the Union used it in the blockade of supplies that the Confederacy needed. You can still see the damage done by the cannonballs, a few of which are still embedded in the brickwork. Just beyond the fort is the Tybee Island Lighthouse, which is still used today.

We finished out the week with a trip to Hilton Head Beach, South Carolina, even though the weather was cool and threatening rain. It is strange to us west-coasters to go to a beach that is reached by walking through trees and across a marsh. But we could see that it would be a nice summer vacation place. It looks like it will rain here on Monday and Tuesday, so we plan on staying and visiting some Savannah museums. There are plenty of interesting places to choose from here.