At a first glance, Savannah is much like any other metro area. It has sprawling highways filled with bad drivers, shopping malls, and even this new restaurant called "Chili's." But from the moment we arrived Tuesday afternoon, I got this unmistakable vibe that something about this place was just... different. To me, It almost seemed as there were several sides to Savannah. There was the part that was trying to be this stereotypical modern city with all the amenities that would appeal to a 21st century citizen. Another part was a city desperately trying to hold on to the vestiges of this pristine, historic place. The last part was this historic city, but with the REAL history of some of the dark and disturbing things that happened even before the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.
One of the first things that we did in Savannah was walk through the sprawling (and gorgeous, albeit sad) Bonaventure Cemetery. From that point on, I realized that this city is pretty much OBSESSED with death. From the Revolutionary War, the busiest slave port in the south, the Civil War, and several epidemics of Yellow Fever... the city has seen plenty of death. Huge cemeteries, ghost tours, and haunted EVERYTHING. You look at these beautiful and stately homes all around the city and then find out that most of them are haunted, and have some sort of horrific tale of someone dying a grisly death within the walls of the home.
While the owning of slaves was originally banned within Savannah city limits, the powers-that-be quickly changed their minds in order to keep up with bigger, more successful cities like Charleston and New Orleans. The beauty and extravagance you see in Savannah was built on the backs of slaves. Yet many of the historical locations in the city completely glaze over the fact that slaves were even part of the city's history. At one point, more slaves were brought in through Savannah's port than any other place in the south. The cobblestone streets near the river is called "Factor's Walk" and would've been one of the main paths where these slaves had to take to get to wherever they were to be sold. When Megan and I walked along the river, we noticed these stone "vaults" lining the cobblestone streets. Historical markers mentioned that they were for the storing of goods, but completely jumped over what TYPE of goods. It isn't until I talked to some of the locals that I found out that the vaults were meant for storing slaves until they were sold.
One of the museums we visited was the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters. It went into detail on how a wealthy family would've lived during that time, but also went into great detail on what the slaves who were owned by that family would've gone through as well. I noticed that the exhibits and displays on slaves were only added into the museum in 2018, so some places are starting to realize that they need to share the WHOLE history... not just the "pretty" part of it.
I enjoyed the fact that Savannah was very arts-centric. So much so, that it seemed like every other building in the downtown area was another building for classes or residence halls for the Savannah College of Arts & Design. Historical jail? SCAD. Hospital? SCAD. Beautiful mansion? SCAD. Vintage theater? SCAD. Are you seeing the trend here? I remember when I visited New Orleans, being overwhelmed by the vibe that I just wanted to find a balcony somewhere and write or draw or just CREATE something. While we were in Savannah, our hotel room was right off this beautiful balcony that overlooked Broughton Street. I took plenty of opportunities to sit out on the balcony with my journal.
The movie nerd in me LOVED being in a place where I know that many of my favorite movies were filmed. We walked through Chippewa Square, where the famous bench scenes were filmed for "Forrest Gump." Of course, Savannah is known for being the primary setting for "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." We were able to see the outside of the infamous Mercer House, Bonaventure Cemetery and the famous "Bird Girl" sculpture (pictured above), all which were made famous partially because of that film. Our tour guide for the hearse tour also told us that a new "Exorcist" trilogy was being filmed in Savannah as well!
Other than a few bumps in the road, we thoroughly enjoyed our honeymoon. I'm so glad that we picked Savannah as our main stop during our little road trip through Georgia. I felt that Megan and I balanced our time with tourist-y stuff, museums, and just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Savannah is definitely like Washington D.C., in that you need to visit several times in order to capture all (or most) of what Savannah has to offer. I'm definitely down for another trip! Maybe in the spring or summer, when flights aren't threatened by winter weather...
No comments:
Post a Comment