We met friends in Savannah and enjoyed four days of exploring this very walkable city. It is one of the most pedestrian-friendly small cities I’ve ever visited. Our hotel in the historic district was centrally located between the river to the north and Forsyth Park to the south. Neither was more than a 15 to 20-minute walk and we walked everywhere, despite some rainy and then cold weather! There are several trolley firms offering hop on, hop off tours which we considered doing but never did.
SAVANNAH SQUARES
Founded in 1733 by James Oglethorpe who founded the colony of Georgia, Savannah teems with history and is made beautiful by its many historic squares. Today there are 22 squares created in the 18th and 19th centuries, and each is an oasis of calm with live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, benches on which to contemplate the world, and usually a monument or a statue of a famous person from Oglethorpe himself in Chippewa Square to John Wesley near the mother church of Methodism.
In addition, camellia bushes and azaleas, an early blooming flush of pink, provide color. Dotted around the squares are a number of historic churches, more elegant architecture, including the Independent Presbyterian Church with a layered green spire atop its steeple.
Savannah’s city hall has a prominent golden dome, a beacon in the sky as one approaches the river.
RIVER WALK
Savannah’s riverfront is crammed with seafood restaurants and small shops and the once important centers of commerce, the Savannah Cotton Exchange and Factors Row. We found this section somewhat touristy, but enjoyed our saunter along the river promenade where you can catch a ferry across to the convention center or just stop to peruse the panels about Savannah’s maritime history.
We watched a colorful container ship come into port and then walked almost to the end of the promenade to see The Waving Girl. Florence Martus waved her handkerchief to each arriving and departing ship for many decades.
ART MUSEUMS
For us, no visit to a city is complete without checking out a local museum. Here we visited two art museums. The Jepson Center is a stunning piece of architecture, very contemporary and not at all like any of the surrounding buildings. It’s located on Telfair Square and is one of the three Telfair Museums.
The building has lots of glass and the lobby and skylights make for interesting patterns on the lobby floor and walls. The hanging installation by artist Katherine Sandoz adds color and whimsy. Two exhibits, “Machines of Futility: Unproductive Technologies” and a highly interactive one on nature and art, highlighted communication and climate change.
The Chief Penguin and I were surprised and then delighted when we put on 3-D goggles and watched “Immerse” to see the very familiar coral reef tank at the California Academy of Sciences. This was our work venue for seven years and immediately we were transported back in time—and space! We then learned that Steven High, director of our local Ringling Museum of Art, served there as director for several years. Small, small world!
We also visited the Telfair Museum of Art, the oldest art museum in the South, which was built in 1818-1819 as the mansion home for members of the Telfair family. On the docent tour, we learned about the architecture and that this family had several plantations and owned more than 600 slaves. The surviving member of the family, Mary Telfair, willed the house to the Georgia Historical Society expressly to become a museum.
It opened in 1886 as the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences and for some years was a teaching institution as well as an exhibitor. The art collection is small, but there were some interesting pieces including the sculpture, The Bird Girl, related to the novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and a special exhibit called “Savannah Faces” by more contemporary artists.
Savannah also has a museum devoted to Prohibition and several house museums including the home of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts. All diversions for another trip.
For details on where we ate on this foray, see my next blog.
Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).
