Enjoyed another day in Savannah

Savannah, GA

I didn’t get organized and out the door until almost noon today for some reason. The forecast was for rain and cool temperatures so I wasn’t keen on being out in the rain. However, it turnout to be sunny and 28 with huge humidity. (Therefor I have huge hair today).

One of the things I did today was take the advice of someone at the information centre from the other day. He told me that tourists can get a 24 hour parking pass for $8 that allows them to park in any of the city garages or at any 1 hour metered parking spot for an unlimited amount of time during that 24 hours. So no need to move the car every hour or two from one meter to the next. Worked like a charm. The other hint if you’re coming to Savannah, is that they have DOT buses that do a circular route through the historic section every 20 or so minutes and they are free. I made use of that bus once today as well, as I worked my way walking from my car over to the opposite side of town and then hopped on the bus to get back to my car.

Since it was lunchtime and I was parked kitty corner to Paula Dean’s The Lady and Sons restaurant, I stopped in there for lunch. Of course, anyone without reservations was waiting up to an hour to get in, however as a single, sitting at the bar, I got in right away. As I’ve said, I’m no foodie, but I have to tell you, that this lunch was one of the best I’ve had on my trip. I certainly appreciated the superior quality. I had the Bad Lady Sandwich which was 1/2 sandwich, cup of soup and salad. To start was a corn meal pancake and cheese biscuit that literally melted in my mouth. Oh yes, and a peach mint julep. I figured when in Rome…..

So to work off a small portion of my lunch I walked across town through various squares I hadn’t yet visited to Saint John the Baptist Cathedral. Now, I’ve been in a lot of churches, in North America, eastern Europe, Spain, England, Italy, the Balkans, and this was definitely one of the finest I’ve seen. The congregation was started by the French from France and Haiti who took refuge in Savannah in the mid-1800’s and the church was dedicated at this site as a Cathedral in 1876. In 1898 a fire destroyed much of the original structure but it was rebuilt quickly. They did a renovation in early 2000’s that cost $11 million and it showed.

Then I headed to Owens-Thomas House for a tour of that mansion, considered to be one of the finest examples of English Regency architecture in America. It was originally built for Richard Ric*******, a cotton merchant and banker, from 1819-1819. It was the first house in north america to have plumbing and did so 7 full years before the White House did. It used a system of cisterns, one on each of 3 levels, to capture rain water and supply water to each floor.

Ric*******, however, fell on hard times just 3 years after it was built. The bank took over the house and contracted it to Mary Maxwell to run as a high end lodging house (guests included Marquis de Lafayette). The bank sold the property to George Welshman Owens, who was a planter, congressman, lawyer and mayor of Savannah in 1830 and it stayed in the Owens family until it was turned over to the Teflair Museum of Art in 1951 by George Owne’s granddaughter. She also bequeathed all of the furniture in the house, much of it original, so it’s an excellent example of life during that time. A lot of restoration work has been done, including all floor surfaces, whether it be carpet, painted fabric or wood have been recreated to match the samples of each that were found in the house.

The property also had one of the few urban carriage houses still standing, which would have also been used to house slaves. The bricks used in these carriage houses and in fact in many of the buildings in the historic section were made by slaves from Savannah river bed mud and there is a story that a curse was placed in each one by the slaves that were making them. This made the bricks attractive for some buyers and at one point people were dismantling the coach houses to sell the bricks for upwards of $5 each.

One of the other unique things in the house which the architect used to advance his reputation at the time is a “bridge” on the third floor. Each of the stairways in the house is double like the back entrance and the “bridge” is a hallway between the stairwells from the 2nd to 3rd floor, from the front to back sitting rooms on that floor. It is made from curved wood to give the impression of an arched bridge. We were not allowed to take pictures in the house, so I can’t show you a picture to give you a better idea of how successful an architectural element it is.

After touring the house, I figured a Leonard’s Ice Cream was in order, and thankfully the line up wasn’t too bad. I wandered to one of the lovely squares and found a park bench in the shade to people watch and eat my peanut butter and chocolate chip cone. As my friend Marlie suggested, I feel there will be a gym in my future when the trip is done.

Before heading for home I stopped in the City Market area to look in the shops there. There are a couple of blocks of pedestrian only streets with shops and restaurants all around as well.