Day 62 - Savannah to Charleston

Today we left our very basic campground and headed to Charleston. The ride was nice - lots of forested areas along the highway. Not a long drive, just a couple of hours. We arrived in a better-than-expected campground about 12 miles from the historical downtown. We wanted to be closer but everything had already been booked by the time we looked at places a few days ago.

After arriving in the campground we had a nice lunch and then looked up free walking tours of the historical town. We like to take these walking tours as soon as we get into a new city and have done this in European cities as well. This way get an orientation to the area and can better decide what to see again more in depth. The "free" tours require an online reservation, sometimes free, sometimes a few dollars for the local tour tax. Then the tour guide takes you around town and you tip at the end the amount you want. We have found these tours to be really good. Today's tours are already over so we found one free for $2, a self-guided audio tour, Atlantis Audio Tour, available from the Play Store. So we download the app, head downtown and start the tour!

The tour starts at the site of the oldest church in town, St Philips. This church has been rebuilt over the years but was started by an Anglican congregation in 1680. There are colonial governors and revolutionary war people buried there.

The Dock street theater building is thought to be the first theater in the US built in 1730.

The french Huguenots have had a church in this location since 1687. This latest rebuild happened in 1844.

The "pink house" is the second longest continually occupied residence (without having been rebuilt) in town, dating from 1712. Note the real gas lamps in use in this neighborhood!

It is interesting to see so much more simple architecture we guess dating from the 1700's rather than the more common Victorian style that seemed more prevalent in downtown Savannah.

The "confederate house" was built after the civil war to house spouses of soldiers who died in battle. According to the internet, it is still used to house some otherwise homeless women.

Old tree root systems really growing!

Nice cobble stone streets here and there.

Historic old indoor slave market, now a museum.

By the 1770's the population was 12000, with half being enslaved people. This was a real center of slave commerce, in one year over 7000 enslaved people passed though this port to other parts of the colonies. This building was the center of all commerce with the river behind.

A little away from the commerce center is a series of colonial houses near the shore called the rainbow row.

Looking out into the bay.

More interesting small streets between old houses.

Day 61 - Savannah: Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, Telfair Museum, Bonaventure Cemetery

There is a super famous restaurant in Savannah that everyone knows as you can see from the people waiting outside. I never do this, not even in San Francisco, but since we are here, I am waiting in the cold before the opening hour. The restaurant is Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room. It's open from 11 am to 2 pm. If you are still in line by closing time, too bad, see you tomorrow. The menu is fixed. The only thing you get to choose is the dessert: peach cobbler or banana pudding. You get to sit with another 10 strangers in a round table as two girls bring to the table plates of fried chicken, ribs, collard greens, butter beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and cucumber salad, red rice, mac and cheese, coleslaw,and so many other bowls of cooked goodness that I can't remember. It was all delicious! The strangers became our friends. We noticed that some New Yorkers have a different sense of humor that might bump with the southern hospitality. They can't help it.

Line at 10:45 am

...while waiting

President Barrack Obama sat on this chair

I didn't know that before going but this is the video.
I ate so much, I hated myself. It was too good to pass. Now we had to work it out with a nice walk.
We took the city walking tour with Free Tour By Foot. We had an awesome tour guide and at the end we had a little discussion next to the Confederate Statue in Forsyth Park...very instructive...😯

Last sight to see for the day was the Telfair Museum, which was the first public art museum of the Southern States. This cannot be confused with the modern building across the street, the Jepson Center for the Arts. The ticket is valid for both.

Telfair

Yes, this is the statue on the cover of the book 'Midnight in the garden of good and evil'. It was originally at the Bonaventure cemetery, but it had to be removed because it was so famous with the tourists.

We had to go to the Bonaventure Cemetery, but we were too late. It closed at 5 pm.

Here we strolled around the river walk.

Waving Girl Statue was about a real girl that had lost her fiancee at sea and waived to all the boats to see if he had come back.

Waving Girl Statue. 

Oldest House in Savannah. The flag is Irish.

Day 60 - Savannah: Mercer House, Crystal Beer Parlor, First African Baptist Church, the Perch

Today is the day I am going to visit the famous/notorious Mercer House.
This is now called the Mercer Williams House Museum, and it is the main sight of the Book.
I can't wait to see what the interior looks like.
This is where James Williams lived. This is where he worked and conducted his business as an antiques dealer. This is where he had his shop and restored his antiques. This is where he gave his exclusive Christmas Parties.  This is where he murdered his lover, Danny Lewis Hansford! This is where he died of heart failure just six months after the last trial!
We drove straight there and took the tour. Pictures are not allowed. The house is everything I expected and more. I love the views from the large windows on the garden palmettos and palm trees.
My favorite room is his library. The desk has several pictures of him with several women, including his sister. She is in her eighties and she still lives in the house with her cat. We got to pet her black cat, Shelton, as he was following us around.

 We stopped for lunch at the Crystal Beer Parlor. This restaurant has been around since prohibition time and probably even before as a speakeasy. It has a lot of history and the food is very traditional of Savannah.

Crystal Crab Stew and Chicken Pot Pie

After lunch we drove to the First African Baptist Church. We took the tour with the pastor's wife. The church has seen so much. It was built by enslaved people, who had to work at night after their day jobs. It was one of the first baptist churches in the nation. It was founded in 1773 under the leadership of Reverend George Leile. When The British left Savannah, Rev. Leile had to leave for Jamaica to avoid enslavement and he became the first American missionary. The sanctuary was completed in 1859. It became famous for being part of the underground railroad. Even during the civil rights era, it played an important role as a refuge for activists, assembly, and protection.

First African Baptist Church

The First Six Founders are depicted on the glass windows behind the altar

The back of the church with the organ, activated manually

The day before, we had met on the street, Roberto Ochoa and the bass player, and they told us about a rooftop bar, the Perch, where you can see the whole city. So today, since it's Mardi Gras, we decided to check it out.
So worth it!