Savannah, the Sweetheart of the South

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of taking a business trip to Savannah, GA. While I've spent time in GA before, I'd never been to Savannah and I can see why it is known as "the Sweetheart of the South." We stayed on River Road, so the picture below was a common sight - these barges came by all day long. A tour guide said the water in the river was only 42' deep and yet these huge barges continued passing through. In case you can't tell how large this is, the cargo it is carrying is tractor-trailers...I'm used to seeing those hitched to semi trucks, not floating by on the river!


Just outside our hotel was this statue. It is a memorial to the perseverance and struggles of the African-American slaves in the south. A poem by Maya Angelou is written on the bottom, which says:

"We were stolen, sold, and bought together from the African continent . We got on the slave ships together. We lay back to belly in the holds of the slave ships in each others excrement and urine together. Sometimes died together and our lifeless bodies thrown overboard together. Today we are standing up together with faith and even some joy."

I was reminded of the priceless beauty of freedom and appreciated this statue for the honor it gave those who deserve it.


Another statue that really got my attention was the "Waving Girl". The story is that of a young girl who watched her "beau" leave on a ship and promised she would wait for his return. She spent the rest of her life daily waving to the ships that came in, hoping her young man would return. But, she never saw him again.

I've always been a sucker for a good love story, but I wasn't too crazy about how this one ended...







Would you believe me if I told you the fountain below was built of parts ordered from a catalog in the 1850's? At least, that's what our tour guide told us...wonder what that would cost today??? The fountain is in Forsyth Park, one of many beautiful parks in the city.


And, because I was in Savannah, I had to get a picture of the Spanish moss hanging from the trees. One interesting fact about this moss...it's full of chiggers, so you DON'T want to touch it!!!




We also took a trolley tour that gave us a taste of the various types of architecture in Savannah. It was very interesting that there were so many different styles of buildings. Here's a Victorian-style home:





And, we also saw many Colonial-style homes. This was called "Rainbow Row", due to the number of different colors on each home. The blue color is called "haint blue" and is commonly seen in doorways of homes around Savannah...it is believed to keep the evil spirits at bay.

That's the extent of my "tour guide" job...I think I'll leave the rest of that work to the professionals! Hope you enjoyed it!!!