We walked 5 1/2 miles around Savannah today! What a beautifully laid out city with lots of green spaces in the form of "squares" throughout the city. Lots of beautiful, historic architecture. Southern food was on the top of my list and when we got to Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room -- southern food served family style, the line was 1 1/2 hours long! So we settled on Paula Deen's restaurant: "The Lady and Sons" and we were not disappointed!
We're talking really good fried chicken and collard greens and peach cobbler (ok, not fresh peaches, but it was still good)
Renie "getting her sass on" with Paula
This is the map we used getting around of center city Savannah. I mostly wanted to point out all the many squares in Savannah -- that's what they are -- green spaces with statues and lots of beautiful oaks, some with spanish moss hanging from them and magnolia trees.
At Chippewa Square, there's a statue of James Oglethorpe, the founder of the state of Georgia in 1733 and planner of the city of Savannah.
In Wright's square, is the burial place of Tomo Chi Chi who was a Creek Indian and has been called a co-founder of Georgia with Oglethorpe. This marker says he was a friend to the English.
Juliette Low's home (founder of the Girl Scouts) is in the historic district.
A beautiful home on the edge of one of the squares.
We toured one home -- the Isaiah Davenport home. He was a master builder who built this home in 1820. He and his wife had ten children and when he died in 1827 (at age 42) of yellow fever, his wife supported the family by taking in boarders.
Just want to give a "shout out" to these 7 determined Savannah ladies who refused to let the Davenport house be turned into another parking lot -- the picture on the left is a the parking lot that replaced the Old City Market.
The beautiful entrance hall of the Davenport House.
Although the exterior of the house is all square Federalist period, Davenport included Greek Revival aspects -- the tour guide said to impress guests. This is a parlor looking into another small room.
The "office" parlor opposite the social parlorWhen Davenport died, the inventory of the house was sold to pay off some unpaid bills and debts. Notice under the Real Estate list: Nine Negroes - $2150. We were told that Sarah, Davenport's wife was able to buy back 7 of the slaves to keep the children together.
The staircase that Davenport built was amazing. The guide said that no structural repairs have ever needed to be done on this staircase.
The extension of the staircase that goes up into the attic. It's thought that some of the boys may have slept up there -- except in the hot summers!
Tomorrow: a trolley tour? (no more 5 miles of walking!)
4 comments:
I’ve said it before Renni. You should be a history teacher! I think I could actually get a passing grade in your class.☺️ Enjoyed the tour. 😊
Rosene
Was all that food for Vernon or did you get a chance to eat some too. I bet Vernon was fascinated by those staircases. Renie, I love that pose you did with Paula Deen..
Thanks Rosene! I love learning the history of these places! Funny, I didn't enjoy history in school. I remember one class I enjoyed in high school -- a guest speaker came in and acted out how men used to do duels. We actually passed a field in Savannah where the tour guide said a lot of duels took place. It was conveniently located next to a cemetery.
Hi Esther -- glad you two made it home. Vernon and I both ate a lot at Paula Deen's restaurant. It was a fun place -- 3 floors of tables near the City Market. Yes, Vernon loved the staircase and commented about all the beautiful structural details -- arched doors and window headers on the buildings. He said today they build in ways that don't take so much labor like they did back then -- with the (very) cheap labor!
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