Day 17 Savannah day 2

Wow, today was such a relaxed touring day of Savannah!  We jumped on a 90 minute open air tour and were really able to appreciate the many beautiful houses and squares with a very informative tour guide to tell us what we were seeing.  After the tour, Vernon graciously agreed to go to a tea room so I could have tea and scones at "The Gryphon" :                                  

This scone with Devonshire cream was delicious!

The tea sweets  -- the bottom tier was little tea sandwiches and then the scone tier and then the sweets on the top tier.  Vernon did enjoy those!

This young man and all the employees of the tea room are students at SCAD -- Savannah College of Art and Design.

This was such a beautiful room!  It was a pharmacy at one point, and was built in the mid 1800's. The tea room is called The Gryphon because of the dragon like creatures (shown above) that hold up all the globe lanterns all around the room are "gryphons".

     

 Here are some of the sights we saw on the open air tour bus:

                                                                                     

Across Green Square, is the Second African Baptist Church where Martin Luther King Jr first delivered his "I have a dream" speech.  He only made minor changes in it before he delivered it in Washington D.C.

I missed getting a picture of the First African Baptist Church, near Franklin Square.  It was built in 1733! -- the oldest continuous black church in North America.  There were different pews for the slaves from different areas of Africa who spoke different languages. It also served as an important place in the Underground Railroad.  There was a double floor in the sanctuary where slaves hid when trying to escape to freedom.

The tour guide told us of a children's book called "The Patchwork Path" which tells about how quilts had hidden clues that guided slaves along the Underground Railroad to Canada.

Across the square from this Second African Baptist Church is a statue honoring the group of 500 Haitians who joined the colonists to fight in the Revolutionary War.  

                                                                                    

At the bequest of Mary Telfair, a prominent Savannah citizen, she stipulated in her will that her home could only ever be used as an art museum.  This along with the Owens-Thomas House are examples of Regency architecture.
                                                                            

                                                                                    

The Owen-Thomas House and slave quarters on built in 1819 by William Jay, a young architect from England who designed many of the landmark buildings in Savannah.  I wish we had time to tour this one!  Maybe on another visit to Savannah!  

                                               

Another side of the Owens-Thomas House.  It is supposed to be one of the finest examples of Regency style architecture in the U.S. -- stately columns and simple facade.

We missed the azaleas blooming.  They were early this year -- in February because it was so warm.  But the Magnolias were starting to bloom.

                                                                                    

The Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Layfayette Square.                       

This home was magnificent.  You can see a little more of the detail of the windows, etc below:

A different angle on the Isaiah Davenport house that we toured yesterday.

Ballast from the ships coming over from England were used to make the street going down to the river.  It was a bumpy ride over these stones.

The tour guide said this is one of the smaller size container ships coming into this historically important port.

This is the most famous statue in Savannah -- "The Waving Girl".  She was the unofficial greeter of all ships that entered and left the Port of Savannah between 1887 and 1931. She waved a handkerchief by day and a lantern by night.  It's told that her collie would wake her during the night if a ship came so she could greet it.  She became famous and even received letters from ship's captains.

                                                                                    

                  A "double decker" restaurant -- "The Public" -- pretty cool to sit up high in the shade of a Live Oak tree!

We started the day with a devotional from Our Daily Bread  -- "Drops of Red"  meaning in the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, "His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground."  Luke 22:44.  The picture on the first page of the devotional was of one of Vincent Van Gogh's "Olive Trees" paintings in the Scottish National Gallery.  There were small red splotches of paint among the trees on the canvas.

The writer of the devotion pointed out that it's important to remember Jesus' suffering (on Good Friday) "Jesus, thank you for being willing to suffer, even to death, so that I might receive eternal life."

Tomorrow:  travel day to Charleston and a weekend of rain in the forecast!