Travel Journal
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SAVANNAH: Where the Old South Lives Again
January 2025
By Sandra Bertrand
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There’s a place where the thin veil that separates the past from the present really exists, and it's Savannah, Georgia. Live oaks, Spanish moss, the clip clop of horse-drawn carriages — I knew I had stepped through some invisible crack into another world.
Our rough and tumble cabbie, Priscilla, was quick to fill us in. She was one more survivor of Hurricane Helene that hit Florida’s gulf coast and then some the week before. A large clean-up fee sign was posted on the dashboard. Any spilled liquid, food or animal hair would incur a $50 penalty, with any other bodily function involved incurring an additional $100. My partner Joanne and I were no strangers to Deep South temptations. Recent forays to New Orleans and Charleston had left us forever smitten. With our New York pal Meg always ready to join us for a new adventure, the time was ripe for giving Savannah a second go-around. |
Time for a Rest: Horse and Carriage
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Slavery, Lafayette, and the Moon River Man
Exploring several of the house tours available is the best way for fantasizing about bygone days. The Owens-Thomas House sports an impressive carriage house, renovated in the 1990s. That led to the discovery of one of the best-preserved urban slave quarters in existence. The ceiling, painted haint blue, is a color used in the African Gullah culture to deter ghosts or other malevolent spirits.
Exploring several of the house tours available is the best way for fantasizing about bygone days. The Owens-Thomas House sports an impressive carriage house, renovated in the 1990s. That led to the discovery of one of the best-preserved urban slave quarters in existence. The ceiling, painted haint blue, is a color used in the African Gullah culture to deter ghosts or other malevolent spirits.
As a boarding house its most famous guest was the Marquis de Lafayette who visited for the 50th anniversary of the American Revolution. After landowner George Owens purchased the property for $10,000, his granddaughter bequeathed the property to the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1951 to be run as a house museum.
The Telfair Academy, along with the contemporary Jepson Museum is part of the Telfair holdings. The Academy itself is a sumptuous delight to visit. The oldest public art museum in the South, it is the first museum in the United States founded by a woman.
Owens Thomas House Gardens
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Telfair Academy of the Arts & Sciences
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Such colorful histories are commonplace to Savannah. The Green-Meldrim House, a Gothic Revival-style home, became the headquarters of Union General Willam Tecumseh Sherman. Rather than burn down the picture-perfect paradise he’d arrived at, Sherman penned the President, offering him as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah. Lincoln received the message on Christmas Eve.
Notable upon first entering, a formidable front door becomes an inside foyer closet. Upon purchase by the colonies, the resident chandeliers could only be shipped via British vessels, serving as incidental ballast for the voyage. Serving as St. John’s Parish House since 1943, the docents treat every object with immaculate care.
Don’t miss a brief respite on the circular lemon settee in the museum’s main room. Before departing, we paid a visit to the Bird Girl statue, now safely installed on the second floor. Originally placed in Bonaventure Cemetery, she also appears on the cover of John Berendt’s 1994 book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The Mercer Williams House, our next visit, is featured in the bestseller.
Designed for General Hugh W. Mercer, great-grandfather of celebrated songwriter Johnny Mercer, the house was completed in 1868, though no Mercer ever lived in it. Readers will recognize Mercer as the prolific songwriter of such tunes as Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and Moon River. As for Midnight’s notorious success, I’ll leave it to your imagination. It is worth the visit for the beautiful and eclectic items that fill the house.
Circular Lemon Settee
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Bird Girl Sculpture by Sylvia Shaw Judson
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Slipping through that invisible veil to the past is easy as pie — just cross the threshold into one more historic home. Our guide, Michael, at the Davenport House Museum was quick to point out an upside-heart design in the iron boot cleaner outside. It acted as a universal symbol of hope for Davenport’s enslaved workers.
Did I mention the hierarchy of mattresses? The owner and his wife likely slept on goose feathers, while the children’s beds were made of boiled and dried Spanish moss, and the enslaved making do with pine needles. A blackened doll of a mother and baby as well as documents of slave purchases provided a deeper perspective.
I particularly liked a child’s miniature tea table in the upstairs. In 1955 the home was set to be demolished when a group of seven women blocked purchase of the property, forming the Historic Savannah Foundation (HSF). Their movement has grown to save an entire city.
I particularly liked a child’s miniature tea table in the upstairs. In 1955 the home was set to be demolished when a group of seven women blocked purchase of the property, forming the Historic Savannah Foundation (HSF). Their movement has grown to save an entire city.
Davenport House Slave Quarters
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Davenport House Miniature Tea Set
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Prohibition, Cookies, and a Redheaded Woodpecker No more colorful characters exist than the axe-wielding Carrie Nation with the bombastic Billie Sunday’s sermons to back up her zealous efforts. Meg was quite taken with the waxy life-like rabble-rousers she encountered. Afterwards, we hotfooted it over to Leopold’s Ice Cream Shoppe on Broughton Street, joining a line of customers all too willing to wait. At Byrd’s Famous Cookies a batch of miniatures are boxed for eight dollars — the lemon-lime cremes my favorite. Don’t miss Savannah Bee Company (honey hand cream), and Savannah Coffee Roasters for Good and Evil (a blend of Ethiopian, Sumatran and Colombian beans). A chocolate purveyor offered up mini ghost heads we didn’t buy. I did purchase a 1904 print of a redheaded woodpecker for $15 from V & J Duncan. Someone said there’s no accounting for taste but mine was satisfied!
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Joanne with Mini Ghost Heads in Chocolate House
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A Black Civil War Heroine, Ghosts and More Ghosts
The Massie Heritage Center is a good morning start, with our guide, Jeremy Hyatt, providing an indispensable introduction through a three-dimensional model of the historic district. General James Oglethorpe masterminded a city grid pattern of twenty-two squares for military drills. Calhoun Square, named after a former slave owner, was renamed for Susie King Taylor, a former slave who taught Civil War Black soldiers to read and write. (See more about Susie in our Trailblazers section.)
The Massie Heritage Center is a good morning start, with our guide, Jeremy Hyatt, providing an indispensable introduction through a three-dimensional model of the historic district. General James Oglethorpe masterminded a city grid pattern of twenty-two squares for military drills. Calhoun Square, named after a former slave owner, was renamed for Susie King Taylor, a former slave who taught Civil War Black soldiers to read and write. (See more about Susie in our Trailblazers section.)
Sandra in Dunce Cap
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Before leaving, we slipped into a 19th century classroom where I couldn’t resist donning a dunce cap at the resident blackboard.
A morning visit to the Sorrel-Weed House proved the most chilling of ghost stories to come. Our guide, Marcie, led us first into a darkened basement, with electricity still an on again-off again affair from Hurricane Helene. Touted as the fifth most haunted place in the U.S., it’s no wonder. When Sorrel’s wife Matilda discovered her husband’s affair with Molly, a slave girl, she leapt to her death from the second story balcony. Weeks later, Molly was found hanging from a noose in the carriage house in an apparent suicide.
Reynolds Square boasts a statue of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. A bevy of spirits have been known to hover over his head, though my iPhone camera didn’t pick up any the night of our ghost tour. Our aging guide, dressed in a boy scout’s uniform, led us into some darkened alleyways. If you possess a fertile imagination as some of the tour’s real girl scouts did, by all means sign up.
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St. John’s Cathedral, Fountains and Flannery O’Connor
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist boasts a Great Rose Window and 16th century style pipe organ. Such interiors always give me pause, if for beauty’s sake alone. Even if you’ve thrown coins into Rome’s Trevi Fountain, Forsythe Square’s central fountain is worth a look-see. Swans and satyrs proliferate, the latter decorously covered in certain areas for modesty’s sake.
For literary buffs, the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home Museum shouldn’t be missed. Our guide, Jane, was quick to share tales of young Flannery’s insistence on reading Poe to friends in the upstairs bathtub. Later, when she and her mother lived on a small farm in Milledgeville, Georgia, she made dresses for her brood of chickens.
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist boasts a Great Rose Window and 16th century style pipe organ. Such interiors always give me pause, if for beauty’s sake alone. Even if you’ve thrown coins into Rome’s Trevi Fountain, Forsythe Square’s central fountain is worth a look-see. Swans and satyrs proliferate, the latter decorously covered in certain areas for modesty’s sake.
For literary buffs, the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home Museum shouldn’t be missed. Our guide, Jane, was quick to share tales of young Flannery’s insistence on reading Poe to friends in the upstairs bathtub. Later, when she and her mother lived on a small farm in Milledgeville, Georgia, she made dresses for her brood of chickens.
Forsythe Square Fountain
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Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home, Bathtub
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Riverboats, Dinosaurs, and a Last Toast
Like a siren’s call, the Savannah River drew us down to the riverfront to celebrate friend Meg’s farewell evening. We ogled the Georgia Queen at dock, while “Hard-Hearted Hannah, That Vamp from Savannah” kept ringing in my ears.
The J.W. Marriott Riverside District and Hotel is a must-see. Two gaudily massive citrine and amethyst slabs tower above the lobby entrance. There’s also a chrome-dipped model dinosaur (!) hung above, nicknamed Ms. Chromina Joule.
Time plays tricks on even the wariest. Watching the light filter through strands of Spanish moss, as if a dozen Mrs. Havershams from Dickens’ Great Expectations combed out their locks from nearby windows, discovering pale yellow butterflies flittering among the park benches, scuffling through piles of russet leaves while fallen statue heroes keep watch. If we forgot to set our watches, it’s little wonder for the day itself loses the count of its hours.
Entering the enchanted land of the past required sustenance along with sentiment. Grits served in any form, oysters and po’boy sandwiches hit the spot repeatedly. At Circa 1875, a place with a cozy Parisian feel, we toasted to a magical week with a bottle of Croix du Duc red wine.
I can’t vouch for Hard-Hearted Hannah’s coeur, because Savannah softened ours.
Like a siren’s call, the Savannah River drew us down to the riverfront to celebrate friend Meg’s farewell evening. We ogled the Georgia Queen at dock, while “Hard-Hearted Hannah, That Vamp from Savannah” kept ringing in my ears.
The J.W. Marriott Riverside District and Hotel is a must-see. Two gaudily massive citrine and amethyst slabs tower above the lobby entrance. There’s also a chrome-dipped model dinosaur (!) hung above, nicknamed Ms. Chromina Joule.
Time plays tricks on even the wariest. Watching the light filter through strands of Spanish moss, as if a dozen Mrs. Havershams from Dickens’ Great Expectations combed out their locks from nearby windows, discovering pale yellow butterflies flittering among the park benches, scuffling through piles of russet leaves while fallen statue heroes keep watch. If we forgot to set our watches, it’s little wonder for the day itself loses the count of its hours.
Entering the enchanted land of the past required sustenance along with sentiment. Grits served in any form, oysters and po’boy sandwiches hit the spot repeatedly. At Circa 1875, a place with a cozy Parisian feel, we toasted to a magical week with a bottle of Croix du Duc red wine.
I can’t vouch for Hard-Hearted Hannah’s coeur, because Savannah softened ours.
Georgia Queen at Dock
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J.W. Marriot Hotel Chrome-Dipped Model Dinosaur
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Spanish Moss on Live Oak
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A big part of the Savannah experience is tasting all that the city has to offer in culinary delights and mixology.
Sandra's recommendations are below.
Sandra's recommendations are below.
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DINING & DRINKING Circa 1875 Best of French Bistro Cuisine 48 Whitaker Street Savannah, GA Crystal Beer Parlor Cherry Pie Hard Cider 301 West Jones Street Savannah, GA Husk Upscale Brunch with Eggs and Ham 12 West Oglethorpe Avenue Savannah, GA J. Christopher’s Grits & Art 122 East Liberty Street Savannah, GA Maple Street Biscuit Company Biscuits with Creamy Southern Gravy 220 West Broughton Street Savannah, GA |
DINING & DRINKING Public Kitchen and Bar Signature Grits: cheddar, bacon, shrimp, sweet peas, chorizo & tomatoes in a sherry cream sauce 1 West Liberty Street Savannah, GA Sorry Charlie’s Smoked Oysters with Jalapenos 116 West Congress Street Savannah, GA The Desoto Savannah, 1540 Room Low Country Farm to Table 15 East Liberty Street Savannah, GA Vic’s on the River Crawfish Beignets 26 East Bay Street Savannah, GA TREATS: Byrd's Famous Cookies Leopold's Ice Cream Savannah Coffee Roasters |
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Sandra Bertrand is an award-winning playwright and painter. She is Chief Art Critic for Highbrow Magazine, and she is former founding editor of NAWA NOW, a quarterly magazine published by the National Association of Women Artists, Inc. Prior to working for Sanctuary as Travel & Culture Editor, Sandra was a Featured Artist in May 2019.
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