Blogs from Savannah, Georgia, United States, North America - page 8

Savannah, Georgia August 14-16, 2011 Ever since I saw Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, I wanted to go to Savannah, Georgia. I thought it would be a great place to go and process after the meditation retreat. The 76 mile drive from Jesup to Savannah would take me to the eastern-most part of my travels and complete my west coast to east coast drive. The first two days, I was pretty lazy in Savannah. I really didn’t want to sight see. To be honest, I mostly wanted to eat, drink and socialize. Part of me worried I would be undoing some of what I worked on at the meditation retreat, but all things in moderation… I guess. My first stop was a prohibition pub that was not as cool as I hoped it ... read more

Savannah The drive from West Palm Beach to Savannah was only about 6hours and it seemed to just fly by. We pulled over at a beautiful rest stop for a picnic under the tall shady trees. This picnic was long overdue, and we have been schlepping the 3 cooler bags all the way from Somerset West, so it was time to let them live a little! At the Georgia Welcome Centre I saw a Laurel Oak Tree and I could not resist hugging it! Three and a half years later I still have brief moments where I see something in a shop and think “oh I’ll get that for mum”, but then suddenly as if being hit by a 10 ton truck I realise that she is not around anymore and I have to move on ... read more

This entry is mostly for "RVers;" but anyone thinking of a destination wedding near Savannah or who is planning corporate or other functions might find it interesting. We were there in late March and spring was popping out all around us. I keep repeating myself with my "It's Amazing!" But I can't help the redundancy! The Red Gate RV Park with its sister business The Mackey House, a lovely "southern style" event venue, is extrodinary! This former dairy farm has been in the same family for generations. property. It was occupied by General Sherman after his March to the Sea. Red Gate has only been in operation as an RV Park for a year. Wes found it on the internet; the main attraction for us being that it is 8 minutes from the heart of beautiful ... read more

St. Patrick's Day When one thinks of Irish cities in the US, one tends to think of the big cities of the northeast: New York, Boston, Chicago. In fact, the city with the highest percentage of Irish descendents is Savannah. Irish first arrived in large numbers in the 1830s to build the Central Georgia Railroad. As one manager put it at the time, he preferred Irish to slaves because Irishmen had no value and could be worked to death with impunity. Far more arrived after the Great Potato Famine. The quote above amply demonstrates how they were treated at the time. They ultimately organized and took over the city government after Reconstruction. Given the population, url=http://www.savannahga.... read more

Today is my first day in one of the most romantic cities in the US, Savannah Georgia. It was founded by British general James Oglethorpe. He wanted to create a haven for yeoman farmers and those in debt. To this end, he banned both bankers and lawyers from his new colony! He also banned Catholics, rum, and slavery. Like many utopian experiments, he designed the town plan very deliberately. It was broken into self-contained areas called units. Each one had a public square at the center. Residents’ houses surrounded the square, and farms were next to those. Each farmer was expected to grow goods that would be sold in England to finance the colony. The experiment ultima... read more