Savannah, Georgia

This home is in Charleston, SC and has a wrought iron fence that has primitive barbs on the top to keep out any revolting slaves or unwanted people and is one of the few remaining like it. The house is still in the same family as it was during the civil war.

We enjoyed a horse drawn buggy tour of the city and learned alot about the history of Charleston, especially the high society and wealth that was here before the war. They re-enact the seccession from the union and are proud to have been the first out and the last back in the union. I definitely admire how they resented all the taxes the British imposed and fought against it, however, wealth on the backs of slaves is too much. There have been places in both Charleston and Savannah where slaves were traded, bought and sold.

Savannah - charming little city, easy to drive, the historic part was laid out in a grid pattern with large area of public parks, squares, 24 of them, of which 20 now remain. Built up on a bluff, it is still flat, but the front built on the Savannah River is low and drops down a hundred feet to River Street and is cobblestoned and has quaint shops and riverboat tours. They say Savannah is the most haunted city as it was built on burial grounds. It is Georgia's first city and was once the 4th largest in the USA. It is now a busy commercial container port, home to 120,000 people.

We ate at Pirate House, a real pirate inn and bar where the scallywags used to stay and cause trouble. It too is haunted and is also where Robert Louis Stevenson was insipred to write Treasure Island. We had a tour and saw how they 'shanghai'd' young lads into service with the merchant ships, as the pirates had a long line of applicants they rarely needed to kidnap someone into service. For the food network lovers, Paula Deen is from here and I went to her store near the city market, I tried to get the boys to eat there, but I was out-voted for the Pirate House. Todd and I did a wine tasting and the reds are so light and are served chilled, because the goal is to refresh and cool you off. Very different, yet good.

The island we are staying on, Tybee Island is east of Savannah by about 15 miles and has the nearest beaches. We are heading out today and should be in Florida either today or tomorrow as Jacksonville is only a few hours away.

Take care! (Ya'll!)