Reunion Voyage: Savannah, GA

Henry Ford's first showroom in Savannah

The thing that makes Savannah GA unique is the fact that it survived the Civil War intact. Because General Sherman and the Yankees determined not to destroy the city as they had Atlanta, the beautiful architecture and design of old Savannah exist almost totally as it was in the early 1800’s. General Sherman gave Savannah to President Lincoln as a Christmas present and to the delight of the residents of Savannah Lincoln accepted. Today we took a long trolley tour of the Historic center of town and saw hundreds of pre-civil war and Victorian homes and almost every street was canopied in giant old Live Oak trees.

Oglethorpe, the English general that founded the city, designed a whole system of parks/city squares that initially were meant to aid in defense of the city in the event of an advance by the Spanish from Florida. However, what followed were 22 beautiful squares (parks) evenly scattered through neighborhoods. Each one has some memorial or statue that makes it unique and the parks are centers for each area. Since today was Saturday, we saw weddings being set up or celebrated in almost every square.

Oglethorpe Square

We enjoyed cruising the tourist shops and stopping for photos while we walked around town. We also enjoyed the restaurants that we sampled. The trolley tour was very interesting and we had a full day. The weather was perfect and we would love to spend more time in Savannah someday.

SCAD (Savannah College of Architecture and Design) hosted their annual sidewalk art program today in Forsyth Park a 22 acre green space on the edge of the historic district.