which of them were to go, and those students stood up, answered questions and told us what their fears and concerns were.
In our next stop in the walk, we found ourselves learning how to fire muskets with the Rhode Island Regiment during the middle of the Revolutionary War. A soldier explained how inaccurate the weapons were, and that was why soldiers fired as a group at another group; soldiers could count on someone getting hit if they fired enough bullets. We were given a lesson in marching and mimed loading, shooting and charging with fixed bayonets.
Next, we became spies. We were taken to an encampment where a Capt. Hamilton told us about a double agent who had been planted in a British camp pretending he had secret information from George Washington’s army. So we trooped over to the British camp, where Gen. Charles Cornwallis ranted on about how dumb the Americans were and how much they needed the leadership of a king and his people if they were to succeed in this country. We reported back to Hamilton to tell him Cornwallis had fallen for the false information.
Captain Hamilton tells us about thedouble agent planted in the British camp.
Another stop was at a large colonial church meeting, which resulted in the Declaration of Sentiments at Seneca Falls. A costumed woman explained the lack of rights for women and distributed handouts.
The children especially enjoyed Harriet Tubman’s story “Follow the Drinking Gourd.” The re-enactor told them about her history and how she was working to get slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad. She said we would act as slaves, and she would help us escape. When we met in a darkened room, she taught us a song that would help us find directions. The drinking gourd is the big dipper and the North Star. We then escaped and were stopped by a white man looking for escaped slaves. He allowed us to go on but shot his black-powder revolver in the air to make us move faster. After all this adventure, the children were ready for the lunch provided.
The educational programs have been in operation since 1995. We appreciated this method of educating children about history. We suspect the regularly scheduled tour might not be quite as much fun as this one, but we especially enjoy watching kids enthusiastically learn.
Gen. Charles Cornwallis ranting on about
how dumb the Americans are
9. Moss-Adorned History
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah joins our list of world-class gem cities along with cities such as Heidelberg, Germany; Kyoto, Japan; Edinburgh, Scotland; and St. Augustine, Florida. Each is a perfect example of whatever it should be.
What we found in Savannah was a historic American city with beautifully restored structures, making the whole area a living museum.
At least three companies run tour trolleys that let riders get on and off at 15 stops as often they like during the day. The first day there we parked our car at the visitors’ center, and we used the trolleys. The drivers are also the guides, commenting on what we were seeing and telling stories about former famous and infamous citizens.
There was so much information about the history of the city and the sites we were passing that after the fourth stop, the information was sliding across our memory banks. We took several rides through some sections of the city and found that although some of the information was the same, the drivers used different approaches in their narrations.
In 1733, Gen. James Oglethorpe brought a select group of settlers to found Savannah, which was to be England’s 13th and final colony. Oglethorpe and a Col. William Bull laid out the new settlement in a series of 24 public squares, 21 of which still exist today. The commercial and residential buildings were arranged around these squares, which are unusually striking with their giant oaks, fountains and statues.
A guide on one of our walking tours noted that Savannians are a contrary lot; they have placed four statues of noted people in squares and then named a different square after them.
In each square we crossed, the oak trees were heavy with hanging Spanish moss. We were told that the origin of the phrase “Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite” originated from the fact that the mosses, filled with chiggers, were used for bedding.
All of the trolley drivers pointed out the square that was the setting for a scene in Forrest Gump where a feather comes off the steeple of a nearby church and drifts down to where he is sitting on a bench and introducing himself to a lady. The site of the bench is now a local museum. Several of the trolley drivers gave some very good imitations of actor Tom Hanks’ speech patterns in that role.
We took the river walk, which allowed us to get glimpses of one of the most active ports in the United States; only New York handles more products. Several giant ships were coming up the river as we walked. The street facing the walk consists of fourand five-story commercial buildings that looked to us much like those we remember seeing along the canals in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Shops and cafes line the street levels of the buildings. Among the monuments along the way were the waving girl the city is so proud of, a black family, and the yacht race flame holder from the 1996 Olympics. Older men with their fishing poles stood along the way, but we saw only very small fish being caught.
One of our guides made much of the area where pirates hung out, an area that includes the oldest standing house in Georgia. This is also the area where men’s drinks were drugged before they were carried through an underground tunnel to waiting ships to serve as involuntary sailors. One man took three years to work his way back to Savannah.
America’s history is in a capsule here, from our founding through the Revolutionary War, our early growth as a commercial center, the Civil War and much activity connected to World War II. We spent three days here, and although we kept moving, we did not have time to tour more than a few of the many stately houses and museums that exist in this incredible city.
Preserving Savannah’s charm
USA Weekend Magazine has named Savannah as one of the 10 most beautiful places in America, and The New York Times Magazine placed it among the top 25 places to live and work.
Whether on a ghost tour or a formal city tour, we kept having buildings pointed out to us as having been renovated by the Savannah College of Arts and Design, a college recognized by the American Institute of Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
On our walks we began to see the college’s name or its logo, SCAD, on many of the buildings in the historic district. It seemed to be a rare square that did not have a building that had been renovated and put into use by the college.
All of our guides commented on how much the school contributed to making Savannah the beautiful, restored city that it is. For years, the historic district had been allowed to disintegrate. As a result, abandoned buildings could be bought cheaply. There had been talk of turning some of the beautiful squares into high-rises. Three of the original 24 squares had already been destroyed, and one was replaced with a parking lot.
One of our guides pointed out a small house of about 900 square feet that sold in the 1970s for $10,000. After the school renovated it along with 60 other buildings in the historic area, she claimed it is now worth $1 million.
Impressed
