Savannah, Fort Pulaski and Wormsloe

May 9
We spent the first few hours of the day in a fruitless search for a bearing to replace one in my Freewheel. I ordered a bunch of replacement parts for it and received only one bearing when I needed two. From there, we went to the Savannah visitors center. I recommend this as a place to begin your exploration of the city. We toured the small history museum, built inside a railroad car repair building, where we saw an overview of the city and its history.

After lunch, we took the Old Town Trolley Tour, the only handicap accessible one. They boarded us at the VC parking lot and did not allow me to get on or off at any of the stops. After taking the tour, it was obvious how difficult and time consuming it would be to get me off and on at the various stops. The tour was worth the money and allowed me to take my "service dog" with me.
The architecture of the city is amazing and the buildings are beautiful.  

My "service dog" getting in good sniffs.

 Interestingly enough, the statue above is on the banks of the river in Savannah, the sign below, is at Fort Pulaski, many miles east of the city.

After the bus tour dropped us back at the VC, we drove into downtown, found a parking spot and walked around. Becky and I agreed we would like to get a hotel room in the downtown and spend a few days wandering and enjoying the beautiful city. Patrick just wanted ice cream. We walked all over getting a closer look at some of the sites we had seen from the bus and enjoying the warm 97 degree afternoon. The heat was wonderful and we were acclimated to it after our time in Florida. 

  General James Oglethorpe Monument. The man looks like a rogue pirate. He was the founder of the colony in Georgia and established Savannah in 1733. He brought impoverished citizens of London who had been in debtors prison and set them up to flourish in the new world as a buffer colony between the Spanish held land of Florida and the British colonies in the north.  

 Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Construction finished in 1896. A fire later destroyed part of the building and reconstruction efforts were completed in 1899.

  We eventually found ice cream, chotchkis, and post cards before returning to the truck for a ride back to the trailer.

May 10. We woke to an early morning text from Becky's mother telling her that Becky's grandfather had passed away. We had been expecting news of this sort so it was not a shock, more gladness that he was free from his painful struggle with age and illness. This news did put a crimp in our plans as we decided to head home for the funeral.
Instead of heading straight home, we made the decision to spend a few more days traveling and get home right before the funeral. I think Grandpa would have understood, he loved traveling too.
The day was spent touring some old places around the area.

Wormsloe--State Historic Site
Noble Jones, a carpenter, arrived with James Oglethorpe and performed various duties such as surveyor and physician as well as his normal trade. He did most of his duties at for free and was charged with laying out Savannah, establishing farm boundaries and surveying towns further up the river. He was eventually relieved of his duties because the government found him lacking and fired him. Like most government witch hunts, they fired the wrong guy. Jones and a few other guys began leasing 500 acres on Isle of Hope outside of Savannah for farming purposes. He eventually built his estate on the land. He went on to be a significant figure in the development of Savannah and his son Noble W. Jones was a member of the First Provincial Congress in 1775 and was influential during the Revolutionary War. 

 The drive to the mansion is a mile and a quarter and is lined with over 400 oak trees. Its worth the trip just to drive this majestic route under the Spanish moss covered canopy.

 Remains of the original plantation house. Seven generations of the Jones family have resided on the farm. 822 acres of the original plantation have been donated to conservancy while maintaining a small working farm on the property.

 Noble Jones' grave.

 This tiny creek on the banks of Wormsloe was once a major waterway for shipping, travel and heavily defended from the British and Spanish.

 After our trip under the oaks, we stopped for BBQ, of course. This place hits the top five for us.

Following lunch, we went to Fort Pulaski National Monument to see the historic civil war era structure and get a stamp for a National Park book.  This was the first posting for Robert E Lee after he graduated from West Point. Lee helped lay out the drainage canals and begin construction of the fort. He later returned to tour the fort after he was a General in the Confederate Army. (sidebar- stop tearing down our statues and monuments to these men who fought for the south. Its part of our history and we need to continue to learn from it).

 The visitors center

 A depiction of the fort's construction. The island was marshy and would not support the weight of the structure so they sank wood posts into the ground to distribute the load. Then they used arch structures to help spread the load even more. The fort has not sunk, cracked or fractured from settling.

 The Union captured the fort during the war and used it to house prisoners.

Canon ball damage from the Union bombardment.

 We drove out to Tybee Island and looked around the tourist trap. There is a lighthouse museum and another World War Two era fort. You can see the front of the fort and the light house in the background. The parking lot is for a small shopping area and eatery along the beach.