Photos by Frances Rivetti
Antebellum architecture, shaded squares, colonial and civil rights history, southern charm and hospitality — the enormous draw of Savannah as the jewel of Georgia is renowned around the world, despite, or maybe because of its geographic seclusion and a metro population of less than half a million. This is a city whose extraordinary character and personality far outweigh its size. And I, like so many of people from all over the globe, had yearned for a visit for years.
It took a January invitation to me to read from my latest novel for a large book group in the Charleston area, in neighboring South Carolina to finally motivate me to make the trip cross-country and savor Savannah as my first course of a double southern bill.
Savannah's public squares are located across a one-square-mile area of downtown. Each square is around 200 feet north to south in size and 100 to 300 feet east to west.
"The original four squares of Savannah date to 1733 and were a distinctive part of English General James Oglethorpe's plan for the city," says American Planning Association in its account of great public spaces in America. "Eventually squares were located in the center of each of the city's 24 neighborhoods or "wards." The foresight of Oglethorpe's design continues to provide an extraordinary example of how public space provides a timeless and lasting amenity to a community. Very much used and beloved, the squares are essentially public "living rooms" where residents and visitors alike go for morning and evening strolls, afternoon games and activities, and special events and celebrations."
This is immediately apparent upon visiting Savannah. Twenty-one of the 24 original squares, all located within the boundaries of the city's National Landmark Historic District, remain pretty much the way they were when originally built (largely on the backs of enslaved people) during the 18th and 19th centuries. Each square has its own identity, reflecting a sense of place that mirrors the character of its neighborhood and surroundings. The 22nd square, Ellis, has been reclaimed after having been used for the site of a parking garage.
The squares help calm traffic, creating a safer and more pleasant pedestrian and bicyclist experience. Oglethorpe was a member of Parliament in England and a social reformer, founding Georgia after a grant from King George II, to resettle Britain's poor, especially those in debtors' prison. He and his men cleared a flat tract of pine forest and established a small group on the Savannah River, intending to create a debtors colony, free of vice. The establishment of his Georgia colony was based on three motives: philanthropic, commercial, and military — "Asilum of the Unfortunate," a place for England's "worthy poor" to earn a living exporting goods produced on small farms. His squares were designed as public commons for grazing cattle and provide a buffer from fire wiping out the entire settlement. Oglethorpe ardently believed in human rights, freedom and justice and railed against slavery, prohibiting it within the colony until he had little choice but to depart from Georgia and return to England, where he railed against slavery for the rest of his life.
Unusually in colonial history, Oglethorpe was intent on maintaining good relations with native tribes. Tomochichi was the mico, or chief, of the Yamacraw Indians, a small band of Lower Creek Indians that lived in coastal Georgia when he arrived with the colonists. After Oglethorpe selected Yamacraw Bluff as the site for the colony’s first settlement, Mico Tomochichi welcomed him and the colonists.
According to Georgia Historical Society, Mico Tomochichi considerd the colony an opportunity for his people to trade with and to establish diplomatic connections with the English.
"Tomochichi assisted the colonists in laying out roads. In 1734, Tomochichi, his wife Senauki, their adopted son Toonahowi, and six Lower Creek tribesmen accompanied Oglethorpe on a trip to England. The chief was looking for assurances that his people would benefit from education and fair trade policies with the English. In 1736, after their return to Savannah, a short-lived school was established for the children of his tribe."
Tomochichi and Oglethorpe worked closely together and asked advice of each another. After the trip to England, Tomochichi traveled with Oglethorpe south of Savannah to determine the southern border of the colony, an important border in the defense of the English colonies against the Spanish to the south. Oglethorpe held a military funeral to honor Tomochichi after his death and the chief's grave was marked with a pyramid made of stones. A granite boulder replaced the stones in 1899. The boulder remains in Wright Square in Savannah, along with a copper plaque commemorating the mico.
There are plenty of places to stay in Savannah. Although I was tempted to book an inn or bed and breakfast in the quieter, south zone of the historic district, I couldn't resist the lure of The Marshall House (1851), one of the city's oldest inns, on bustling Broughton Street in the North Zone and walkable to everything. In 1864-65, The Marshall House was occupied by Union troops led by General William Tecumseh Sherman. The building was used as a Union hospital for wounded soldiers until the end of the Civil War. As guests, we were invited to visit the 3rd floor and view a collection of original prints, newspapers, letters, and documents reflecting Savannah’s experience during the Civil War.
The hotel’s colorful history also includes its role as a hospital during the Yellow Fever Epidemics in the mid-1800s. Rumors and reports abound, including guests reportedly seeing ghosts in the hallways and foyers, hearing children running down the long, narrow halls late at night, faucets turning on by themselves. I wasn't deterred after reading this during booking, considering the inn's popularity outweighing any real chance of experiencing a series of fright nights.
However, after checking in and being regalled by a local historian during a most generous happy hour, I had second thoughts on night one, after settling into bed. The prospect of a ghost child tickling my toes was more than I had bargained for in this city of spirited souls. Needless to say, the only spooky sensation I experienced was waking up to the clanking heating system during an unusually cold snap and possible sighting of a ghost cat which I was concerned about being trapped in the room. Phantom kitties are perfectly able to let themselves out through a locked door, so all was well by morning.
I've had several paranormal run-ins during my life and travels and I was most appreciative to check out at the end of my stay at the Marshall House without having much to add to its haunting accounts. Although, I had left the light on all night during my fourth and final night's stay, as my husband, Timo, flew back to California the day before I was due to travel on to Charleston. I was not about to take a chance on the spooks singling me out on my owneome.
House tours were top of my list.
Visitors to the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters are guided through one of the finest examples of Regency architecture in America as well as the original slave quarters designed to house the enslaved men, women and children who maintained it. Our guide was as passionate about history of architecture and the south as he was with regards to the abolition of slavery and and end to centuries of bondage, exploitation and abuse. The tour includes an exploration of the lives, injustices and relationships of the most and least powerful people in 19th century Savannah — such as the wealthy Owens family who owned the property for 121 years and the many enslaved people who labored to support and maintain the household.
The house was designed by architect William Jay and completed in 1819. Jay was born and raised in wealthy and innovative Bath, England, a city shaped by palladian and neoclassical architecture. It was in London, just as regency style architecture was emerging, that he spent six years as architect David Riddall Roper’s apprentice. Jay was young and not fully qualified upon his arrival in the colony, however, the city of Savannah was ripe for potential and architects flocked. His solid design was constructed by builder John Retan and likely a team of skilled free and enslaved men in his charge. It and seven other of his designs have withstood major hurricanes and the test of time.
Now a National Historic Landmark, the property boasts a carefully curated mansion with a formal parterre garden and an original carriage house, which includes the only intact urban slave quarters open to the public in Savannah. The Owens-Thomas House slave quarters is complete with the nation’s largest expanse of slave-applied haint blue paint, made from indigo and thought to ward off evil spirits. Ceilings throughout the south are painted haint blue today in part a nod to the past and in equal part to stave off the many spirits that roam.
The tour also provides an exploration of the home’s remarkable features, including Savannah’s earliest system of indoor plumbing, an indoor bridge and the balcony from which the Marquis de Lafayette is said to have addressed a crowd of locals in 1825, as well as insight about how each room was used in that time and by whom. Roll-out mats rest under the children's beds, a poignant reminder of the injustices of enslaved women who were separated from their own children, or unable to care for them personally, while they raised the offspring of their enslavers.
Tours of the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters are given daily at fifteen-minute intervals. The last tour begins at 4:15 pm. We bought our tour ticket as part of a package with the Telfair Museums Pass, which took us into and around the Jepsen Center and the historic Telfair Academy that same day. Mary Telfair bequethed her home to the Georgia Historical Society in 1875. The house opened to the public in 1886 as the first public art museum in the South and the first museum in the United States founded by a woman. It contains three 19th century period rooms and a beautiful collection of 19th century American and European art, including the famous bronze Bird Girl (1936).
Best known for the cover photo of Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil, modern-classic true crime portrait of Savannah by John Berendt which is celebrating it's 30th anniversary in print this year, Bird Girl was commissioned around 1938 by Lucy Boyd Trosdal, from the artist Sylvia Shaw Judson, commemorating Boyd Trosdal's deceased daughter, originally as a garden statue and later for the family plot in Bonaventure Cemetery. The pose does not symbolize the weighing of good and evil, rather the bowls in her upturned hands were intended as food and water holders for birds. After the book became so popular, the sanctity of the site was invaded by thousands of visitors. The family removed the sculpture, later loaning it to the Telfair Museum for safekeeping.
I had read Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil cover to cover before my trip to the south. I watched the movie on my friend Brian's big screen after I finished the book. It was the ideal primer for my visit, though for me, unlike many tourists, it wasn't the only thing I was after. Not by far. I wanted to soak in the city itself, the sublime energy of the Spanish moss that drapes, languorously from the many hundreds, if not thousands of wise old live oaks that line 22 lauded squares that positively drip with history. I'd pre-ordered a self guided walking tour book and was slightly intimidated by the scope of the city on paper. In person, once my feet were planted on the old brick paths, I found my way around easily.
Traveling with Timo is always a guarantee that we'll cover more miles than I could imagine walking alone, each day. My curiosity was piqued by the Mercer House as we passed by, having read Berendt's "non-fiction" novel, a strange concept for a Pulitzer-prize winning account of the infamous murder trials of late owner, antiques dealer and preservationist, Jim Williams. However, holiday off-season hours rendered it closed Tuesdays through Thursdays. Tuesday was our first full day and I was headed to Charleston first thing Friday morning. If there had been more than one train a day I would have managed to squeeze it in, but alas, it was not meant to be. In a way, I'm glad I didn't go inside, although Williams' collection is one of the finest in the south. It's important for readers to remember that Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was a heavily fictionalised take on factual events and people. I can't imagine a journalist being able to produce such a work these days, but I guess we have the internet for that, today.
Savannah's recorded history began in 1733. That's the year General James Oglethorpe and the 120 passengers of the good ship "Anne" landed on a bluff high along the Savannah River in February. Oglethorpe named the 13th and final American colony "Georgia" after England's King George II. Savannah became its first city.
There was plenty of history to absorb from the early colonial period on, but we were also interested in learning more about more recent history and not least the on-going recognition of centuries of horrendous history of enslavement.
The Ralph Mark Gilbert's Civil Rights Museum was open and we took a detailed tour to learn about Savannah's powerful grass roots Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. The museum is located in the city's Historic area, on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The street was once named West Broad Street, the heart of the city's black business community. The building that houses the museum was built in 1914 as the Wage Earners Savings Bank, the second largest black bank in America at the time. There was also a barber's shop in the building. Three floors of informative historic photos, documentaries and interactive exhibits document the city's Jim Crow era and Civil Rights movement.
We spent some time taking in the river front and the old cotton warehouses. Southern plantations had focused on producing tobacco, rice, cotton and sugar for national and international markets for two centuries. Tobacco and cotton exhausted the soil rapidly and cotton was so time-consuming to process, it became less and less profitable as a cash crop. Today, better land use, improved cotton plant varieties, mechanization, fertilization and irrigation has continued the cotton industry in the southern states in a far more humane industry. According to the National Cotton Council, Uzbekistan, the People’s Republic of China, India, Brazil, Pakistan and Turkey are now the other leading countries of cotton production.
What and where to eat were top of mind during all this walking and talking and soaking in of history. I had only made one reservation ahead of time, figuring we'd take recommendations from locals once we were in Savannah. Lucky for us we managed a cellar table in The Olde Pink House for an intimate supper of low country fayre in the piano bar. Unbeknown to me until after our enjoyable evening, The Olde Pink House was ranked number 5 in the Most Romantic Restaurants in America for 2023 on Open Table.
The cellar is a little more low key than the main dining rooms, but I like low key and Kenny the piano player was the ideal accompaniment.
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a big deal in town and by a big deal, I mean major! The Gryphon resides in genteel splendor within the 50 plus campus buildings throughout the city. There are no reservations at the Gryphon so I was keeping my finger's crossed we'd get a table for lunch, or tea in this coveted corner position on Savannah's Madison Square, inviting us in with its timeless 1926 Scottish Rite architecture and former pharmacy fittings. The elegant interior features white-clothed tables, carved mahogany bookcases and original stained-glass panels. Timo's not a big fan of afternoon tea as a meal, so I let him off this time and we enjoyed delicious and healthy lunch salads and herbal mocktails. If I'm ever back in Savannah I'm high-tailing it back for tea and scones.
I'd seen The Grey and its lauded port city southern food featured on tv and was not risking missing out on a table, so I had booked ahead. Chef Mashama Bailey's 1938 former art deco Greyhound Bus Terminal has been painstakingly restored to its original luster, providing a fantastic food, wine and service experience. The celebrated chef's penchant for regional produce, seafood and meats, creates a melting pot of surprising and comforting tastes amidst warm, old-world hospitality in which we made friends with all the people on the tables around us. What a wonderful restaurant and dining experience to take with us as we journeyed on, savoring this first experience in the south.
If You Go:
Three nights is just enough to experience Savannah, but four is better and stay longer if you can. I'd highly recommend visiting in the winter. I imagine Christmas is a wonderful time to enjoy Savannah but January was great for walkability and not too many crowds and February will be much the same. March I hear is nuts if you land in the area around St.Patrick's Day. The city has a large Irish American heritage and renowned parade and all-day partying. If St. Patrick's Day is your thing then book well ahead as all hotels and restaurants sell out for days. Click here for more reasons to visit off-season.
Spring brings blooms galore and an abundance of festivals and is said to be the most beautiful time to visit the squares and gardens. Summer is steamy and fall season may be tricky weather-wise.
Getting there is not the easiest. We flew into Savannah from Miami after a couple of nights in South Beach. Flight was about an hour and a half from Miami. Most routes will connect through Atlanta, depending on your departure destination.
Amtrak from Savannah to Charleston or Charleston to Savannah takes one hour and 48 minutes. Stations are out of town so a taxi or ride will be necessary once you arrive. No one seemed to know where the Amtrak station was in Savannah, which was interesting as the great passenger terminal stations and union stations in Atlanta, Augusta, and Savannah were demolished in the 60s nd 70s so Amtrak provides the only remaining passenger service in and out of Savannah today. Hundreds of small-town depots were torn down, moved, or converted to other uses, including the Savannah depot which now serves as a museum and visitor center.
Take an all-day hop on and off tour on the Old Town Trolley for the lay of the land when you arrive. We went around the entire loop and hopped on and off on the second go around after figuring out what we wanted to see the first day. After that we felt comofortable following a map on foot. There's also a handy Blue Dot free bus service for rides back from longer expeditions.
Pick from historic inns, bed and breakfasts, modern hotels, motels and vacation rentals. Many boast tales of ghostly goings on during the night time hours. I was relieved not to be too spooked during our stay at The Marshall House, a charming and hospitable place to base ourselves in the heart of the shopping district and walkable to the historic squares, river, museums and house tours.
Be sure to book ahead for dining reservations. It's worth doing your research ahead of time so as not to miss out on specific restaurants. And most importantly, if you have a particular house tour, museum or place of interest you wish to visit, check specific opening days and times and tour booking requirements before you book your trip.
Click here to read an interesting article on founder, James Oglethorpe and his fight against slavery in the Savannah Morning News.
