SAVANNAH, GA.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct 7th & 8th, Betty and I traveled by Kelly Tours bus to Savannah, GA for a special trip reserved for residents of Westminster Saint Augustine.  Since we have made a down payment toward a future home there, and they had a few extra seats unclaimed for the trip, they invited us to join them.  It was quite an interesting (and ambitious) undertaking.

I was unaware of Savannah's history as a major colony with significant contribution to the patriot cause.  I was aware of the Wesleys' founding work there, but the fact that George Washington visited later to thank them for their contribution to the cause was unknown to me.  Washington even donated to the city canons he seized at Yorktown from Gen. Cornwallis.  

Canons Given to Savannah by George Washington

The hotel we stayed at, The River Street Inn, was of historical significance due to its origin as a cotton mill.  The boll weevil incursion later forced the owners to devise a new purpose for the building.  It continues to be a very strange structure with multi-levels that had been used to accommodate cotton wagons driving below so that processed cotton could be dropped into them for shipment around the world.

Betty Looks Down from Second Floor

There are several floors for the combined hotel, restaurant, and gift shop.  

Looking Down from Higher Floor

The surrounding architecture carries on this same multi-level scheme, something very foreign to Florida dwellers.  Note below that there are warnings to tourists to avoid the old stone stairways that have caused many to slip and fall.  There is a web site about them called the Stone Stairs of Death.  Perhaps a little overstated.

One of the Stone Stairways

Warning at Top of Stairway

Our hotel room was on the fourth floor.  

Period Style Room

But the Bathroom Was Modern

After lunch at the hotel's restaurant, The Broken Keel, we were taken on a trolley ride through the historic district.  The benches that served as seats on the trolley, were tiny.  My knees were out in the aisle, so we were asked to sit in the larger new seats at the back.

Trolley Ride

The tour director was a native-born Savannahian, who spoke rapid-fire from memory of the history of each building, including all the owners past and present, in such volume that it brought to mind Mark Twain's statement that "it is a terrible death to be talked to death."  It was a really long tour, weaving in and out of narrow streets, but a few things stood out to me. 

   
I was well aware that there is an Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah.  I was well aware of its pastor, Terry Johnson, who spoke at a seminar in St Augustine years ago, and whom I had met while he was visiting relatives in North Carolina at a PCA church outside Boone.  What I never realized is that this church is not simply some modern independent church like so many I have known.  This church is historic!  It is downtown in the historic district and still remains true to the Westminster Standards.  The tour director also mentioned that the church and its steeple appeared in the movie, Forrest Gump, with a computer-generated feather sailing around the steeple.  

File Photo of Independent Presbyterian Church

Terry Johnson Celebrates 30 Years at Church

Above is Internet Summary of Church

Speaking of Forrest Gump, the location of where Hollywood graphically interposed a non-existent park bench is Chippewa Square.  Note below that there is no space for a park bench in the mulched area.  The movie-makers even re-routed traffic in the opposite direction to accommodate having the bus door open toward the square.  

Chippewa Square

One of the most remarkable sights in Savannah was the very old live oak trees, that seemed to be everywhere we traveled.  Note that on the tree limbs ferns thickly grow.  The locals call them resurrection ferns, since during a drought they turn brown and seem dead, only to spring back to greenery after the first sprinkle of rain.

Large Live Oak Tree

More Live Oak Trees

Whole Expanses of Live Oak Trees

After a short respite, we loaded onto the large Kelly Tours bus to experience the Dolphin Cruise at Tybee Island.  I misunderstood the agenda, thinking we were going to cruise to a place for supper out at the island, but we would have to wait quite a while before we got supper.

We rode in a large boat through the Tybee River estuary to reach a couple areas where dolphin mate in safety due to the ideal depth of water that prevents predators from attacking them.  Along the way we saw pelicans in flight and a historic lighthouse that the boat's captain talked about at length.  It seemed a long trip before we reached the dolphin areas.

Pelican in Flight

Old Lighthouse

Eventually, after another long ride breathing diesel fumes from the boat's engine, we reached the area for viewing the dolphin.  Needless to say, the ride was getting long for me.

Two Dolphin Together

Several other still shots were gotten, but to get the right perspective of the event, the following videos are better.

Betty truly enjoyed every second of this experience.

Betty Enjoying the Dolphin Viewing

On the long ride back, the captain once again pulled up close to the old lighthouse for us to "get a selfie with it" if we so desired.  No one took him up on that.

Anyone for a Selfie?

By the time we got back to port and off in the bus for The Crab Shack restaurant, it was pretty late for us to be having supper. The meals were huge, and no one I saw could eat all that they put on our plates.  For a group of retirees, this was not a wise approach.  We got back to our room at the hotel pretty late, and arose early the next morning for breakfast at the Broken Keel.

After breakfast we were off to the Harper Fowlkes House Museum, followed by a guided tour of the Telfair Academy.  The latter was much more enjoyable.  Both were contained in stately old homes that had been converted into museums.  Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Explanatory Plaque Outside Telfair Academy

View Around Front of Museum

View from Center Front of Museum

I hurriedly snapped photos of a few of the exhibits at the museum.  

Dutch Students

Lilla Cabot Perry's Portrait of Kahlil Gibran

Description of Exhibit Above

I Liked the Light on the Building Fronts

Panorama of Room Where Exhibits Were Located

Description of Painting Above

Description of Painting Above

Description of Painting Above

Next we were taken to a special room where a small statue was taken from the local cemetery that was featured in the movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  The movie brought so many eager viewers to the cemetery that the grounds keepers feared for the safety of the statue.  They thought it might be covered in graffiti or stolen.  Thus, here it stands with a portrait of the cemetery behind it.  Below we see Betty posing with the statue.  

Here I Spoil the Photo By Joining Her

The Room Without Spectators

We left the museum for lunch at The Pirate's House.  Tradition has it that Robert Louis Stevenson ate there and got his idea for Treasure Island while there.  That is partly true, as noted in the explanation down below.  Once again, it highlights the influence that Savannah has had for ages past.  Several famous people have come here and had their influence on its history.  And it also demonstrates what an influential sea port it has been for centuries.

The Pirate's House overfed us for lunch, and we departed in the Kelly Tours bus for St Augustine.