Life at Cloverhill

Honeymoon Road Trip Travel

Honeymoon Road Trip – Part 7: Savannah, Georgia

Day 9 (con’t’d)

I can remember going to Savannah once when I was a kid and just loving the city – from the cobblestone streets to the hanging moss to all the parks. During the day it’s beautiful and at night it’s mysterious. I loved it and I knew that I really wanted to share it with Garrett on our road trip. I was so happy when we got there and he loved it too.

We decided to get off the highway early for this leg of the trip and take Scenic Highway 17 through the small coastal towns between Jacksonville and Savannah.

We stopped along the way for a late lunch/early dinner, so by the time we got to the hotel, we weren’t really hungry to go out for dinner. Instead we decided to just go for a late night walk around the area and stop for a drink along one of the patios to take in the night scene.

The first stop I wanted to take Garrett to was my favourite shop along the waterfront that I have a distinct memory of visiting when I was a little kid – The Savannah Candy Kitchen.
I knew my candy-loving husband would like it and I was right – he was literally like a kid in a candy shop looking at all the barrels full of goodies. (While editing this post, Garrett told me to remind him to smile more in photos because he doesn’t look nearly as excited to eat this candy as he really was.)

We showed up just as they were making some salt water taffy. It smelled so good. The guy working the machine was happy to toss Garrett a couple of pieces just as they were wrapped.

They have it on a conveyor belt system that brings it up over the kitchen and down into the bins for you to pick your favourite flavours.

I can’t look at salt water taffy and not think of summer vacations along the Eastern seaboard when I was a kid.

We continued our walk around downtown, checking out some of the old theatres and shops with hopes of checking them out in the morning.

It was getting late and we were starting to get hungry, so we walked over to Vinnie Van Go Go’s to grab a slice of pizza. For only $2.50 we got a slice that was bigger than my head! It was massive…with a perfect thin crust and lots of cheese.

Day 10

The next day we woke up to dreary skies, but decided to walk around town and cross our fingers that we didn’t get rained out. Our first stop was to Chippewa Square, one of the many parks that Savannah is known for. This sign is in the exact spot where they shot the bench scenes in Forrest Gump. (And the next day we randomly caught some of the movie in our hotel in Charleston. What are the odds?)

I am always in such awe of the buildings here – the architecture is so beautiful and just look at those vines along the wall!

It started to rain, but we were able to catch a quick glimpse of the Mercer Williams House (now a museum), which was the location of the murder that inspired the book and film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

The rain died down enough for us to make it to Forsyth Park, which encompasses 30 acres in the historic district.

(For the record, I had curled my hair for the day but with all the rain, by the time we made it to the park it was a “light wave” and 30 minutes after this it was dead flat. Lesson Learned: bring an umbrella on a road trip OR check the weather report before you take the time to curl your hair.)

 We were just coming up to the beautiful Forsyth fountain when it really started to pour.

It was a mad dash into some shops to get away from the rain…and for a little retail therapy too.

We found some really awesome shops, like this store of goods made entirely by SCAD students and alumni.

Then we reached the shop that I had been dying to visit – The Paris Market. Oh my word, what a store.

I could have left with baskets full of goodies, but I restrained myself and just picked up a few pieces (which I’ll be sharing in a souvenir post soon!)

Before you knew it, the sun was shining again and we were off to the cobblestone stairs down to River Street, along the historic waterfront.

We came across the Savannah Bee Company and had to come in to see their incredible honey collection. I feel like after all the honey we packaged for our wedding favours, we’re kinda honey connoisseurs now.

We sampled a few of their flavours – I never knew that honey could have different flavours based on the type of pollen the bees collect. We picked our two favourites and grabbed small jars to bring home with us.

For lunch, we stopped into the Cotton Exchange Tavern on River Street.

Amazing burgers paired with German potato salad (ridiculously good), fries and a pint of local beer to share.

Also…they had the best crushed ice in their water. Not like the watery stuff that comes out of fridges sometimes. I know that’s a weird thing to notice at a restaurant, but I couldn’t get over how good it was and how much I wanted to recreate it at home. Maybe it was the heat getting to me at this point…

Another stop at The Candy Kitchen for treats for on the road and then it was back to the hotel for a little R&R before our evening activities.

Which included hopping in the back of a hearse to take a late night ghost tour. We were the first ones there and I have to admit I was getting a little bit of goosebumps sitting in the back of this thing and thinking about all the dead bodies that had rested back there in the 15+ years it was in active service.

Our driver was awesome and took us all around Savannah and the neighbouring area. I loved that his stories focused on the local legends and folk lore of the area, not made up stories meant to just scare people. He was also a historian in the area, tracing back his stories at least 60 years and was able to answer lots of general questions about Savannah.

We had a great time and I strongly recommend going on one of their tours if you get a chance. We had kids on our group and he was good about keeping the stories lighter when the kids were in the hearse and then telling the more gruesome ones after he’d dropped them off at their hotel.

Day 10

As you can imagine, Garrett slept like a baby that night (best sleep he’d had in ages!) and I was up ALL NIGHT. Every creak and moan I heard in the hotel had me jolting awake. I always think I’ll like scary stuff, then I try to go to bed at night and my mind starts playing tricks on me.

After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we packed up our room and headed down to the car to do a drive through the downtown that we’d missed in the rain the day before.

Every corner we turned, we found a new park or row of beautiful homes that we hadn’t seen before. Savannah really is a great city if you like walking around and admiring the landscape.

This was one of the vacant buildings on the ghost tour the night before. I can’t remember the story exactly but I do know that I was scared to look in the windows at night for fear of seeing something in them.

 Then it was back to pretty homes.

 And a stop at The Gingerbread House – one of the best examples of Steamboat Gothic architecture in America. It’s name comes from it’s elaborate gingerbread spindles and arches.

If we’d had time, it would have been nice to pop into Clary’s Cafe, one of the locations from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

As we made our way out of town towards Tybee Island, we stopped into the famous Bonaventure Cemetery, which used to be home to the Bird Girl statute made famous from the cover of the novel of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

The cemetery is known for it’s incredible statues including this one carved to remember a little girl who died. Here is the inscription from the fence:

Little Gracie Watson was born in 1883, the only child of her parents. Her father was manager of the Pulaski House, one of Savannah’s leading hotels, where the beautiful and charming little girl was a favorite with the guests. Two days before Easter, in April 1889, Gracie died of pneumonia at the age of six. In 1890, when the rising sculptor, John Walz, moved to Savannah, he carved from a photograph this life-sized, delicately detailed marble statue, which for almost a century has captured the interest of all passersby.

We made our way out of the cemetery, passed the flags for the veterans, and back onto the road to Tybee Island.

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Just in case you’ve missed the previous Honeymoon Road Trip Posts:


Comments

  1. You’re right, Savannah really is best appreciated when walking. How else could you appreciate all the details on the houses. I was hoping you would visit a tea room I visited there. I don’t remember the name now but it was so charming ( an old pharmacy) and had the best tea sandwiches and sweets. I liked your enthusiasm for the crushed ice.

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