Today was a really great day spent mostly in the historically picturesque Savannah, Georgia. We kicked off our trip by going to the Telfair Museum of Art. I saw the
Kahlil Gibran exhibit and some very intriguing collages by
Romare Bearden, some really awesome laser art by
Andrew F. Scott and a great piece by
Hans Hofmann called Afterglow. I really enjoyed the museum and it was definitely worth way more than the discounted 5 dollar admission fee.
"Afterglow" - Hans Hofmann 1938 (Click to enlarge)
Next, I ate lunch with my aunts and uncle (and possibly a bunch of super old pirate ghosts) at the
Pirate's House. It had great gumbo (my aunts had the gumbo) and really good she crab soup (I had the soup). What was really interesting about this place, though, was the history. Apparently, the building that the restaurant is in was first built in 1733. About 20 years later, General Oglethorpe had an experimental garden made next to Pirate's House in 1953 in order to grow wine and fruit trees and was named the Trustees garden in honor of Oglethorpe's men. The building adjoining the Pirate's House was to house the gardener who tended the Trustees garden.
Well, unfortunately, the garden was a flop. But the building wasn't. Soon after the garden idea was tossed, the area of Savannah where Pirate's House was became mostly residential and the building was opened as an inn for visiting seamen. Eventually, the inn became a popular rendezvous for blood-thirsty pirates and drunken sailors of the Seven-Seas. Now, the same place that once provided as much rum and grog to pickle Blackbeard and a houseful of tale-swapping buckaneer, is the restaurant where we ate lunch. Although the people eating at the neighboring tables were far from the pirates that once filled the rooms, rumor is that the ghosts of some of those pirates are still there haunting the 200+ year old brick chambers to this day.
After the interesting lunch, we went down to the bluffs of Savannah where they used to ship cotton on river boats.
(click to enlarge in order to read some interesting history)
My aunt Jeanine and Margaret at the bluffs in front of the river boats.
After the bluffs we drove by the
Mercer House which is a really beautiful and famous landmark that has an interesting story behind it. Although now it is a museum, it is in a really beautiful area and i got to take some great pictures.
The beautiful Mercer House
(If you're still interested in the story behind the Mercer house, I recommend checking out the film "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" or, for those of you who read books, the book with the same title that the film is based on.)
Another beautiful house across the street from the Mercer house.
After some coffee at the local Starbucks and a quick stop at the art store (I couldn't resist), we headed back. This was a really wonderful day and i'm really glad I got to go and I hope to visit Savannah again one day.
Well now that I've written no less than a novel about my day, I hope you have enjoyed me recounting my steps and retelling what I've learned today.
~ Celerybear
