Afoot in Savannah

Georgia Travelog #4
Savannah, GA - Sunday, 6 Apr 2025, 2pm

Today we headed into downtown Savannah for a bit of self-guided sightseeing. Our plan wasn't rigorous; it was as simple as "Here are two places related to rock collections Hawk wants to see; we'll walk around and see other things nearby." It turned out to be a fortuitous plan as Savannah is studded with small urban parks showcasing its history.

One thing interesting about Savannah is how its public presentation of its history compares to that of Charleston, South Carolina. Both are port cities established ~300 years ago that were important trade hubs from colonial times through the start of the US as an independent nation. But whereas Charleston's self-accounting of its history focuses on the Civil War— and the city's role in declaring war against the United States and the rule of law under the Constitution to preserve the brutal institution of slavery— Savannah's historical exhibits in its parks show its role in the Revolutionary War.



In addition to the typical "George Washington slept here" kind of markers relating to the Revolutionary era, we found displays like the one above, a monument to Haitian soldiers of African descent who fought on the side of independence. The inscription on the monument shown above indicates that the young drummer in the Battle of Savannah in 1779 represents Henri Christophe, who later led Haiti's war of independence against the French, ending in 1803.

It was fun taking a self-guided tour through Savannah. In addition to the many small parks and historical displays I enjoyed seeing the range of architecture. There are renovated old brick buildings dating back to the 1800s as well as early modern era skyscrapers from about 100 years ago. The latter are interesting because while they only rise 10-15 floors high versus the 50, 60, or 100 or more storeys common today, they include stonework and other architectural details that make them visually appealing. As I quipped to my niece, A., who's a student at Savannah College of Art and Design, "Architecture is art you can live in."

Tybee Island Beach and Fort Pulaski

Georgia Travelog #5
Talahi Island, GA - Monday, 7 Apr 2025, 3:30pm

Today we continued touring in/near Savannah, Georgia with my sister, B. Her husband and daughter didn't join us as they were busy with work and school, respectively. Whereas yesterday we toured in downtown Savannah today we went out to the coast east of town. Our first stop— well, second if I count stopping for lunch along the way— was at Tybee Island.



There are miles of public beaches on Tybee Island. We drove to near the southern end of the island, where there's a pavilion and pier and a cluster of hotels and shops. I'm not sure why we did that; we didn't need or even particularly want any of the touristy stuff. Though after walking around in the sand for an hour it was satisfying to get ice cream at an ice cream stand a block back from the beach.

The weather wasn't the greatest for having a beach day so we didn't make a day of it. The water was cold and the wind was gusting hard as a storm front moved into the area (it would hit later in the day). In the photo above you can see our hats flapping in the strong wind. Our lanyards were necessary to keep them from flying off our heads every 20 seconds.

After the beach we drove back inland a bit to Fort Pulaski National Monument.



Fort Pulaski is a Civil War-era military fort downriver from Savannah. It was seized by the Confederates prior to the declaration of war in 1861 and then captured by the Union in 1862. It has an interesting bit of significance in military history. Its capture by the Union army in 1862 demonstrated the power of rifled canons.

Smooth bore canons were considered incapable of breaching the masonry walls of a fort such as this, especially from the distance of 1.0 - 1.5 miles away where the Union placed its canons. But rifled bore canons changed the equations. They could fire heavier projectiles farther, with greater velocity, and with higher accuracy. When the Union opened fire on Fort Pulaski they breached the walls on the second day of battle. The commander of the fort surrendered 2 hours later. The Union held the fort through the remainder of the war. It was decommissioned about 10 years later as the standardization of rifled canons made it obsolete.