Day 97 - From Girl Scouts to Pirates

The bad weather and tornados sweeping the country brought us some heavy rain off and on throughout the morning.  We assisted a trawler in docking and the captain told us he had been blown around and run aground in the ICW.  He thought he had something wrapped on one prop so he was docking on 1 engine.  As he said, he made a bad decision by venturing out in that weather to begin with.  On board, the resourceful Captain Randy rigged a temporary switch to turn on the shower sump until we could get to West Marine for a new one.

The rain stopped just before noon and we walked to the Maritime Museum which is located in a historic home.  We walked the entire afternoon visiting the beautiful squares in Savannah, toured the birthplace of Juliet Gordon Lowe (founder of the Girl Scouts), saw the Lowe house, art museums, Battlefield Park, St. John’s Cathedral, and more. Parts of the movie Forrest Gump  were filmed here and the bench that Forrest sat on with his famous box of chocolates was located in Chippewa Square.  The bench is now in the history museum, but we sat on another and took pictures.  The shot of the feather around a steeple was also filmed here.  Savannah has a free shuttle bus, DOT, that we rode at the end of the day to see more of the city.

 

 

 

 

On the way back to River Street we strolled on the Factor Walkway, where the cotton traders were located in the early to mid-1800s, when cotton was the South's most valuable export.  The Cotton Exchange building was the first to be built over a street (River Street).  Today the Factor houses shops and small restaurants.  After all the walking, we definitely needed refreshment and Captain Randy whipped up a batch of his famous rum runners back on the boat.

For dinner, we chose the Pirate House, the oldest standing building in Georgia built in the 1730s.  The original structure is called Herb House and there are several more rooms that have been built around it, featuring dark paneled walls and plank flooring.  Greg commented that eating here reminded him of dining rooms in England or Scotland.  There is a “hole” in one of the floors and it is rumored that it connected to a tunnel leading directly to the nearby harbor in case the pirates had to escape quickly.  The food was excellent:  warm biscuits and cornbread, She-crab soup, spinach salad, shrimp, pasta and ribs.  We waddled back to the boat after a very full day in Savannah.

Day 96 - Where Cotton Was King

Laurie and I were out on the dock even earlier today (6:30 am) to look for critters, but we were not rewarded for our efforts.  At 7:00 am the crew walked a couple blocks to the park where a Farmer’s Market is held every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning.  We were hoping to replenish some perishables and perhaps find something yummy for breakfast, thinking back to the West Palm Beach market.  What we found was one farmer unloading potatoes, onions, green beans and a couple other things from his van.  Maybe we were confused on the start time?  When we asked the farmer what time the market started and were there others coming, his response was “Whenever they get here” and “There will be a couple of others”.   Disappointed, we went back to the boat and after fueling up and pumping out, were on our way to Savannah by 9:25 am. 

We took the ocean route again, as we can travel much faster there than on the ICW.  It was another warm, hazy day.  The Captain kept us about 5 miles offshore, away from the shallow water, so again we could not see much of the shoreline as we passed the Georgia Barrier Islands.  At Tybee Island we follow the channel to the Savannah River.  The Coast Guard has a large station here and pilot boats are ready to guide the huge shipping barges in and out of the Port of Savannah.  Fort Jackson, built to protect the city is on the west bank about 1.5 miles from the city center.

Our plan was to tie up at the City Dock and we talked to the dock master to find out where we should dock.  We were told to go behind the cruise ship American Star.  There was barely enough room behind her stern lines and the end of the dock for us, but Captain Randy got us in (at 2:30 pm).  The power post was easily visible but we didn’t see any water hook-up.  What was not visible is the office to check in.  It is located in an office in the public parking garage a couple blocks away.  They assure us that there is a water hook-up on the power post and we go back and look again.  Maybe it was there once, but the only one we can find is up on the wall at street level – about 6 feet above our heads .  We planned to connect the hose at high tide, when it should be at eye level, and fill up our water tank then.  (The tides in this area fluctuate about 8-9 feet!!!)

We were right in the middle of downtown Savannah, along busy River Street, and were excited to take a walk around.  We found the City Market, which is a pedestrian mall with shops and restaurants.  We walked into Savannah’s First Candy Kitchen and are amazed by the chocolate, popcorn, taffy, hard candies and ice cream.  Laurie’s eyes were huge!  Greg bought cheese popcorn and we planned to return later for more treats.  We chose a place along River Street called Fiddler’s, where we can eat outside on the upstairs balcony.  Laurie and I have blackened snapper salads, Captain Randy has steamed shrimp and crab legs, and Greg tries the low country boil: a tray of shrimp, potatoes, corn on the cob and a corn muffin.

As we continued to walk and shop along River, Greg and the Captain get “Travelers”, which are to-go cups with their drink of choice because it is legal to have alcoholic beverages on the streets here.  The street came to an end several blocks south of the boat.  A memorial to the 1996 Olympic Games stands near the river, as the yachting events took place in Savannah (the rest were in Atlanta).  Behind this memorial is a large statue of a “Waving Girl” and her dog.  Evidently a young girl used to spend a lot of time waving to the ships as they passed in and out of port.  We walked back to the boat, tired, but not too tired to stop in one of the two Candy Kitchen shops located along River Street for taffy and a chocolate covered rice-krispy bar.  Yum yum!

The Captain was not happy to discover a new maintenance issue on the boat that night.  The shower sump switch had gone out, so shower water was collecting in the bilge – not good.  He emptied as much as he could manually, then mopped up the rest.  Another project to tackle and yet another trip to West Marine is in our future.

Day 95 - The Millionaire's Club

The dock master told us that if we got up early we could see otters and mink in the harbor.  So you know that Laurie and I are on the dock in our pajamas at 7 am, looking for them.  Unfortunately, we did not see any.  After breakfast we jumped in the rental car and drove to Jekyll Island.  The island was first fished and hunted by the Timucua Indians although there is no evidence that they actually lived there.  James Oglethorpe was the first European to live on the island.  Ownership changed hands a few times before it was sold to a group of wealthy families out of New York, Philadelphia and Chicago in 1886 for $125,000.  They developed it as a hunting and fishing winter retreat for a select few.  It was known as the Millionaire’s Club and spanned the years 1886 to the mid-1940s.  Each member had to be voted in and buy 2 shares of stock at $600/share.  Members included the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, J.P. Morgans, McCormicks, Goodyears, Pulitzers and other industry and banking titans.  In November 1910, in the wake of the financial panic of 1907, New York Senator Aldrich arranged a “duck hunt” on Jekyll Island for a number of the members of  the Millionaires Club.  At this “secret” meeting these men developed a financial plan that later became known as the Federal Reserve System.

We started our visit to Jekyll Island at the Turtle Hospital.  It is smaller than the one the Captain and I visited in Marathon, but here we were able to view the vets bandaging wounds and caring for the turtles in the OR.  The hospital included tanks that housed sick or injured turtles and their stories were posted for us to read.

 

Next we went through the island museum  and bought our tickets for a 90 minute trolley tour that included tours of 2 of the “cottages”, Moss Cottage owned by the Macy’s (not the department store) and Indian Mound, owned by the Rockefellers.  These cottages were homes between 8,000 – 12,000 square feet.  The Rockefellers also owned an apartment in the Sans Souci, a building of 6 separate apartments that was the first condominium building in the US.  “Sans Souci” means “no worries”.  The first transcontinental phone call between Alexander Graham Bell, in New York, and Thomas Watson, in San Francisco, was coordinated through the island by Theodore Vail, the president of AT&T.  President Woodrow Wilson was also on the call in Washington, D.C.  The members and their guests were required to dine at the club house.  Together, the 50 members in the dining room were the owners of 1/6^th of the world’s wealth at the time.  The island is truly a fascinating place and time in history.  Today, the clubhouse is a hotel and small meeting venue that can be enjoyed by anyone.

 

We drove the island, stopping at various spots along the way such as the first home on the island, a burial ground of one of the owner’s families, and the beach.  Faith Chapel has a signed Tiffany stained-glass window, only 1 of 5 in the world.

Captain Randy wanted to see the marina and we noted the shallow water; I was glad we did not take the chance and came by car instead.  We might have made it in on high tide, but why risk it?  The tides in this area are 6-9 feet due to a bight close to the coast that acts as a funnel, pushing more water and it makes a big difference what time you arrive or leave port.  By this time we were hungry and thirsty and went into Sea Jay’s marina restaurant for refreshments.  The Brunswick Stew, a tomato, barbecue flavored broth with pork, chicken and vegetables, was outstanding.

 

 

 

 

 

On the return trip to Brunswick we found Lover’s Oak, a 900 year old live oak tree under which, according to legend, Native American braves would meet their maidens.  The history on this trip is amazing!