Savannah Photos: Part 3

Savannah's Colonial Park Cemetery was established in 1750 and was closed for burials before the Civil War even began.  (But, Savannahans would like you to know that Federal - read: Yankee - soldiers looted the cemetery, camped out in the larger tombs, and changed the dates on several of the gravestones.)  

This is the biggest Magnolia Tree I've seen in my entire life.

Sacred. 

I never realized that Crape Myrtle Trees were so beautiful.

The east wall of the cemetery is constructed of brick and errant tombstones.  Over the years, and through Civil War occupancies, the cemetery's gravestones were moved around.  The result is that thousands of grave sites are missing their stones.  Some were built into the back wall as a way to preserve them.

If you zoom to read this stone, you'll see that Joseph Muir was 11 years old when he died.  His wife was 17, and their son was 12.  Huh?  This is an example of the pranks that Sherman's soldiers played while they camped out in the cemetery during the Civil War.

This is a strip of park just over the south fence of the cemetery.  At the other end is a playground, but know what this once was?   Dueling grounds.  Men paced off in this exact grassy field and dueled with swords and later, with pistols.  I think it's hilarious that the City of Savannah has turned it into a park with a children's playground.  Whatever the history, it's beautiful, like everything else in the city.

Wordless Wednesday: More Pancake Rory Time

video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6TbkTWK8Oo

Savannah Photos: Part 2

The historic downtown district of Savannah was built - like many other old cities - along the riverfront, where it's still one of the country's busiest shipping ports.  

Did I mention that Rory came with us?  She's seriously the best road-tripper.  All she asks is that I share my french fries and let her sleep on the hotel bed.  (She's relegated to a dog bed every other night, but vacation mode means I let her sleep on a real, albeit uncomfortable, bed.)

At the street level are a lot of shops and restaurants and places to buy trinkets.

But what I was most interested in was the upper floors of these old buildings.  I was dying to see what they looked like on the inside and how they'd fared two hundred years in existence.  Do people still live up on those floors?  Are there relics from forever ago?  Could I find photos of the insides of the apartments in Craigslist rental listings?  Such are the ways my conniving and scheming brain works.

Every so often a gap between the buildings would reveal an alley-like walkway leading to a steep set of stairs.  I tried to capture how steep all the stairways were down at the waterfront, but I just couldn't.  But they were so steep that I had to watch my footing while wearing flats, and I assume many, many poor folks fell to an untimely death after having a bit too much hard cider and trying to navigate those stairs.

Looking down the same set of the crazy steep stairways.  There is a set of stairs, then the landing you can see with a trash can, then another set of stairs.  Now look back to the photo above to picture that.  And wave hello to the family I accidentally caught in my photo!

Awwww, Stinks* :)

* aka Rory
   aka Missy
   aka Little Miss
   aka Poopsie Lou
   aka Smellers
   aka The Mongrel
   aka Broken Sniffer

   aka Lona

   aka ....

Yes, I have a problem.  And I fear for my future children.