Savannah with my Silver Fox, Day 2

Day 2 of “Savannah with my Silver Fox” was filled with history lessons. We took a trolley tour and heard about many of the famous people and events that happened in this important city. We learned about James Oglethorpe and his prohibitions against allowing lawyers, strong alcohol, or Catholics into the colony. Those big plans didn’t last very long, did they? We saw monuments to John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, who only stayed for a few months but then went back to England because he couldn’t endure the Savannah heat. We saw several tributes to Johnny Mercer who wrote the lyrics for about 1500 songs and was nominated for 19 Academy Awards. My favorite song of his would have to be “Moon River” because I won a talent contest playing it when I was in the 10th grade. 🙂 We saw the house where the founder of the Girl Scouts was born, and I’m sure you’re not surprised that I made this picture of the First Baptist Church which was the only church still standing that carried on with services throughout the duration of the Civil War.I’m not sure who this statue commemorates, but seeing Steve standing there made me think that he could probably be known as “The World’s Greatest Granddaddy” one of these days, but I can testify with certainty that he would NOT want a statue made of that honor. Can you see the Carolina live oaks in the background with all that moss hanging down? I understand that they stay green all year long, but you don’t want to take any moss home for a souvenir because it’s full of chiggers!!! Makes me itch just thinking about it. 🙁

We ate lunch today at a lovely place called Gryphon (pronounced “griffin”) Tea Room. It is operated by students at the Savannah College of Art and Design — known as SCAAD. The picture shows what we could see by looking directly over our table. Isn’t that amazing? The room had so many beautiful architectural details and a very special ambience.
Steve had smoked salmon on crostini, spread with goat cheese and a side of cucumber salad.

I had chicken salad with orange souffle and cheese straws. And, by the way, the tea was awesome. I’d love to go back some time with daughters or lady friends and enjoy their afternoon tea with scones, sandwiches and sweets. Doesn’t that sound prissy?

Many movies have been filmed either entirely or partially in Savannah. The Six Pence Pub, shown below, was featured in a Julia Roberts movie called “Something to Talk About.”

In the opening scene of “Forrest Gump,” a feather floats from the top of this church steeple pictured below. We saw the square where he sat on the bench and shared his story with bus passengers throughout an afternoon in the movie, but the bench is no longer there. At one of our trolley stops, a Forrest Gump impersonator got on for a couple of minutes saying he needed to go and find Lieutenant Dan. His dress and mannerisms were really good copies of Tom Hanks’ character.

We did more walking on our own this afternoon and especially enjoyed a nearby cemetery. One large marker showed the burial spot of a man who had been born on July 8, 1776 — only 4 days too late to be a bonafide “Yankee Doodle Dandy!” 🙂

Dinner that evening was our big splurge of the trip. We had reservations at The Olde Pink House overlooking Reynolds Square. It was built in 1771 and is the oldest mansion in the State of Georgia. It was originally a white house, but the soft native bricks began to bleed through the plastered walls and slowly changed the color to a Jamaican pink. Our table was in the original dining room. With the carefully-chosen classical music playing in the background, it was easy to imagine the family of James Habersham, Jr. eating here by candlelight 241 years ago.
For an appetizer, we had “blackened oysters on the half shell, watermelon relish, pear and apricot chutney and green tomato chow chow.” It was so delectable that we were half-way finished before I remembered to get out my camera.