Savannah Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Had an easy start to our day, meditating and tending to the hounds. Got showered and hailed a ride on Lyft around noon. Jaytel was our driver into the city today. He dropped us off at the Cathedral of St. John in the downtown historical district. Beautiful church built in 1873. We quietly toured the inside and sat for awhile in prayer. Beautiful stained glass and statuary. Lit a candle for Pete and one for my friend Bernie O., always in our prayers.

After visiting the cathedral, we walked over to Madison Square where we did a tour of the Sorrel House over on E. Harris Street. PJ really wanted to visit a haunted house for Halloween and this one filled the bill. There were two other people on the tour with us and one of them was the great, great, great, great granddaughter (might have missed a great or two in there) of the original owner, Francis Sorrel. Her companion was the daughter of the former mayor of Savannah who held the job for 21 years. It made for an interesting tour. The relative knew things that the tour guide didn’t and the tour guide filled in blanks for the lady.

Francis Sorrel had a slave mistress that he kept in the quarters in the back of the property. His wife caught them together and jumped to her death from the upper floors of the home. Shortly after, the mistress was found hanged in her room. Between the two women and a number of Confederate soldiers that died when the house was used as a surgery during the war, there are plenty of clanks, thuds and apparitions to keep the Ghost Busters on their toes.

Being Halloween, a walk in the old colonial cemetery seemed like an appropriate stop on our adventure. The boneyard stopped accepting new residents around 1850 so lots of the graves are from the 1700s and early 1800s including a wing that holds the 700 victims of the yellow fever outbreak in 1820. Dead duelists, a signer of the declaration of independence and many of the early citizens of Savannah are buried here. There are even a number of graves paved over by Abercorn St. so when you walk down the sidewalk or drive down the street you are actually traveling over the resting places of many of the city’s deceased residents. Lots of history and a good spook factor.

Next stop on the agenda was PJ’s corner, a little Thai restaurant diagonally across from the cemetery. We sat out on the sidewalk watching costumed locals pass by. Excellent food and fun spot to hang out.

From the restaurant, we made our way down the block to Chippewa Square where the scene was filmed in Forrest Gump where he sits on the bench with his box of chocolates. Every few blocks in Savannah are squares, little parks with benches and each square sports a cast of characters hanging out there that are uniquely their own.

We continued up Bull St. to the river and walked around River Street. The waterfront street is lined with old brick buildings that once were warehouses and now house restaurants and shops.

We strolled along the river until we came to the ferry terminal where we hopped on the free ferry to the other side of the river. There’s not a whole lot to see on the north bank, so we stayed on the boat and continued downriver where it dropped us off at the Waving Girl monument. The waving girl was a woman who welcomed every ship coming into Savannah for 44 years.

Leaving the river, we walked back up to E. Broughton St. to sample the famous ice cream at Leopold’s. The line moved quickly and we each chose two scoops of their original 1922 recipe flavor selections. We sat in the air conditioned ice cream parlor and enjoyed our treat while watching tourists and locals alike lining up for an order of Leopold’s delectable confections.

We had been away from camp about as long as we dared, so after grabbing a few items at CVS, we clicked on the Lyft app and our driver appeared 5 minutes later and whisked us back to our waiting pooches who were glad to once again see the light of day. We went for a long walk down the dirt road to the Mackey House, once a large dairy farm established in 1918. The large house still remains and is used as a wedding venue and for special events. Beautiful spot. We took a few photos but the mosquitoes decided it was time to hurry back to the RV.

We fed the pups, then I lit a fire and we sat around the fire pit eating veggie burgers and chips. Things are pretty quiet around the campground. Once the wood ran out, we moved inside and wrote this post. Happy Halloween to all.