Savannah Squared

After being on Cloud Nine the only way to go is South https://chosenfugue.wordpress.com/2021/11/21/states-of-never-mind/. Following our usual uncertainty principles we briefly considered heading slightly north toward Memphis with the lure of the Graceland Campground on the grounds of Graceland, but that would have veered us north too soon with the risk of colder weather. So, instead of Graceland we went to the origin of it all for Elvis- Tupelo, MS his birthplace.

We actually didn’t bother to make the left turn to drive by his ancestral house, which is unfortunate because from the pictures it doesn’t look much bigger than our van. We did make several other left turns trying to find a spot at the Tombigbee Lake State Park, but it appeared to be shut down for the season. So, before the sunset, we hurried over to the next closest campground, Whitten Park Campground 15 miles east. As with many state/national campgrounds, a lot of kids on bikes, sunsets framed by trees and clean bathrooms with hot showers. (pic from Wikipedia)

Twist on the typical campsite, toasting on the tortilla press

This campground stood out though as within 15 minutes of our arrival, the campground hosts, an older couple puttered up in a golf cart to our site to check our IDs. Our hosts appeared more likely to have just gotten back from a disappointing doctor’s visit than a campsite. They said they had been hosts since March, we weren’t certain if their 8 month stay at this site had adversely affected their health, so we only stayed the night. From Tupelo, we planned to turn left and meander up the Carolina coast but something told us to turn right and to continue south to Savannah. We were so close it would have been silly not to make the detour (although silly has not stopped us before) besides, Savannah had some family history for Patricia. Her mother, Geri, spent about 3-4 pre-adolescent years in Savannah. We don’t think she was very happy here, having left friends and family in Chicago. Patricia’s grandfather spent much of his childhood there and Savannah is where her great-grandparents are buried. So Savannah it was. Let the foreshadowing begin.

On the way South, something mystical lead us to the Walmart parking lot in Forsyth, GA. That something was the Subway located INSIDE the Walmart. Earlier in the day, Nick had found a Subway gift card in a parking lot worth $4.11 and since there was a Subway INSIDE the Forsyth Walmart, it clearly was the place to stay the night. After a decent night’s sleep and Nick picking up 3 bags of Sun chips from Subway, we were on our way to Savannah.

Off the highway into Savannah, no edge of town mini-malls, just immediately greeted with huge oaks dripping with Spanish moss. Had us right then.

When we travelled in Europe, everywhere we went, we thought “this is great, we could live here”. In the US, it’s been the exact opposite, nowhere we have gone have we thought “this is great, we could live here,” nothing that appealing until Savannah. Part of the appeal, the joy and wonderment of our European travels were discovering new places and after walking around wanting to learn more. We would spend our evenings reading and learning what we had seen that day (yes, that is our nightlife). Savannah brought us back to our zone.We tend to walk toward water, whether it be an ocean or a lake or a river. Often the route will take in significant tourist and historic sites. In this case we started with a vague plan of wandering toward the Savannah River.

Forsyth Park fountain a curious mix of every European fountain

Starting from Forsyth Park, we meandered on cobblestone and brick sidewalks past beautiful buildings and lush green squares . Each very distinct square had multiple monuments, reading the descriptive markers provided an outline which we later filled in by our web searches. This city was planned in 1730 by James Oglethorpe, three years before he founded the colony of Georgia. He sought to integrate ideas of the Enlightenment into the city; no aristocracy, no slavery. Unfortunately the lofty ideals did not take hold, but the physical expression did. The ‘Oglethorpe Plan’, was a series of four residential blocks and four commercial blocks centered around a square.

Most squares are named after early governors of Georgia, but each square has it’s own personality. Memorials honor the soldiers and leaders of the Revolutionary war, Confederacy and War of 1812; Church leaders, Girl Scouts, (Savannah was the home of the founder of the Girl Scouts-Juliette Gordon Low) and silkworms (a square was the site of the Filature aka silkworm farm). But the main draw seemed to be the square that was the location of Forrest Gump’s bench, but the bench has now been moved to a museum ( read the book, saw the movie).

The squares are bookended by Forsyth Park (more on that) and the Savannah River. Walking through the squares, you pass iconic houses; the house from the 1994 book (didn’t read) and movie (didn’t see) Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Flannery O’Connor’s house, and the campus of Savannah College of Art and Design (they own 67 buildings downtown and really contribute to the historic preservation of Savannah).

Flannery’s house (*http://www.flanneryoconnorhome.org*) and yes, read the books plus Juliette’s house (www.juliettegordonlowbirthplace.org) and yes, was a girl scout, was a camp leader and bought and sold cookies.

We would get another dog so we could go here. I wish dogs recuperated on the balconies.

Walking through the blocks, you pass some of the oldest places of worship in America; Mikve Israel Synagogue (congregation formed in 1735), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregation_Mickve_Israel

First African Baptist Church (first black congregation in the US, formed in 1773) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_African_Baptist_Church_(Savannah,_Georgia) and Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist (formed in 1796), it was later than the others because Catholics were initially not allowed to live in Savannah.

We did venture off the squares to cross the river in a 15 minute free ferry ride, get ice cream at Leopold’s, a 100+ year old shop and walk through the colonial cemetery with crushed shell walkways.

Walking through Savannah was just a massive Southern American history lesson. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squares_of_Savannah,_Georgia

Continuing on to Bonaventure cemetery, another Savannah site made famous by Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil*, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_Girl looking for Harris and Fanny, Patricia’s great grandparents. As per our brand, we first made tea in the parking lot, then drove on a cemetery dirt road looking for parking (again on brand, down by the river) and walked for 30 minutes looking for them. Again, on brand, we got in the car again, and got a better map, and the Jewish section was right near where we originally parked. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonaventure_Cemetery

Fannie (Feggy Gittel her birth name) died 2 months before Geri (Frances Geraldine her birth name)

Like many Jewish cemeteries, there was a Holocaust memorial. In Germany and other places in Europe, we saw so many memorials and for better or worse, sometimes the design of the memorial itself overwhelms the message https://chosenfugue.wordpress.com/2019/01/07/they-do-make-you-stumble/ . And again, as in Europe, the personal or homemade memorials often felt so much more visceral. What happened on March 17 1945 in Alem, Hanover, Germany? Liquidation of the Hanover Concentration Camp? All we could find, is that the father of one of the victims brought these ashes to the United States and buried them here.

Our next search was to find the location of Patricia’s grandparent’s bar and grocery, it was for black servicemen (time of Jim Crow). That got nowhere. So next, we had this picture of Geri and her siblings (from the book Jews of Savannah) at the after-school program run by the Worker’s Circle or Der Arbeter Ring, a Jewish Socialist organization formed in 1900 to promote progressive social policy and teach Yiddish. Geri often told stories about the Yiddish plays they put on and how she hated being the oldest one there (that is her on top with the bow, her siblings the two blonds in the front, far left). The picture was geo-tagged Forsyth park, where we had randomly happened to have parked for our day of wandering. Foreshadowed.

Finding the address of Der Arbiter Ring school, we first drove through the old Jewish section of town but street names had changed and freeways displaced.. The eclectic mix of building names, businesses, new storefronts, boarded windows and murals expanded our history lesson attesting to, like many other cities, the waxing and waning of urban neighborhoods. Some internet sleuthing led to what looked like the steps in the picture in a since torn down building in an old picture of Forsyth park. This somewhat confirmed that yes, we probably were very near or at least passed that place.

After meeting a woman who was on her third night sleeping in her van in the parking lot at Forsyth park, we felt the shadow of the foreshadowing from the Walmart Parking lot in Forsyth Georgia, and stayed the night parked beneath a giant moss-covered oak tree, nested, and enjoyed our Sun chips.