February and September 2023.
Savannah, Georgia.

In 2023, we visited the undeniably magical city of Savannah, Georgia. In this place, cobblestone streets, moss-draped oaks in charming squares, and Southern hospitality are woven into the fabric of daily life. Known as the Hostess City of the South, Savannah embodies a blend of history, elegance, and warmth that attracted us to visit twice.

We started our tour of Savannah with the Historic District. Johnson Square is the oldest and largest square in Savannah, Georgia, and holds a significant place in the city’s history. Established in 1733, it was the first of Savannah’s 22 squares and remains a central landmark in the city. It was laid out in 1733 by James Oglethorpe and Colonel William Bull, serving as the central hub for the newly founded colony. The square is named after Governor Robert Johnson of South Carolina, who was a friend and ally to the early Georgia colonists.

The Candler Oak Tree is one of Savannah, Georgia’s oldest living landmarks, estimated to have been growing since the 1700s. This majestic Southern live oak stands 54 feet (16.5 m) tall, with a 17-foot (5.2 m) circumference and an impressive 110-foot (33.5 m) crown spread.

The tree is located near Forsyth Park on the Savannah College of Art and Design property. In 1984, the Savannah Tree Foundation secured the nation’s first conservation easement for a single tree, protecting it from development. The tree has endured three centuries of change, including damage from traffic and construction, but remains strong thanks to preservation efforts.

With only a couple of days in the city, we sought an overview of the history and the iconic places. There are several ways to tour the city, from horse-drawn carriages to buses modeled after trolleys. We chose the Old Town Trolley because we found the franchise in other cities and had good experiences with their tour guides. The trolley features a hop-on, hop-off design, allowing riders to stop and explore an area of interest before hopping on another trolley. Tickets are usually sold by the day or for two days. We stopped at the central hub, where there is free parking, and bought our tickets. We were also offered tickets to the Prohibition Museum, and the discounted price enticed us to purchase them. In a previous post here, you can find out more about the museum.

One of the first places we drove by was Franklin Square. Franklin Square is another of Savannah, Georgia’s 22 historic squares, located at the intersection of Montgomery Street and West St. Julian Street. One of the smaller squares in the city, it was established in 1790 and named after Benjamin Franklin. The square anchors the western end of City Market, an area filled with restaurants, shops, and galleries.

Just across the street from Franklin Square, we were introduced to one of the first of many churches featured on the tour. The First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia, is one of the oldest African-American congregations in the United States, with origins dating back to 1773. It was officially constituted in 1777 under the leadership of Reverend George Leile, making it older than the United States itself.

As we traveled through the historic district, we passed through a commercial district. I saw this British pub, complete with a red phone booth, on the corner of Bull Street and E. Perry Lane.

The collection of shops and restaurants in this part of the city could warrant a hop off the trolley for a closer look. In October, I posted a complete story about the Prohibition Museum here. It was our most interesting visit of the day.

Rolling past the downtown historic area, we began to see some of the beautiful residences in the city’s historic district. What struck me as unusual about this mansion is that it is clearly Italian Renaissance in a sea of Georgian and Victorian houses. This mansion was constructed on six city lots between 1917 and 1919. The 13-bedroom, 26,000-square-foot mansion is significantly larger than any other mansion in the city.

The Mercer-Williams House is one of Savannah’s most famous and intriguing historic homes, primarily due to its connection to the best-selling non-fiction book and subsequent film, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” by John Berendt. Although it is approximately 7,000 square feet, significantly smaller than the Armstrong-Kessler Mansion, it has a much darker history. The most infamous event associated with the house is the shooting death of Danny Hansford in 1981. The book heavily features the dramatic legal saga.

The house has a history of other tragic incidents, including the death of a young boy, Tommy Downs, who fell from the roof and was impaled on the iron fence in the late 1960s when the house was vacant. Today, the Mercer-Williams House operates as a museum, open to the public for tours.

After driving by many of the historic houses in Savannah, we concluded the tour with a ride along River Street, where our tour guide told us of the attractions along the river. What river wouldn’t be complete without a paddlewheel steamer? Well, technically, the Georgia Queen isn’t a steam-powered vehicle. Built in 1995, the Georgia Queen is not a traditional steamship—it is powered by diesel fuel. While it appears to be a classic paddlewheel riverboat, its propulsion system is modern, making it more efficient for sightseeing cruises along the Savannah River. It previously served on the Mississippi River before being acquired by Savannah Riverboat Cruises in 2016.

The Chart House Restaurant in Savannah is situated on River Street in Georgia’s oldest masonry building, which was originally constructed before 1790. The building was initially used as a sugar and cotton warehouse, built from ballast stones salvaged from ships arriving in Savannah.

The World War II memorial is on the waterfront and was dedicated on Veterans Day 2010. The plaque reads:
WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL “A WORLD APART”
Honoring all veterans of Chatham County who gave their lives to retain the freedom of the United States of America and saved the world from tyranny.

It was then that Google AI and I went down a rabbit hole as I tried to determine the details of the ship docked in the background. The stern is labeled “Maria Bray”. Google told me that Maria Bray, the heroic wife of a 19th-century lighthouse keeper, had famously rescued shipwrecked sailors off the coast of Georgia.
The S.S. Maria Bray was a Liberty Ship, a mass-produced cargo vessel designed to transport vital supplies, troops, and equipment across the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II. What had confused the AI was that the Maria Bray was decommissioned and scrapped in 1965. “The presence of the name ‘Maria Bray’ clearly ties it to the historic Liberty ship built in Savannah during World War II. Its location right next to the WWII Memorial reinforces this historical connection.”

The number 562, though, was a problem. The hull number of the original S.S. Maria Bray (3142) didn’t match, and what little I could see of the ship in this photograph appeared far too modern to be a WWII Liberty Ship. A generic image search “562 Maria Bray) popped up several images of a US Coast Guard Cutter. She is also named after Maria Bray, the same 19th-century maritime heroine (lighthouse keeper’s wife) for whom the World War II Liberty ship S.S. Maria Bray was also named. The ship’s presence near the World War II Memorial in Savannah was likely a coincidence of her operational duties (maintaining buoys in the region) and perhaps a visit to the port. It’s a great example of a modern Coast Guard cutter honoring a historical figure significant to maritime history, whose name was also given to a World War II-era vessel. It’s also a great example of how AI can just as easily jump to an inaccurate conclusion as a human brain.

Upon concluding our tour of Savannah, we decided to visit the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. The Savannah National Wildlife Refuge is a natural sanctuary spanning over 30,000 acres across Georgia and South Carolina, divided by the Savannah River. Established in 1927, it was initially created as a haven for migratory birds, particularly wintering waterfowl. We headed toward the refuge to take the 4.5-mile Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive. Unfortunately, the sanctuary was closed for a renovation project to improve habitat conditions for wildlife. We will have to plan that drive for another visit to Savannah.

In our visits to Savannah, I captured many photographs, too many to share in this post. If you’d like to see some more of the historic district, the mansions, or the views on River Street, photos in 2K HD are available in an album on my Flickr site here.

John Steiner