Voodoo, Serial Killers, and a Memorable Last Meal

River Street taken from the water

For our last full day, we headed to the Savannah River for a sedate jaunt along the riverfront. Savannah sits on a bluff about forty feet above sea level, so we snuck into the Hyatt Hotel to use their elevator to get down. River Street feels like a different, rowdier world from the stately one above it. True to its name, the street runs along the river's edge and is lined with curio shops, restaurants, museums, and even a couple of paddleboats.

 

Riding the ferry

We took a free ferry ride on the Juliette Gordon Low (named for the founder of the Girls Scouts who was born here) to get a different perspective from the water. 

The Waving Girl statue

The short hop took us to the lower end of the street where we paid our respects to the Waving Girl statue. This statue honors Florence Martus who faithfully greeted every ship that entered the harbor for 44 years and became a well-known figure to sailors around the globe.

 

Two-headed animal

Next, we decided to take a walk on the "odd side" with a visit to the Graveface Museum. This museum of curiosities had one whole room filled with freakish things like a five-legged calf, a two-headed animal, shrunken heads, a voodoo skull, and much more. Roman, the young curator, told us the building once belonged to a famous voodoo priestess, and he further showed us a hidden panel with a voodoo altar behind it (which he said he had discovered when he moved in).

 

The old pinball wizard in action

Another room was devoted to a dozen or so pinball machines, and Anne, pinball wizard that she is, was thrilled to dive into the fast-paced action of these paddle-flippin' attractions of the past!

 

Jim Jones' sunglasses

Other rooms displayed memorabilia on infamous serial killers. These included treasures like Charles Manson’s sweatpants and Jim Jones’ sunglasses.

 

John Wayne Gacy clown painting

One of the weirdest rooms of all had actual artwork of John Wayne Gacy -- i.e., dozens of creepy clowns and some very disturbing paintings of Disney characters, especially the Seven Dwarves (but never Snow White). 

Disney dwarves by John Wayne Gacy

Gacy supposedly earned over $400,000 selling his art and used the money to pay his defense lawyers.

 

The Boar's Head Tavern

Needing a palate-cleanser after all that, we hit a local bar along River Street called the Boar's Head Tavern for a beer and a red peach sangria. 

Tabby sidewalk with a prominent display of
crushed oyster shell aggregate.

Everywhere in Savannah you see the unique construction material called "tabby." Tabby is an ancient colonial concoction similar to concrete made from sand, charred lime from oyster shells, and an aggregate made of oyster shells. It is not as strong as concrete; however, it was the best building material of the time. 

 

City Hall overlooking the river
at the top of the bluff

Now, we just needed to figure out how to get back up the bluff. By the way, a public elevator usually solves this problem, but it was out of commission. We retraced our steps and tried to get back into the Hyatt, but the door we used before required a hotel card to access. We started to hike up the bluff, but Frank spotted the Hyatt car parking garage a short distance away, and we were able to access the elevator from there.  Haaaa!!  Even the fancy schmancy Hyatt couldn't keep the riff-raff out!

 

The elegant entrance to the
Olde Pink House

To celebrate our last night in style, we ate dinner at the Olde Pink House. This is one of Savannah’s most iconic restaurants, and we had to make our reservation several months in advance. The house was gorgeous and the service impeccable. 

 

Drinking rose in the Olde Pink House

We ate in a room that looked like a Louis XIV ballroom with lots of mirrors and chandeliers and the soft strains of Mozart playing in the background. Very posh. 

 

A most unusual flounder presentation

The food was memorable too with the best biscuits ever, and "scored flounder" covered with fruit sauce that looked like no fish dish we have ever seen. For dessert, we indulged in a praline basket filled with the creamiest ice cream (Leopold’s maybe?) topped with fresh fruit.

 

And that brings us to the end of our sojourn to Savannah. It felt so good to be on the road again, and Savannah was a fun place to explore.

 

As always, thanks for traveling with us!

 

More pics:

Charles Manson's sweatpants

Tanya Harding's ice skate

 

Football jersey signed by O. J. SImpson

John Wayne Gacy painting of
Charles Manson

Praline dessert basket at the 
Olde Pink House

 

Time to go home (sigh)

 

Bonaventure Cemetery and Foods of Savannah

Bonaventure Cemetery

Today, we communed with the dead at Bonaventure Cemetery on an excellent tour with our guide Tim. With its striking statuary, beautiful old trees, and swaying Spanish moss, this is one of the most scenic cemeteries in the country. 

Iron Confederacy marker

The place is filled with history and many of the graves display Confederacy markers to identify those who fought for the south in the Civil War.

 

Little Gracie Watson

One of the most famous gravesites belongs to Little Gracie Watson who died of pneumonia when she was only six years old. Her statue is remarkably realistic (sculpted from a photograph), and people still leave money and toys for the poor little girl.

 

Johnny Mercer's grave circled in red

Another major highlight was Johnny Mercer’s grave with a bench etched with the names of some of his most popular songs. Johnny was a prolific lyricist who wrote over 1500 celebrated songs, including hits like “Moon River,” "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" and "Days of Wine and Roses."

 

Drinking beer at the Crystal Beer Palace

Tim dropped us off at a lunch spot that is a favorite with the locals called the Crystal Beer Palace. A fun place with delicious sandwiches and sides (we are addicted to collard greens), excellent beer, and to-die-for peach cobbler.

 

Alligator meat trio!

Afterwards, we took a slow walk back to our hotel, hip-hopping from square to square. We ended our night at Alligator Soul, one of Savannah’s best restaurants with an atmospheric, below-ground location. Of course, we had to try their specialty, and a special appetizer trio gave us a sampling of alligator chorizo, alligator tempura, and best of all, candied alligator, slow-cooked and maple-glazed. Outstanding food and impeccable service.

 

Kristen gives us a honey tasting on our Foodie tour

By now, you must be thinking we ate our way through Savannah, and that’s not far from the truth. The next morning, we took a food walking tour. We love taking these tours wherever we travel to sample the food but also to learn more about the culture. This wasn’t the best food walking tour we’ve ever been on, but it was a joy to wander this lovely city.

 

The tour started well with something we have never done before: a honey tasting. Excellent presentation, and we were surprised how different various honeys tasted. 

 

Second African Baptist Church
 (MLK gave his speech in front of the brown door
 on the left)

The tour mixed history with food and other tastings included fried pork chops and more of our fave Leopold’s ice cream. Along the way, we saw the Second African Baptist Church where Martin Luther King did a dry run of part of his “I Have a Dream” speech before delivering the whole thing in Washington, D.C. Our guide Kellee also explained that the historic district is laid out in wards with a square at the center of each ward. The surrounding plots included residential housing (called tithe lots) and lots where churches, schools, and government buildings were peripheral to the square (called trust lots). The squares were the heart of neighborhood, centers of social activities and places where people would cook and hang their laundry out to dry.

 

Marked bricks to keep spirits from escaping

We stopped by the Colonial Park Cemetery where bored Union troops once displaced grave markers and altered some of the headstones--for example, changing the dates to make the deceased appear to have lived over 400 years. The pavements in this part of town had strange markings, and we learned the cemetery used to be much larger, which meant dead bodies were buried beneath our feet. The odd pavement designs were intended to contain the dead spirits and prevent them from roaming among the living.

Andrea and Sandy give Anne a lift

We had a good group on the foodie tour, but we will always remember our new friends Andrea (from Chicago) and Sandy (from Washington DC) who kept us entertained with their fun antics and tales of travel.

 

More pics:

Outside Alligator Soul Restaurant

Tallest monument in Bonaventure

Spanish moss

Cheers!

Georgia shrimp with risotto from Cha Bella

 

Anne with her booze to-go!