The Old Town
Trolley Tour
(Please read “A Yankee Does Savannah”
first before you read this story.)
I took the Old Town
Trolley Tour around Savannah’s historic district while Nanci was doing her
thing with Jeopardy. I took the Paula Deen tour the last time I was in
Savannah, so thought I’d take in a little history this time. I love history.
My trolley driver and
tour guide for most of the trip was named Scott. Besides all the historical
facts he imparted to us, he also related some stories and facts you might not
see in the history books. He was very entertaining and I enjoyed the tour very
much. A beautiful blue sky kind of day with a slight breeze made the open air
trolley ride even better.
There are 16 stops on
the tour. I will tell you some of the stories and history Scott told us about
along the way.
We were shuttled to the
trolley’s car barn which is on Martin Luther King Boulevard. Here you will find
the historic railroad station and at Stop 1 nearby is the Savannah History
Museum; the Civic Center; Roundhouse Railroad Museum; the Civil Rights Museum.
I must mention that even
the shuttle driver made us feel welcome before we even started the tour. He
made sure we understood that we were now on “slow” time, as is the Southern
way.
As we headed out to Stop
2, via Oglethorpe Ave., Scott told us about General James Oglethorpe, the
founder of Savannah. Please see the other sidebar, “Oglethorpe and the Founding
of Atlanta” for more of that history.
What he did tell us
about Oglethorpe, who had a charter from the king of England to found the city,
was the four things Oglethorpe would not allow in the new colony known as
Savannah:
1.
No
hard liquor was allowed. You could drink beer or ale, however.
2.
No
slavery
3.
No
Catholics
4.
No
lawyers
The general was sent to
the area to act as a buffer south of the Savannah River to protect the
Carolinas from Spanish Florida and French Louisiana, both Catholic strongholds.
Thus the ban on Catholics.
Scott told us, however,
that after about 25 years, all four of the bans were lifted.
SCAD or Savannah College
of Art and Design (I think that’s right) have done a lot of restoration work in
the city. Scott pointed out the places they had worked on or were in the
process of working on.
Stop 2 is the City
Market area as you see in this picture. There was a horse and carriage similar
to this one when we went by. What used to be an open market now has been built
up with lots of interesting shops to visit. You can take carriage rides
throughout the city, go by pedicab or even by Segway.
Midnight
in the Garden of Good and Evil
 |
| From the Lady Chablis internet page. |
Scott pointed out many
places along the way that had been the scene of many movies over the years.
Most notable is the book made into a movie by John Berendt called Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil which
was based on a true story. We went by Club One where one character, who is a
real person in fact, Lady Chablis, a transgender woman, performed. She still
does. I thought of Lady Chablis when I created one character in my own book,
who was also a real person. You can take a tour that covers the life of Jim
Williams from the book.
Other
Scottisms
A couple of other good
stories Scott told were about the Monument of the Confederacy and the first
house in Savannah that had electricity.
The monument was paid
for by the Daughters of the Confederacy. It was made in Canada and shipped down
to Savannah so that it would not touch Yankee soil on the way down. It was
placed facing the North—towards the enemy.
The first house with
electricity in Savannah turned out to be a big event. Townsfolk were invited to
come and stand outside the house when they turned the lights on for the first
time. Everyone expected the house to explode when they turned them on so they
all jumped back when the house was lit up.
Scott said that it
became a big date night when a beau asked if his girl wanted to go see the
lights come on in the house in the evening. Guess that was their “whale
watching” gimmick in those days.
The
Waving Girl
At stop 11 on River
Street is a statue of a waving girl. She stood by the water and waved to every
ship that went by for years and years. A sailor said he’d come back to her, so
she waved every day in the hopes he would come back. Her name was Florence Martus.
She lived from 1862-1941. When she died, 2000 sailors came to her funeral.
This is the only stop I
got out at because it was a short walk to the candy store where I wanted to get
some pralines. While I was there a humungus container ship came in to port
right by where we were in the trolley.
The
Final Calamity
OK, here it is. You
cheaters have read all the way through so now I will tell you the end of the
story.
When the trolley returned
to the car barn and I was waiting for the shuttle to take me back to the hotel
to meet up with Nanci again, I decided to call her. Guess what? No cell phone.
My five year old Blackberry with every important phone number in my life on it
was nowhere to be found.
Along the way I was
struggling to keep track of a cane; the backpack; reading glasses and dark
glasses; a hat, a pad and pen for notes; and later the bag of candy. Remember
the text message I got when I started this trip back at the hotel? That was the
last time I saw it.
So now what? The cell
phone was the only way I could contact her. I had already checked out of the
hotel. I was in a panic. I know my blood pressure went up considerably. Well, I
said, she will probably go back to the hotel looking for me. I knew, of course,
she must be panicking too at this point.
I had to wait a while
for the shuttle, but when I got to the hotel and saw the car in the parking lot
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Alls well that ends
well, I guess. I left instructions for the possible return of my phone—fat
chance—and we got on the road home to get back to our Butchie who was home
alone with a pile of food and extra water.
Nanci says she thinks
she did well this time with Jeopardy. We have our fingers crossed. We could use
a break. Who knows what will happen if we attempt to take a trip to California
for the show?
For more on the history
of Savannah and its founder, General Oglethorpe, please go on to the next
story, “Oglethorpe and the Founding of Savannah.”
Thanks for listening.
UPDATE:
The lost is found!
The good people of Old Town Trolleys found my phone and sent it back to me via
Fed X yesterday, less than a week from when I took the tour. My heartfelt
thanks go out to everyone at Old Town Trolley for their attention to details
when it comes to their tourists. I highly recommend this tour if you are ever
visiting Savannah. The drivers/tour guides are very pleasant in the southern
way and very informative. Thank you Old Town Trolleys!
