Revisiting Savannah

Savannah, Georgia, was always one of the places I wanted to visit during my lifetime. Mostly this stemmed from my love of Eugenia Price’s books. So for our 25th anniversary (2012), my husband took me on my first trip to Savannah and St. Simon’s Island. It is still one of my favorite trips ever.

The window seat in our room, overlooking the pool.

A couple of weeks ago, my husband had a week-long business trip to Savannah, so of course I tagged along! We stayed in a lovely hotel right near the river, and I reveled in all the things I’d loved about Savannah the first time—the squares, the towering old trees, the old homes, the history. There were some new things, too. The Savannah River area has been bolstered with new hotels, shops, and restaurants alongside the ones housed in the old cotton warehouses. A wide paved area provided space to walk, jog, skate, or simply sit and watch the cargo ships pass by. There is a fabulous WWII memorial and placards which detail Savannah’s long history. It was a lovely place in the mornings and evenings.

Riverfront area. The two small pictures are the WWII memorial, a globe split down the middle with the names of those from Savannah who died in the war.

Of course, not all change is good. This time, parts of the city—the river area and the old “main” street—felt much more touristy than before. The high end chain stores (Gap, Pottery Barn, etc, etc, etc) have come in. And the city has become a bachelorette party/wedding destination. So the weekend was more raucous than we experienced before.

Books, antiques, old trees, and ice cream!

But Savannah has managed to retain its charm. One thing I love about revisiting a city is that I don’t feel a frantic need to “tour” everything. Instead I wondered the streets, sat in parks with my book or perused antique stores. As usual we found our two favorite things—a local ice cream store (which has been around since 1919) and book stores. It wasn’t as if we ignored the history, however. With my husband’s work functions, we were treated to a couple of walking tours, including one of Bonaventure cemetery, which was lovely and interesting.

Bonaventure Cemetery

Perhaps my favorite part of the trip, however, was not anything I saw or experienced. It was what we brought home. In one of my antique shopping afternoons, I found a store with a ton of bookends. I love fun bookends, even though the truth is that my shelves are always stacked so full I really have no where to put them! But I rarely find bookends I love so much that I want to spend the money on them. Then I saw him—a metal-sculpted man in an 18th century frock coat trying to keep a wall of books from falling. And I was smitten. He didn’t have a bookend mate. It was a single. But I didn’t care. In fact, I preferred it. When I took it to the counter to purchase it, the man who owned the store said, “I think I have another one like that.” And off he went.

I fidgeted in anticipation. I couldn’t imagine actually getting to have two of these gems! He finally returned with, indeed, the same little man in his frock coat, but this time he was pushing a wheelbarrow overflowing with books! That one was in a little better shape and was more expensive than the other. We negotiated a price for both and then I asked him to hold them for me. When I dragged Jeff over there the next day, he was in complete agreement.

“Get them,” he said. “They are more than bookends. They are art.”

Fortunately I had packed by extra tote bag, so we lugged those things into the airport. After airport security had to unwrap and re-wrap them to be sure they weren’t dangerous, we finally got them home. Now they live on the corner bookshelf in our library, and they make me smile. Because whenever I see them, I remember revisiting Savannah.

What was your favorite place to revisit and why? What did you do differently than your first trip to that place?