Genteel Savannah

Savannah is a gracious, leafy city. Huge oaks are everywhere, spreading a canopy of foliage over the streets, with Spanish moss drooping toward the ground. The effect is lush, sensual, humid, and a bit mysterious. Actually, to get the real feel of the city I should come here on a calm, steamy, sticky summer day when everything moves slow and everyone is a little sweaty. Kind of like New Orleans. Today was nowhere close to this atmosphere; dry and chilly...lower 60s at best...it felt more like Seattle or Monterey than the deep south.

The architecture here is different than in Charleston. The buildings shown are typical...19th century, large and many of them done in Federal style. Fancy grillwork is popular. Many were rundown in the mid 20th century, but have been finely restored in a continuing project that begain in 1955.

Savannah has a unique city plan. The city's founder, James Oglethorpe, laid out a grid interrupted by 24 squares, of which 21 survive today. The fine result is that when you're walking in the central city, a lush, shady square is never more than a couple blocks away. They have benches where it's nice to pass the time and enjoy the greenery and passing people.

There are a few irregularities. There is a statue of Oglethorpe, but not in Oglethorpe Square; it's in one of the other squares. Same thing for Pulaski, a Polish bloke who fought for the US in the revolution and died here. He has a nice monument in the center of a square, but not in Pulaski Square. This doesn't seem to bother the locals.