Day 25 – My Huckleberry Friend, Trolley Tour, Tinsel Town Ice Cream – May 17, 2018

Today started out with a visit to the Bonaventure Cemetery outside of downtown Savannah. If you have a mental picture of the prototypical deep southern cemetery, this is the place. A virtual forest of old oak trees festooned with Spanish Moss, a vast array of azalea plants and many magnolia trees surround grave sites, tombstones, and a wide variety of monuments to past citizens of the city. We walked part of it, and then got in the car to ride through the remainder.

The highlight, for me, was finding the Mercer Family plot. This is where Johnnie Mercer is buried. One of Savannah’s native sons, he’s mainly known for writing the lyrics to some pretty famous hit songs back in the day. Karen downloaded an app that gave us info on many of the other people who are buried here. We snapped a few photos and let the GPS take us into downtown Savannah.

We opted for the trolley tour and it turned out to be a good way to get a feel for the layout of the city. We ended up spending the whole day riding the trolley and getting off it and seeing the sights. We had a good lunch at the Olde Pink House, which was built in the 1790’s but is now a restaurant. After that, we wandered the riverfront and then stopped in for dessert at Leopold’s Ice Cream shop.

Just as we got inside, the skies opened up with a torrential downpour and a very loud crack of thunder. It was good for business, because people began pouring into the shop to seek shelter and to line up for some ice cream cones. Leopold’s dates back nearly a hundred years and is currently owned and run by the founder’s son, Stratton Leopold. It turns out Stratton is also a Hollywood movie producer (check him out on IMDB) and he’s got his shop decorated with movie memorabilia.

By the time we finished our ice creams, the skies were blue and the birds were singing again. We walked along the same streets as Forrest Gump and other movie characters and ended up at Colonial Park Cemetery. According to our tour guide, this is where early citizens had duels – the winner going home and the loser staying at the cemetery. It is also where William Tecumseh Sherman’s troops camped one winter as they were finishing their razing of the south. Apparently, much vandalism occurred at the cemetery during this time, including defacing tombstones and removing bodies from the crypts so the soldiers themselves could climb in and escape the cold temperatures.

We ended our walking tour at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and then caught the trolley back to the visitor center. Heading back to the campground, we crossed Moon River which was not wider than a mile, but we crossed it in style today…

Next: Tybee Island