Basil slept in yesterday morning. I guess it had to do with his extended time quaffing daiquiris the day before. I had to leave the house long before he was up and about to head down to Jacksonville, FL for some work.

Fortunately for Basil, Gorgeous was willing to drop him downtown because he apparently wanted to take a closer look at some of the historic buildings that he didn’t get a chance to see the day before.

His walking tour began at City Hall, which is a logical place to start, with its gold leaf dome and rooftop flagpole in the center of things at the intersection of Bay and Bull Streets. City Hall was built in 1905 on the site of one of the first buildings built in Savannah by it’s founder, James Oglethorpe. (The previous building on the site was destroyed by a hurricane in the late 1800’s.)

Across the street from City Hall is the Custom’s House which was built in 1852. The granite used to build it was brought down from New England via trains and ships. They say it took 30 days each to lift the 15+ ton marble columns up the bluff from River Street to the building site a block from the river on Bay Street. When it was completed the second floor of the building housed the Federal Court where, in 1860, the last trial was held for violation of the slave importation laws involving the ship, Wanderer.

Today it still houses the Customs Service, and I had to go there quite often for business years ago. Now though, with the explosive growth of the Port of Savannah, they’ve outgrown it and many functions have moved out to the port facilities.

Just down the street is the old Cotton Exchange which was built to warehouse and trade cotton back when it truly was King. The folks who originally built the building had trouble finding a suitable sight. They were finally able to get permission to build it on River Street with the stipulation that they retained the slip for tying up boats that was already there. So they built the building over the top of the slip. The result is that today there is actually a ramp down to River Street that runs under the Cotton Exchange.

Next Basil went wandering through Savannah’s many squares. (Here’s a map of the squares.) Savannah is one of America’s first planned cities. The downtown area was laid out by Oglethorpe on a grid when he established the city way back in 1733. The original purpose of the settlement was to provide a buffer for the English colonies between the lucrative South Carolina plantations and the Spanish territory in Florida. Partly because of the military undercurrent to the settlement, Oglethorpe thought it would be good to have a place to drill troops so he set aside the squares in his original design.

One of my favorite squares is Whitefield Square. Named after the Methodist preacher, George Whitefield, the square is very picturesque and peaceful with it’s gazebo in the center and all the Victorian houses surrounding it. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt my own view of this particular square that I lived about a block away at one point! It is also a favorite location for many of the local film students.

Speaking of the film students, they tie in to a question that Basil had for us at the end of the day. He wanted to know the significance of the letters SCAD that he saw all over town. They stand for the Savannah College of Art and Design, which has been a powerful force in the renewing of downtown. They have one of the premier Historic Preservation programs in the nation and are responsible for restoring scores of buildings in the Historic District. And it is not unusual to see film students set up and filming their movies when you are out and about. (I’ve even been an extra in one scene that was shot right on Whitefield Square!)

Lastly Basil went strolling down Jones Street, which is only a couple blocks away from Whitefield Square (and coincidentely right by Clary’s. He didn’t say so, but I think Basil stopped off for some more waffles while he was wandering.) He asked me to include a couple photos he took on that street. He said, “It’s just pretty and I like it.”

I agree with him. Jones Street is one of my favorites in all of Savannah.

(Related Tags: savannah, georgia, travel, tourism)