Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Travel by the Book #1 ~ Savannah


Welcome to my first Travel by the Book post. I mentioned on a Bought, Borrowed, & Bagged post one time that many, many of my vacations with Hubs have been inspired by a book. Hubs is kind enough to humor me and take me to said places. So I got the idea to share those books and vacations with y'all. This will be a monthly feature and I hope y'all enjoy it!



***The Book***


Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story
Way back in 1998 (maybe) I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it. It's non-fiction that reads like fiction. I mean, ghosts of bulldogs, voodoo, drag queens, and murder in Savannah? It's good stuff. Not to mention the description of the layout of the city - the squares - and the lovely old oaks dripping in Spanish moss. I loved reading about the more recent history of such an historic city. And the characters that inhabit such a place were quite...colorful. I just knew it was a place that I'd like to visit.






***The Travel***

In 2008, we finally made the trip. We went in June trying to avoid the higher temperatures of late summer. But Savannah is a city where the heat stays rather mild. The humidity on the other hand...well, coming from Colorado, it was thick. 

We very much enjoyed walking about the town squares...the trees are beautiful draped in Spanish moss.




Savannah is designed in a grid-design...open squares around which residential and civic blocks reside. Each of the squares is named after someone and in the center of the square, there is typically some type of memorial to that person...statue, fountain, etc. This is the fountain at the center of Columbia Square.



The city is filled with gorgeous Victorian and Georgian architecture. It was fun to check out all the homes and speculate as to who lived there. Below is the Mercer House, built by Johnny Mercer's great-grandfather in 1860, and is the house in which the murder at the center of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil took place. Jim Williams, who was accused in the shooting death of his assistant Danny Hansford, is the only person to have been tried 4 times for the same crime in the state of Georgia.  



There are tons of ghost tours offered in Savannah but we didn't go on any. I did get Hubs to take me sightseeing/treasure hunting in the local cemetery, however. (that's true love, folks!) Important events occur in the cemetery in the book - events involving voodoo. But I was looking for The Bird Girl, which is the statue on the cover of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. We never did find it. We later found out that was because it'd been removed from the cemetery and put in a museum. *ha* The cemetery was beautiful though.



And totally on a whim, we stopped in at The Lady & Sons - Paula Deen's restaurant. While perusing the shop there was a ruckus...here's the reason for that ruckus...


Uh-huh. I got to meet, touch, and converse with Bobby Deen. Yeah, Hubs asked if I wanted him in the picture too. I said "Uh, nope!"


Okay, so there you have it. The highlights of my trip to Savannah, Georgia, inspired by Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil


12 comments:

  1. This is way cool, Brandee! I love that books have motivated you to travel to specific places, and it's really great that Mr. Hubs is happy to go with you - and take pictures of you smiling with other guys, too ;)
    Thanks so much for sharing your trip to Savannah! I really look forward to reading more of your travel by book posts, my dear.
    Have a wonderful Wednesday and happy reading.
    *BIG HUGS*

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  2. What a great idea Brandee! I loved seeing you with Bobby Dean-so did you eat there? I would love to go there someday to eat. I took my dad to see that movie, and that was an experience I must say. I was a bit uncomfortable! Great post and pictures!

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  3. Fantastic post Brandee and you have me added a new book and planning a trip!

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  4. What an awesome and original idea for a feature. There are so many places I want to visit because of book, so I cna totoally udnerstand that part. I am always wondering if the feel of the city how you experiences it through a book also matched the feeling when you visit the city in real life? Did the writer adequately capture the feeling of the city? Looking forward to your next posts as part of this feature!

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  5. Wow! The pics are amazing! And yes, I wouldn't let my hubby in either! Great post Brandee!

    Naomi @ Nomi’s Paranormal Palace

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  6. I love your photos! I've always avoided even the idea of Savannah because of the heat and humidity (I live in Virginia, which is quite hot and humid enough), but seeing your photos, I think it's time to put it on the list of places to visit. And I love the idea of vacationing to places you've read about. Have you done other trips you could post about (or have posted about)? I'd love to read them!

    Back when my mother ran a company taking small groups to England, I designed a tour for her based on Arthurian sites - places associated with the King Arthur legend. It was a lot of fun. Maybe I should dig out my slides and try to put together a post about that trip!

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  7. Hi Lark! Sorry, I'm just now getting around to commenting back. YES, you should absolutely visit Savannah! We went in June and it was really pretty pleasant. I have vacationed to other places based on books - and I'll be posting one a month. The next one posts next week. And I'm glad you like me idea! :)

    I love the idea of a tour based on Arthurian sites - that would be amazing! I'd love to see your pictures. :) Someday I'm going to hop across the pond to visit sites I've read about.

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  8. Thanks, Naomi. I'm really lucky my hubs is such a good sport! ;)

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  9. Thanks, Lola! I've had great luck with all the places I've visited so far - as far as it being what the author described. You'll get to see my next vacation spot next week. :)

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  10. Thanks, Kimba! The book is great - and reads more like a novel. And I highly recommend Savannah as a place to visit. The city is neat, the food is yummy and the people are wonderful.

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  11. Thanks, Lorna! It was wonderful meeting Bobby. He's a neat guy! We didn't eat there but only because you needed reservations and we hadn't made them in advance. Even with reservations, the line to get in was around the block. We'll go back someday and eat there. We did eat at a great place called Blue Moon Brewing Co - they had excellent low-country po'boys. :)

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  12. Moon River Brewing Co...not Blue Moon. :)

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