Something to Write About

Lunch at Savannah's Clary's Cafe, featured in the movie Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil



The first time my wife and I visited Savannah we spent the better part of an hour searching for a parking spot.  On this visit we solved our parking dilemma by touring the city’s landmarks aboard an Old Town Trolley.  For $26 a piece we got free parking, all day on-and-off privileges at 15 stops and a narrated tour of Savannah conducted by funny, knowledgeable drivers.  One even had his own laugh and sound effect track.

Though not always perfect, four words consistently describe the weather in Savannah while we were there:  WARMER THAN BACK HOME!  The trolleys have windows that close for cold-natured visitors and open for those who enjoy the fresh air.  We sat in the open-window section.

Near the end of his “March to the Sea” across Georgia, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman employed a “scorched earth” policy of burning everything the Confederacy might find useful.  When he reached Savannah, Confederate troops retreated and Savannah Mayor R.D. Arnold rode out to formally surrender the city in exchange for an agreement not to burn it.  In December, 1864,  General Sherman sent President Lincoln the following message by telegraph:  “"I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton."

Due to Mayor Arnold’s foresight, Savannah’s pre-civil war architecture is still around for all to appreciate today.

Several notable movies have been filmed in Savannah, including my favorite Forrest Gump.  Trolley Stop 3 was near Chippewa Square, the location of the bench from which Forrest told his life story while waiting for a bus.  That bench now resides in the Savannah History Museum.

Probably the second most famous movie filmed in Savannah is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  Based on a true-life murder story, our tour passed several locations featured prominently in the movie, including the home where the murder was committed, Forsyth Park and Clary’s Café. 

Across the street from Forsyth Park stands a 300 year-old live oak tree known as the Candler Oak.  The Candler Oak was alive and well when George Washington was giving STATE OF THE UNION speeches.  Though it once sheltered both Union and Confederate troops, it is now owned by a law firm.  While we were admiring the tree from the parking lot, the law firm’s security guard chased us away. Despite the tree's status as a Georgia Landmark and Historic Tree, don’t plan on standing in its shade unless you are prepared to outrun a chubby security guard who probably still has a grudge against “Yankees”. (Note:  Missourian’s do not consider themselves to be “nawthiners”.)

Oh well – at least the incident gave me “Something to Talk About” after our brief admiration of one of the “Forces of Nature”.  Those are also the names of the third and fourth most popular movies filmed in Savannah.

A picture of the 300-year-old Candler Oak taken from the wrong side of the fence (per the security guard)