Daily Archives: October 28, 2012
Almost Wrapping Up Savannah . . .
As our visit to Savannah winds down, we all headed about noon back down toward Tybee Island to visit Fort Pulaski.
Fort Pulaski, named for Kazimierz Pulaski, a Polish military commander who fought in the American Revolution with George Washington, it was built between 1829 and 1847 utilizing over 25,000,000 bricks.
But it stood unused until it was seized by the state of Georgia as a prelude to the state seceding from the Union and joining the Confederate States of American.
During April 10-11, 1862, Union forces laid siege to the fort in an attempt to recapture it. After a 30 hour bombardment with the new rifled cannons, the previously-thought unassailable walls had been breached.
Knowing that with the collapse of the wall, the 40,000 pounds of gunpowder stored in the magazine were now vulnerable, and would destroy the fort and everyone in it. Colonel Charles H. Olmstead, commander of the Confederate garrison, surrendered to the Union troops.
Within six weeks of the surrender, Union forces repaired the Fort and began the blockade of the port of Savannah which continued through the end of the Civil War.
Later in the war, the fort was used as a prison for captured Confederate officers.
Later a Park Ranger dressed in Confederate gray, demonstrated the loading and firing of a British-made Enfield rifle, used by both sides during the war.
Leaving Fort Pulaski, we drove out to the end of Tybee Island to check out the local beach.
With the passing of Hurricane Sandy, we expected to see higher waves here, but it was actually pretty tame.
One thing about Tybee Island is that you can’t park anywhere with paying for it. Even the parking spots at the local Arby’s had parking meters on them, so you get to pay for parking and your roast beef sandwich.
About 4:30 we headed back toward Savannah to have dinner at Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House.
“Uncle Bubba” is Paula Deen’s brother, whose nickname is Bubba, and in fact Paula Deen is a partner in Uncle Bubba’s.
Everyone enjoyed their meal, with my Low Country Boil, consisting of Boiled Shrimp, Smoked Sausage, Boiled New Potatoes, and Corn of the Cob, being definitely better than the same meal I had a few days ago at The Crab Shack.
Don’t get me wrong, the Crab Shack was really good. But Bubba’s version was just better. And Jan said her oysters were fantastic!
On the subject of oysters, I told Nick this shirt on sale at Uncle Bubba’s explains why I love oysters so much (and Jan too.)
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On the way back to the park, we drove by the Mercer-Williams House. Besides being a beautiful example of Civil War architecture, the house is most famous for being the location of the shooting described in the book and the movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”
Since it was almost dark by the time we got there, here’s a photo from the Web.
And in addition to the “Midnight” death, two more deaths occurred here. In 1913 a previous owner fell over a 2nd floor bannister and died a few days later. And in 1964 a boy chasing pigeons on the roof, fell off and impaled himself on the wrought iron fence.
Ouch!
On that happy note, we headed back to the park for the night. Tomorrow will be a goof-off day before we wrap up our visit to Savannah on Tuesday.
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Thought for the Day:
You ever get the feeling that the music is slowing down and you don’t have a chair?
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