Day 324 – 330; 4/12 – 4/18: Friday 4/12 we arrived in Savannah, GA at Thunderbolt Marina after a fairly uneventful 4.5 hour trip. It was a bit cool with variable winds between 20 and 30 knots. It was a twisty-turny path to get there, arriving around 2:00 pm.
Consulting with the dockmaster, he thought it unwise for us to ride our bikes to the local grocery store just a few miles away. The streets were too narrow and busy, so he encouraged us to wait until tomorrow when we had the rental car. Deferring to his local knowledge, we walked to dinner at Tubby’s Tank House just a few hundred yards away on the bluff across from the shrimp docks in historic Thunderbolt. It was a great local spot with outdoor seating, good food and cold beer.
Saturday, 4/13 we were up and out early to get our rental car, provision and explore. We were particularly interested in this area and a community called “The Landings” as consideration for our winter home, post Great Loop, so we met with a local realtor to get the lay of the land. We spent some time just driving around the area afterward returning to the marina late in the afternoon to find a new neighbor docked in front of us — Blue Moon.
Blue Moon is a 198’ Feadship built in Holland in 2005 and completely retrofitted in 2021. She accommodates 12 guests in 6 cabins across her 4 decks and carries a crew of 16. You can charter her for a mere $329,000 plus expenses for 1 week! WOW!! She is HUGE and made us feel tiny!
Back to the Landings – we loved everything we saw including the 6 golf courses, multiple pools, clubhouses/restaurants and 2 marinas. Our visit gave the realtor a great idea of what we were looking for and we agreed to return the next day to see a house he thought we’d be particularly interested in, being just a few hundred yards from one of the marinas. Unfortunately, we weren’t impressed with this one, but it again gave the realtor better intel on our desires.
After our visit to the Landings we were off to the City Market area of Savannah where we enjoyed an outdoor cafe with live entertainment and an afternoon snack followed by the Prohibition Museum. What a fascinating time in our American History.
Prohibition is the period from 1920 to 1933, when the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited the manufacture, sale, transport, import, or export of alcoholic beverages. Protestants, Progressives, and women all spearheaded the drive to institute Prohibition as a response to social issues like domestic violence, child abandonment, and absenteeism – all whose presumed cause was alcohol.
Prohibition, while well-intentioned, had far-reaching consequences that significantly impacted American society. Initially, it led to a decrease in alcohol consumption and related issues such as public drunkenness and alcohol-related crimes. However, the unintended consequences soon became apparent. It crippled the American economy throwing hundreds of thousands into unemployment. This was followed by the illicit production and distribution of alcohol, giving rise to a flourishing underground industry run by bootleggers, speakeasies and the rise of organized crime.
Prohibition exacerbated social divides and fueled political tensions. The enforcement of prohibition laws disproportionately targeted marginalized communities, particularly immigrants and people of color, leading to widespread corruption within law enforcement agencies. The fervent debate over prohibition also polarized American society, pitting “drys” who supported the ban against “wets” who advocated for its repeal. Ultimately, the failure of prohibition to achieve its intended goals, coupled with its detrimental social and economic impacts, led to its repeal with the ratification of the 21st Amendment in 1933. The era of prohibition left a lasting legacy, highlighting the complexities of attempting to legislate morality and the importance of considering the unintended consequences of sweeping social reforms. When repealed under the leadership of President Roosevelt, it was billed as “a return to individual freedom.”
We ended our day with dinner at the Pirates House, the most historic spot in Georgia being the oldest house in Georgia. The Pirates House first opened in 1753 as an inn for seafarers and fast became a meeting point for pirates and sailors. Here, seaman drank and discoursed sailor fashion on their exotic high seas adventures from Singapore to Bombay and from London to Port Said. Stories still persist of a tunnel extending from the old rum cellar beneath the Captain’s room that lead to the river. Drunk and unconscious men were carried through the tunnels to ships in the harbor in need of crew. Indeed many a sailor drinking in carefree abandon awoke to find himself at sea on a strange ship now “under the employ” of the captain, able to return home years later! Oh the stories those walls could tell!
Again we returned to the marina to find a new neighbor – this one an 80’ Paddle Wheel boat named Anna Maria Princess tied about 3’ off of our transom. The captain assured us they walked her back to get that close to us and he didn’t attempt to bring her in under power that close! She’s powered by 2 diesel engines that turn the paddle wheel for her sole source of propulsion. You often see paddlewheels that are just for show with other more robust propulsion…not this one! She tops out at 4 knots! Her crew of three had already been on board for 21 days with at least 9 more to go before they arrived in Manteo, NC. The crew was great and gave us a little tour.
Monday 4/15, we left Thunderbolt and moved to Savannah Yacht Club (SYC) and headed back to the Landings to look at a few houses the realtor had lined up. One house really piqued our interest and we needed to sleep on it a bit – was this the place for us? We headed back to SYC where we looked forward to reconnecing with Leo, the former assistant club manager at AYC and now General Manager at SYC. SYC is a beautiful club on 24 acres of prime waterfront with a very large marina, large club house, 2 pools, sailing center, and tennis center complete with tennis and pickleball courts. The restaurant was closed on Monday and Tuesday so we’d have to wait until Wednesday to chat with Leo about this amazing club, the Savannah community and enjoy a meal.
Michael and Darlene from Riversong had arrived back in town, so we all climbed into our rental car and headed downtown to the Savannah waterfront on River Street. Historic River Street is situated along the Savannah River where the colony of Georgia was founded in 1733 and the location of the original Port of Savannah. In the 1700s it was the main location for goods coming into the city and by the mid-1800s Savannah was the leading exporter of cotton in the world. The four and five story buildings along the waterfront were cotton warehouses.
Located between Bay Street and River Street is a series of iron and concrete walkways, known as Factors Walk, connecting the buildings to the bluff. The people who set the prices for cotton and many other exports were called Factors, which is how this area got its name. The first commercial house below the bluff opened in 1744.
The hand-laid cobblestones that pave the ramps leading from Bay Street down the bluff to River Street were originally used as ballast material on the many ships that sailed into Savannah’s harbor. The ships collected chert, quartz, granite, basalt and other rocks from their initial locations and deposited the stones upon unloading in Savannah. The stones originated in a number of exotic locales including Madeira Island, Spain, Canada, France and the British Isles. Savannah settlers found the stones to be an affordable and abundant building material and used them throughout the Historic District.
Tuesday 4/16 took us back to the Landings to see the house “one more time” before we would head back to Savannah for a ‘Hop On Hop Off’ trolley tour of the city, which was fabulous! We ended the day at one of the stops: the Six Pence Pub for an authentic Irish meal and a pint. Six Pence Pub was the pub in the movie “Something to Talk About” starring Julia Roberts. Grace (Julia Roberts) sees her husband Eddie (Dennis Quaid) out with another woman and confronts him – in the middle of the street in her nightgown. Let’s just say lots of tourists try to recreate the scene in photos!
Our 2 days touring Savanna by trolley and on foot was fabulous! Savannah is known for its historic district adorned with cobblestone streets, picturesque squares, and impeccably preserved architecture. This charming district takes you back in time, with each square (there are 22 of the original 24 left) telling a story of the city’s rich history and Southern heritage. The largest and most popular is Forsyth Park created in 1840. Its 30 acres is home to the city’s most famous fountain installed in 1858 and modeled after the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Of course a popular rival is Chippewa Square where the famous park bench scenes from the movie Forrest Gump was filmed. In the opening shot of the film, a feather floats high above the trees, then sweeps down past the Independent Presbyterian Church and makes its way toward Chippewa Square, eventually landing at the base of a park bench. Tom Hanks, who plays the role of Forrest, sits on this park bench for about 80% of the film telling his life story to anyone who will listen. The bench that Hanks/Forrest sat on was actually a movie prop, so is not there, but the location of the bench for the movie in Chippewa Square is still a popular spot for photographs.
Our stay in Savannah was finally coming to an end. We fueled up and pumped out at SYC and threw off lines around 11:30 am. Carol had a couple more meetings while underway while Gary enjoyed a couple dolphin escorts. We arrived at Wexford Yacht Club in Hilton Head, SC around 2:30 where we got to do another small lock. Yup – you have to pass through a very small lock that raises you between 1 and 2 feet to get to the Wexford Yacht Club. We barely fit both length and width wise, but the dockmaster Mark skillfully locked us through and helped us secure the boat just minutes before Gary’s sister Diane arrived by car from Destin to spend a few days with us.
With the benefit of Diane’s car, we were off to dinner at Black Marlin Bayside Grill where the food was fabulous but the caterpillars falling out of the trees on our table, food and heads was a bit distracting. Carol kept her menu to partially wear as a hat partially use as a weapon! After dinner it was back to the boat to catch the Red Sox game (good guys won!) and plan our day on Friday.
Hilton Head was hopping with the RBC Heritage PGA Golf Tournament in town. Not having tickets, we thought we’d anchor off of the 18th hole and watch a bit! But that’s for the next post.
Oh yah….. we are under contract on a house in Savannah, GA!
chashurley
Great piece on Prohibition. Major congratulations on being under contract! Chuck