22. Savannah

Savannah is at its best.

Banks of azaleas blaze on Oglethorpe Avenue. The wiry twigs of redbud trees are papered with hot-pink popcorn. Baby blue grapes of wisteria dangle over doorways. It is a beautiful crisp day and we are walking around the town admiring the old homes that surround the shady squares.

We can thank Oglethorpe for the squares. He came here in 1733 with a bunch of guys for debtor’s prison and was welcomed as a cushion between South Carolina and the Spaniards in Florida. When he planned the town he insisted that the streets be interrupted by refreshing squares. Later rich cotton planters built beautiful homes around them.

We can thank seven horrified old ladies for the refurbished houses. They bought a house scheduled for demolition and did it up. This triggered the avalanche of restoration which finally engulfed the whole town. Now every vista is a glossy from a coffee table book.

So this pretty town draws in the tourists. Trolleys, one behind the other, pause at select addresses spouting dates and anecdotes in amplified guide speak.


And then, as if this was not enough, came “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’.

Now you have to see Mercer House (the red house in the photo above) where Jim Williams shot Danny. You have to breakfast at Clary’s drugstore at the table where Luther Draggers left his breakfast untouched. You can meet Joe Odun’s blowsy Mandy who is doing historic house tours. Chablis will be in town next week for another outrageous show.

You are here in the book with the characters; part of the cast.