That morning, we had eggs, cereal, and coffee (sludge) before leaving the hotel. Once in the car, we headed back out on Island Expressway to Old Fort Jackson.

Old Fort Jackson was built prior to the war of 1812 and, like Fort Pulaski, was used during the Civil War. After parking our car, Mom and I went into the visitor’s center, each paid our $4.00 entrance fee, and then walked onto the grounds of the Fort. Compared to Fort Pulaski, Old Fort Jackson is small. I was surprised at how tiny it really was. Also, Fort Jackson is pretty much all self-guided. There were no rangers there to give speeches, or to educate us more on the fort. There was, however, a 15-minute instructional video in what used to be the Artillery Magazine, so we went in there to watch it. After the video we just walked, viewed the cannons, and just soaked in the history of the place. I got some great shots of the brick riddled with bullets, bullets that had been in place since the Civil War. How amazing is that???? I also got some shots of the cannons, the parade area, and the privies (what can I say ~ it cracked me up). After we were done walking around, Mom and I went back to the gift shop to pick up a few more souvenirs and then were off to our next destination.



After Fort Jackson, we headed out on the interstate to the Isle of Hope to view the ruins of Wormsloe Plantation. Admission into this park was only a few dollars and after paying it, we were soon driving up the lane that was lined with over 400 live oak trees. Just driving up the lane, it’s so easy to be transported back into time and just imagine yourself in a carriage going up the tree-lined avenue to the home. At the end of the lane sat the museum and visitor’s center. In the visitor’s center we watched a short 15-minute film about the history of Wormsloe and then browsed around the visitor’s center to view some artifacts left over from the home before going outside to walk to the ruins.

A few things about the ruins and the house. Wormsloe was built by a man named Noble Jones who was a good friend of James Oglethorpe, the founder of Savannah. Noble actually came to Savannah with Oglethorpe and settled on Wormsloe. His plantation house was made entirely of tabby, and the ruins there today are the oldest ones in the state of Georgia ~ circa 1736. The ruins were incredible. How I wished, though, that the house was still there. The fireplace was still there. A few walls were still intact. There was some tabby ruins on the outside of the home leftover from what was once either carriage housing or slave housing or some other outer building. From the ruins, we also walked the trail that led to the family plot that was out by the swamp behind the former home. Noble wasn’t buried there, but his descendents were.

From Wormsloe, we headed back to Waters Avenue and to Byrd Cookie Company to stock up on gifts, souvenirs, and to take the time to browse since we hadn’t gotten a lot of time there during our Paula Deen Tour. Again, I hit the samples (are you seeing a pattern here? No wonder I gained as much as I did on vacation. But the food was good!). Mom bought several cookie tins, knick knacks, and spice mixes and had them shipped home; I bought small samplers to bring home as gifts.

After Byrd’s, it was time to eat. We headed back over to Abercorn Drive and went to Sonic. I know, not the best place. But we’re from Montana and we don’t have one here. Plus, my sister really wants to eat at one. So, I had to send pictures :-) Mom and I each had the chili-cheese dog coney combo. I had fries; she had tots, and we both had iced tea to drink. The food was just awful. Not good at all. We left there completely unsatisfied.

After our abysmal late lunch it was time to return the rental car and then get a shuttle back to the hotel. Mom and I were still a bit hungry since lunch was so awful, so we headed down to Bay Street to eat dinner. We walked up and down Bay Street a few times, neither one of us quite knowing what we wanted to eat. We finally decided on Moon River Brewing Company. There, we decided to just split a few things so we ordered the fried green tomatoes (not good), hot wings (okay), and a full rack of baby back ribs (yummy). From a historical perspective, even though I wasn’t crazy about the food, I’m glad we ate there. See, the building was the first hotel in Savannah back in 1821 and like so many other buildings, is rumored to be haunted.

After dinner, we headed back up to Broughton Street to browse for a bit before returning to our room. Of course, we browsed right up to Kilwin’s and each had a dish of the pecan praline ice cream. The ice cream here was definitely a favorite. It was delicious!

From Kilwin’s, we headed back down to City Market for awhile and to get a few more praline samples. And I, being as gluttonous as I had been on this trip, bought myself a pound of pralines because the ones I had purchased a few days ago were already gone. Mom, not to be outdone, also bought some pralines. I’ll give you one guess who’s pralines were gone first. It should be easy to figure out.

From City Market, we headed back up Congress to MLK and to the hotel to get some rest before we headed out for our last day in Savannah.

You can read about Day 1 here.
You can read about Day 2 here.
You can read about Day 3 here.
You can read about Day 4 here.
You can read about Day 5 here.
You can read about Day 6 here.
You can read about Day 7 here.

Labels: Ramblings, Savannah