Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia

March 16, 2016

After spending just one day in Savannah, Georgia, I can honestly say this city spoke to my soul and begged me to come back and live here forever. Honestly, I think I could easily live here for the rest of my life and be entirely happy, which says a lot because there are very few places I admit I would like to stay forever.

Mostly, every place has its ups and downs and I'm not ready to move there. Savannah is a place that I could stay. That I would stay.

Savannah is the oldest city in Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. It was established in 1733 on the Savannah River. The city became the British colonial capitol of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capitol of the State of Georgia.

Savannah was a strategic port city during the American Revolutionary War and the American Civil War. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important Atlantic seaport.

Each year, Savannah attracts millions of visitors to its cobblestone streets, parks, and notable historic buildings. The Hoffmeister's included.

We knew when we arrived we had two primary sites on our must see list; Forsyth Park and Bay Street, also known as the Savannah Riverwalk. In addition, we needed to find a really epic place to eat because, as you know, we are eating our way from the West to East coasts and back again.

Forsyth Park and Historic Houses 

We went to Forsyth Park first since it was relatively early in the day and we were hoping to find some decent parking for our beast of a truck. That thing is impossible to park because it is enormous and most historic cities here on the East Coast aren't used to accommodating big dually pickup trucks on their old city streets.

Luckily, within 5 minutes, we found a spot large enough to park our truck. It was an actual miracle. We plugged the parking meter, maxing it out with plenty of quarters. We wanted as much time as possible to see the city. I think our luck at finding a parking spot had to do with the fact that we visited in the middle of the week instead of the weekend. Avoiding the large group of tourists is our favorite way to visit local attractions, especially the big ones.

One of the best parts of Forsyth Park is the streets of historic homes around and near the park. Blocks and blocks of them. I adore old houses and, if I could convince my three Hoffmeister men, I would wander the streets day in and day out looking at them. Unfortunately, these guys are ready to move on from the houses within an hour, if I can even get that long.

 

My favorite house on the entire walk through historic Savannah was this beauty. Tell me that isn't one of the most beautiful homes you have ever seen! Anyone want to buy it for me? I know it is not for sale and it's probably been in the same family for nearly 300 years, but I can wish and hope and dream.

Besides this delightful home, there were so many other beautiful homes.

(If you watch our video above, you can see pictures of tons of them.)

Forsyth Park is the largest park in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia. The park covers 30 acres of land and is a hub of social interaction. Concerts, recreation sports, people watching (one of my favorite things), sunbathing (one of my least favorite things), reading, and relaxing. All these things can go on simultaneously at Forsyth Park, depending on where you are in the park and when it is. We know this, because we saw it all on our one-day visit.

Forsyth Park was laid out in the 1840s. William Hodgson donated the land for the original space. In 1851, John Forsyth, the 33rd Governor of Georgia, donated an additional 20 acres, bringing the total size of Forsyth Park to its present size. The park was named after him and it remains its name to this day.

On Saturdays there is a great Farmers Market that takes place in Forsyth Park. We spent a couple of hours walking around the park, visiting the gardens, and looking at the statutes and fountain.

Perhaps the most well-known feature of Forsyth Park is the large fountain that sits at the north end of the park. The fountain was built in 1858. It resembles a few other fountains found around the world, including fountains found in Paris and Peru.

Every year at St. Patrick's Day, the city of Savannah dyes the water in the fountain green. The ceremony when the water is dyed is a popular event attended by hundreds, sometimes thousands, of local Savannahians. We visited the day before St. Patrick's Day and had the pleasure of seeing all the fountains in Savannah dyed green. The boys thought it was great fun.

I loved walking up and down the gorgeous walkways with my handsome husband and his two minis. It reminded me of what the parks may have looked like during the Regency Era, England, when ladies and gentlemen would go walking. If I lived near a park like this, I would go walking every day.

 

Bay Street

Savannah Riverwalk

After walking around Forsyth Park, we decided to leave the truck where it was since we had a great parking spot and walked the mile and a little bit to Bay Street where the Savannah Riverwalk access was. We figured there was no way we would get lucky enough to find as perfect of a parking spot further into the city and later in the day.

The closer we got to the river, the happier we were that we left it because there was no parking, especially for a huge beast of a truck like ours.

Below are some images of beautiful homes, squares, and monuments we saw along our walk to the river.

The rose I am holding was made out of palm leaves. There were men and women sitting in the parks making and selling these as well as other items like baskets or matts. As tourists, we were prime unsuspecting targets for every single vendor. Or, perhaps I should say, suspecting. We've been around the USA a few times, you can't trick us into buying anything. We buy if we want to and this time we wanted to. The boys bought me a pretty rose because I am their pretty mama.

The kids thought the red telephone booth was awesome and had to have a picture with it in case it was a portal to The Ministry of Magic.

And what Hoffmeister can pass a cannon without taking a picture? Certainly not these Hoffmeister's! There's actually about 25 pictures of cannons taken in less than a block that are now stored on my hard drive.

We made it down to the river and began walking along the tourist trap walk, Bay Street. We were looking for a place to eat. There were tons of little eaterys but most were playing loud and rather annoying music or did not look like an environment we wanted to take the kids, especially as it was near St. Patrick's Day. As we were walking down the street, a man reached out and handed us a menu for his restaurant. We accepted it and glanced at it as we kept walking and then proceeded to throw it away a few building's later. But, we went back because after walking another quarter mile we determined his restaurant was indeed the best on the strip.

Boy, were we glad we returned because he guided us to this amazing restaurant up on the 4th floor of the row of shops. We took the elevator up and were instantly charmed by what we found. We love finding the little hidden gems that are well beloved.

Vic's on the River Restaurant & Bar

Vic's on the River was just such a gem. The restaurant had some outside seating and beautiful window seats overlooking the river. We opted for seats near the windows where we could see the river below. We loved it. And this was our view from the window. It doesn't get much better than one of the river boats.

Our server, Matt, started by bringing us our water in goblets the kids thought were FANCY. He also brought some home-style biscuits with honey-butter. Do you know how much I love honey-butter?

We started our meal with Fried Green Tomatoes over Grits with a Tomato Chutney Sauce. The kids didn't squeak at all when the gorgeous appetizer came out. Fantastic, let me say that again, fantastic. Delicious on so many levels. Oh, so yummy in my tummy. I need these tasty morsels made for me every day. I think I like them even more than the crab cakes, which I also love a lot.

Then it was time for our main course. Rhett had a Grilled Chicken and Bacon Burger with Blue Cheese and Kollard Greens. Emmaline had Fish Tacos, her favorite. Aldrich had Fried Shrimp and Fries. Darce had Chicken Tenders with Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

The food was perfectly prepared and had amazing flavor. Wow!

We wrapped up our lunch with a trio of sorbets; Pear, Blueberry, and Lemon. They tasted like heaven. Absolute heaven.

 

From the top of the restaurant, we noticed the USCG Tall Ship "Eagle". We decided that after we finished our meal that we would go down to the boardwalk and walk past the ship. 

Did you know the ship used to be owned by Hitler's German Navy? I love learning little facts like this.

USCG Tall Ship "Eagle"

Built at the Blohm + Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany in 1936, and commissioned as the Horst Wessel, Eagle is one of the three sail-training ships operated by the pre-World War II German Navy. At the close of the war, the U.S. took the ship as a war reparation. They recommissioned it as the USCG CutterEagle and sailed it to New London, Connecticut, which has been its home port ever since. The USCG Eagle is a 295-foot barque used as a training cutter for future officers of the USCG. She is the only active commissioned sailing vessels, along with the USS Constitution, in American military service. She is the seventh Coast Guard cutter to bear the name in a line dating back to 1792, including the Revenue Cutter Eagle, which famously fought the British man-of-war dispatch during the War of 1812.

I'll argue with anyone who disagrees that the American Flag blowing in the Savannah breeze isn't the most beautiful sight you've ever seen.

I love my country.

Not only did we see the tall ship, but we also saw the Bay Street River Boat with more of a closeup than we had from the restaurant window.