March 3, 2023

So much to do, so little time to do it in.

Today we toured Savannah on a Hop On Hop Off tour with Old Town Trolly (same company we used for the tour of St. Augustine). Even though I’ve explored the city over the last few days, there is still more I haven’t seen.

Our first stop took us to the Prohibition Museum; which is the only prohibition museum in the US. We participated in the self-guided tour and ended in a speakeasy. The speakeasy served beverages that you would have found during the prohibition era.

Another stop along the route was the Juliette Gordon Low (founder of Girl Scouts) house and birthplace

We then stopped at the Owen-Thomas House. The house has one of the oldest and best preserved urban slave quarters in the American South and is the first house to have indoor plumbing (even before the White House). Interesting fact is the ceiling in the slave quarters were painted haint blue, which is said to ward off evil spirits as it represented water and spirits can’t traverse water.

Our final tour stop was the Pirate’s House.

At home, I have a NordicTrack treadmill with iFit. iFit has numerous walking and running series that takes you on tours. I participated on a haunted tour series that took me through various locations in Savannah, GA, including the Pirate’s House, so I had to go there and have lunch!

The Pirate’s Hosue was first opened in 1753 and is the oldest house in Savannah. For years, it operated as an inn for seafarers and became a meeting point for pirates and sailors. Occasionally, a patron would fall asleep. The pirates would then pass him through a secret door that led to the basement and that patron would eventually find himself shanghaied at sea on a boat.

While dining, I found the secret door not far from our table as well as the stairwell that goes into the basement (see photo below with chair in front of the secret door). The restaurant itself had tasty food, great service, and even fun pirate hats for the kids.

After all that touring, we were tired. Our friends Norma and Jeff had a hotel close by with a roof top bar and pool. We hung out there into the evening letting the kids swim.