Georgia, Savannah - Tuesday, August 5, 2014 - Bull Street, Mercer-Williams House, Mansion on Forsythe Park

We thought our day might turn out bad when Greg discovered this morning that he no longer had his debit card.  We knew that the only place we used it yesterday was at Lady & Sons for lunch so we headed there as soon as we found a parking garage for the motorcycle.  I got a better picture today.

 

 

The people at Lady & Sons were expecting us.  In fact, they were surprised we weren’t back yesterday.  We used cash for our other purchases yesterday so we didn’t miss it until this morning.  We want to thank the staff there for watching out for us.

I hope no one from Savannah read our blog yesterday because I made a horrible mistake when I wrote that the Waving Girl Memorial was built for the 1996 Olympics.  The Waving Girl Memorial and the 1996 Olympics Memorial are both on River Street, but they are definitely not the same thing.

 

 

Savannah’s Waving Girl Memorial is a tribute to Florence Martus.  From 1887 to 1931 she greeted ships entering and leaving Savannah by waving a cloth during the day and a lantern at night.  Ships would return her greeting with three blasts from the ships' horn.  For more than 44 years she never missed greeting a ship.  The memorial was built by Felix De Weldon who also sculpted the Iwo Jima Memorial.

After retrieving our debit card, we headed down Bull Street in search of a few special sites and to just see the amazing architecture of the buildings along this street.  I understand that some of the more “gingerbread” type houses are in the Victorian District which is south of the Historical District where we are exploring now.

Chippewa Square, one of the 22 squares in the city, is the site of some of Tom Hanks’ scenes as Forrest Gump.  There were several benches around the square (I’m not sure which one Hanks used).

The Green-Meldrim Mansion served as General Sherman’s headquarters from December 1864 to February 1865.  The house was built in the 1850’s at a cost of $93,000.  We didn’t take the tour of the house but it is said that the detail of the interior is as sumptuous as any to be found in America.  The ironwork around these houses just amazes me.

We’ve seen SCAD all over Savannah.  We now know that SCAD stands for Savannah College of Arts and Design.  This building, a former Savannah Volunteer Guard Armory, was purchased in March 1979 and became the flagship building of an expanding campus.  All throughout the Historical and Victorian districts the college has restored numerous structures.

 

 

We liked the old shutters on the side of the building.

The Mercer-Williams house at 429 Bull St. was a focal point for the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  It was designed in 1860 for Hugh W. Mercer.  Construction was interrupted by the Civil War and the house was not completed until about 1868.  In 1969, Jim Williams bought the house and took two years to restore it.  Mr. Williams was known as preservation and restoration expert as well as a lavish host.  He became even more famous as the central figure in “The Book” as the locals refer to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

The Book, which I just had to purchase today, is based on real-life events that occurred in the 1980’s.  It is constructed loosely around the shooting of a male hustler by internationally known antiques dealer Jim Williams in May 1981 and the subsequent four murder trials that lasted more than 8 years.  The Book, written by John Berendt, spent 216 weeks on the New York Times best seller list-the longest run in history.

 

In 1997 Clint Eastwood directed the movie based on the book.  Kevin Spacey starred as Williams.

The Alder House at 425 Bull St. was built in 1858 for the Reverend Charles Rogers.  This 5 bedroom townhouse is the home of Jim William’s arch rival, Lee Alder.  The feud between the two men who had different perspectives on preservation is supposed to be much covered in The Book.  It is directly across the street from the Mercer-Williams House.

 

 

I don’t know anything about this house except I liked the look of it.  It is across the street from the Mercer-Williams house on the opposite side from the Alder House.

 

This is a view of Monterey Square from the Mercer-Williams house.  Standing here looking around at the beautiful square and the historical homes that surround it, it is so easy to envision the life and times when these buildings were in their prime.

What originally caught my eye was the gold that accented the black ironwork on the Armstrong House.

 

 

The Armstrong House was finished in 1919 as a personal residence for George Ferguson Armstrong of the Strachan Shipping Company.  In 1935 with 175 students it became Armstrong Junior College and classes started in what the Atlanta Constitution called “the finest and most costly junior college in the United States”.  In 1959 the junior college became part of the University System of Georgia.  In 1966 it moved to a new campus.  In 1970 the house was acquired by members of the law firm of Bouhan, Williams & Levy (they are obviously doing quite well).

The Fountain at Forsythe Park is the focal point of this park that encompasses 30 acres, we just touched the northern part of it, we were getting tired and still had a long walk back to the motorcycle.

 

 

The Mansion on Forsythe Park is now an upscale hotel.  It was originally designed in 1888 as an 18,000 square foot Victorian homestead.  This was either a big family or they had lots of friends, it covers an entire city block.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a view of the restaurant in the hotel.

 

We went in and looked around, I’m sure security was on high alert as soon as we walked in, we certainly didn’t belong.  I did take time to snap a few pictures of an antique hat exhibit they have on display.