The Fletcher Grand Tour of Georgia - Stage 5: Savannah

One of the squares in Savannah

If we were doing the Wesley tour correctly, we should have gone to Savannah first, as Wesley himself had done in 1736; however, as it made geographic sense to visit St Simon's first we proceeded to visit Savannah afterwards.  Every road trip needs a bit of an adventure including taking the wrong road, and ours came in Savannah.  We all should have been worried when I said "We don't need the GPS because it's only down this road."  However... after about 20 minutes on this road, when we had passed all the exits that said 'Downtown' and we still didn't seem to be any closer to anything which looked like a town centre, we started getting a bit nervous.  Then, as the final shops were disappearing from the sides of the road we saw the biggest American flag flying at the side of the road - and we all remembered seeing that as we drove into Savannah on the way to the hotel earlier in the day.  At that point, we decided to plug in the GPS which told us to turn around (I'm sure there's a sermon illustration in there somewhere!)!!  We then had to drive the 20 minutes back just to get to where we started, before heading another 20 minutes down the same road in the other direction past the hotel to get to the downtown area.  What is more, the restaurant we had planned to eat at that evening was on the same road, but in the original direction in which we had gone - so it made for a late dinner!

A Savannah residence

Slightly blurred photo of Oglethorpe

We had two full days in Savannah as we were staying for three nights.  We had heard that parking was difficult and expensive, but we discovered that there was a bus which went from outside our hotel.  So we decided we would give that a go, and it proved an easy and stress free mode of transport (until Dad tried getting a senior citizen rate!).  Savannah was the first city in Georgia and planned by General Oglethorpe.  His original intention for the colony of Georgia was that it would be a place for people who were close to going to debtors prison in Britain to get a fresh start.  The city centre was set out in a very European style with lots of little squares to walk around.  The other great way for seeing the downtown area is by horse and carriage, so we took a lovely tour around the streets and squares of Savannah while a very knowledgeable guide told us all about the city, while driving the carriage at the same time!  There are now preservation orders on many of the buildings as, during the 1950's and '60's they were being knocked down and replaced with new ones.  I did discover on this horse and carriage tour that it was very difficult to take a good photo, even though the horses weren't going very quickly!

 

Christ Church

After the carriage tour we went for a bit of a walk to see the squares we didn't see on our trip round, in particular, Reynolds Square where there was the statue of Wesley, commemorating his ministry here.  Along from Reynolds Square is Johnson Square which houses Christ Church, supposedly the Mother Church of Georgia, and the site where Wesley was priest.  From there we were able to walk back to the bus stop to get back to our hotel.

 

The Waving Girl

We had great plans for all we wished to see on the second day.  We started with a walk along the river front.  The Savannah River is obviously still a very active shipping route as there were great cargo ships travelling along there.  The river front certainly was the main touristy area with many gift shops and candy shops.  Just as we planned to head back into town to see the many things we had not had chance to see, the rain started.  Thankfully it was around lunchtime so we were able to see out the shower in a river front restaurant.  As the rain had stopped we continued a bit further on the river front to the 'Waving Girl statue'.  This depicts Florence Martus who waved to every ship which came along the river from 1887 to 1931.  Looking a
t the colour of the skies, we decided we wouldn't risk staying in town any longer, and so headed back to the bus stop - arriving at the shelter just as the rain started again!

 

Tybee Lighthouse

Fortunately, the weather brightened up later in the afternoon so we were able to drive over to Tybee Island which is one of the little islands.  We didn't really stop anywhere, apart from at the lighthouse which is located at the site of Fort Screven.  On Thursday morning we packed up to head off.  Thankfully, unlike Wesley, we did not have to stow away on a boat as there wasn't an arrest warrant out for us!  Instead, we drove inland to Macon.

The Fletcher Grand Tour of Georgia - Stage 4: St Simon's Island

John Wesley

Sunday, April 4 1736. About four in the afternoon I set out for Frederica in a piragua (a sort of flat-bottomed barge).  The next evening we anchored near Skidaway Island, where the water at flood was twelve or fourteen foot deep.  I wrapped myself up from head to foot in a large cloak to keep off the sand-flies, and lay down on the quarter-deck.  Between one and two I waked under water, beings so fast asleep that I did not find where I was till my mouth was full of it.  Having left my cloak, I know not how, upon deck, I swam round to the other side of the piragua, where a boat was tied, and climbed up by the rope without any hurt more than wetting my clothes.  Thou art the God of whom cometh salvation: thou art the Lord by whom we escape death.

  The winds were so contrary that on Saturday 10, we could just get over against Doboy Island, twenty miles from Frederica, but could not possibly make the creek, having a strong tide also against us.  Here we lay beating off till past one, when the lightning and rain, which we had long seen at a distance, dorve down full upon us; till after a quarter of an hour the clouds parted, some passing on the right, and some on the left, leaving us a clear sky, and so strong a wind right after us as in two hours brought us to Frederica. (John Wesley's Journal, Bicentennial Edition).*

Entrance to Epworth-by-the-Sea

In Epworth-by-the-Sea

  Thankfully, our journey from Valdosta to St Simon's wasn't half as eventful.  We, fortunately, did not have to attempt the journey by boat, but, rather could travel in the comfort of our car, and were able to arrive safely at the first attempt!  For me this really was a bit of a Wesley/Methodist pilgrimage, but it also provided the opportunity to visit a beautiful part of the state.  We were fortunate enough to be able to stay at Epworth-by-the-Sea which is a Methodist retreat and conference centre owned by the South Georgia Methodist Conference.  There were acres of beautiful estate in which to walk and relax, with many accommodation blocks, conference buildings, chapels and a Methodist museum.  The island has the Frederica River going down one side and the Atlantic on the other.

 

Statue in museum

We arrived on the Saturday afternoon, which meant I had to attend the museum fairly soon after arrival, as it was not open on the Sunday or Monday.  It was a really interesting museum detailing much of Wesley's life on St Simon's, plus providing useful information about life on the island during Wesley's time.  Staying over the weekend gave us chance to go to the chapel service on site on the Sunday morning.  This did mean getting up early in the morning as the service was at 8.45.  Therefore, we decided to go off for brunch afterwards.  We had worried that we may be the only people at the church service as there were not many other people staying at the centre.  However, we needn't have worried as there was a regular community of

Lovely Lane Chapel

worshippers who meet there, plus also a group who were attending a marriage strengthening course for members of the armed services and their spouses - just one of the important courses offered by staff at the site.  We received a warm welcome - even getting a round of applause from the congregation when they realised where we had come from!  After a lovely brunch we headed off to the north of the island to visit Christ Church and Fort Frederica.

 

View down what was the main street

We arrived at Christ Church, which is near to the site where both Wesleys and George Whitefield preached, just as their service was finishing.  This gave us chance to look around the churchyard, but unfortunately we could not go in.  However, it would be open later in the afternoon.  So we headed up the road to the ruins of the fort.  The fort had been built by General Oglethorpe (founder of the Georgia colony) as a means of defending Savannah and the other British colonies further up the eastern coast from possible Spanish attacks.  However, Frederica became a thriving town and one of Wesley's main places to visit.  There is nothing much left of the town or the fort now, but historians have excavated the site and found the ruins of buildings which stood there, so people are able to walk around and imagine what life would have been like.  The historians don't only tell you what business would have operated from which building, but also who lived there - this really brings to life what remains of the area.

  For example, one of the houses belonged to Mr and Mrs Hawkins.  Mrs

Outside the Hawkins house

Hawkins caused real problems for John Wesley.  On one occasion, she asked him to come round, which he did somewhat warily. He wrote in his journal that she said:

'Sir, you have wronged me, and by God I will shoot you through the head this moment with a brace of balls.'

Wesley quickly responded:

I catched hold of the hand with which she presented the pistol, and at the same time, of her other hand, in which she had a pair of scissors.  On which she threw herself upon me, and forced me down upon the bed, crying out all the while, 'Villain, dog, let go my hands.'

This continued until the constable and Mr Hawkins arrived.  Mr Hawkins laid the blame with Wesley and told the onlookers not to touch his wife who still could not free her hands from Wesley's grasp.  So she

...seized on my cassock with her teeth, and tore both the sleeves of it to pieces, and then fixed upon my arm.*

Eventually, Mr Hawkins grabbed his wife and removed her from Wesley.  And who said island life is dull??!

 

Ammunition store at Fort Frederica

Overlooking the Frederica River is what remains
of the fort, with a couple of canons and an ammunition store all that is left.  However, the Union Jack still flies over this area as it did almost three centuries ago.  Those with an astute eye will notice that it is an old version of the flag, as at that time Ireland was not part of the United Kingdom - so I'm not sure we can still claim it as sovereign territory!!

Oglethorpe and Tomochichi

 

Christ Church

After visiting Fort Frederica we returned to Christ
Church to look around the inside.  The church was built towards the end of the 19th Century as the previous one had been destroyed during the Civil War.  Inside the church were two stained glass windows of note (well for me anyway!).  The first was of General Oglethorpe

The Wesley's preaching

talking with Tomochichi - a leader of the Creek Native Americans.  Oglethorpe did try to build a relationship with those who were already living in the land when he arrived, and in Wesley's journal we can read of his limited encounters with them.  The other window depicts John and Charles Wesley preaching underneath one of the live oak trees on the island. 

Was this the oak under which Wesley preached?

 

Wesley Memorial Walk

As we left the church we spotted another historic marker almost in the bushes close to where we had parked the car.  On investigation we realised that it pointed to a Wesley Memorial walk.  The walk led to a large Celtic cross honouring both John and Charles Wesley.  Unfortunately, also on this walk were a number of gnats and mosquitoes - so it was a bit of a painful part of our pilgrimage!

On our final morning, after packing up, we headed to

St Simon's Lighthouse

the south of the island and the St Simon's lighthouse.  We have all been reading a trilogy of historical novels by Eugenia Price called 'The St Simon's Trilogy'.  The first book records the life of James Gould who built the first lighthouse on St Simon's.  Unfortunately, that was also knocked down during the Civil War, but this is the second one which was built shortly after the War ended.  On a clear day the view would probably be amazing.  Unfortunately, the storm clouds were gathering as we climbed the 129 steps to the top.  However, the view was still great and the museum about life in the Keeper's Cottage was also very interesting - especially as they had a section about James Gould and the Trilogy.

  With that, our Wesley pilgrimage to St Simon's was over.  However, we continued following in the footsteps of Wesley as we headed north up the coast to Savannah...

*All references to Wesley's Journal are taken from http://www.ministrymatters.com.proxy.library.emory.edu/library/#/000wjw-new/aaf6fab153518614c7e1b8bda45798bc/journal.html

The Fletcher Grand Tour of Georgia - Stage 3: Valdosta

If people were surprised we were going to Columbus as part of our tour of Georgia, they were amazed we were going down to Valdosta.  "What are you going to do there?" numerous people asked.  Even the girl in the hotel in Valdosta couldn't understand how anyone from England could end up in Valdosta on holiday!  If truth be known, I also had no idea really why we were going there.  All I knew was that it meant we didn't have to do a near 5 hour journey from Columbus to St Simon's Island.  Driving for 4 hours from Columbus to Valdosta was bad enough, but an extra hour would have been too much - showing that I've obviously not yet become fully acclimatised to American culture!  Our drive from Columbus to Valdosta allowed me to introduce Mum and Dad to another American institution - Cracker Barrel.  Unfortunately, Dad and I weren't quite able to shepherd Mum through the Country Store without her stopping to buy something.  Our lunch at Cracker Barrel also gave me chance to use the gift card given to me by Amy and Tim - our friends from North Carolina.

  We only had one full day in Valdosta as we hadn't arrived until the afternoon on Thursday and we would be leaving in the morning on Saturday.  However, we had heard that there was a nice historic walking tour around the downtown area of Valdosta which suited us as we didn't fancy spending a lot of time in the car.  It turned out to be a really interesting day seeing some interesting buildings and just experiencing life in an ordinary Southern town.

First Presbyterian Church

First United Methodist Church

First Baptist Church

   In Atlanta there were many Protestant churches which seemed to have been built in a very similar design.  However, in Valdosta, The Methodist church, the Presbyterian church and the Baptist church were all very different in appearance. Sadly, none were open for us to walk in and look around.  Despite looking quite different, they all date from a similar time with the Baptist church being built in 1899 and the Presbyterian and Methodist churches dating from 1905.  All three churches had very impressive looking facilities with buildings for offices and classrooms stretching out behind them.  The building for the Methodist church stretched along the street for a whole block.  I will have to readjust to life with less space in churches when I get back home!

Converse-Dalton-Ferrell House

  There were also a number of different houses which have historic importance.  For example there was the Converse-Dalton-Ferrell House.  This dates from 1902 and is currently up for rent.  However - I'm not sure it is quite in my price range!  One realises how 'young' this country is, or at least how it is only relatively recently that they have begun preserving historic buildings, that houses which are only just over 100 years old are considered historic, and that there is very little from before that period.


 

County Courthouse

Monument for Confederate Soldiers

Also in Valdosta was the County Courthouse for the Lowndes County.
 This is a typical example of Classical Revival architecture (at least that's what the brochure says!).  It certainly was a prominent feature in the town centre.  One interesting monument outside the courthouse was the memorial to the Confederate soldiers from Valdosta killed during the Civil War.  This was placed there by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1911 and shows that even 50 years after the Civil War, emotions still ran deep.

The Crescent House

View down to the front of the house

  Finally, we drove a bit out of the town centre to the Crescent House.  Apparently, this is Valdosta's best known landmark, but unfortunately there was a function about to happen there, so it was not open to tour.  However, we were able to walk around the outside and in the small garden at the back.  There are 13 pillars around its outside which are meant to represent the original 13 colonies which made up the United States.  The garden also had a number of live oak trees covered in the Spanish moss which seems so common down in the South.  Around the back of the house was a lovely garden - it looked to me like a miniature version of an English stately home's garden (now it's not often that America has a miniature version of something English!).  They also had a lovely little chapel - although this again was closed.

Live Oak with Spanish Moss

The chapel in the back garden

  As I said earlier, we did enjoy being part of what felt like an ordinary American town - away from the tourist trail.  The only thing we would have liked was for the town centre to be pedestrianised - or at least to ban the big lorries because our nice quiet lunch sitting outside this lovely cafe was often punctuated by trucks rumbling down the street!  After this stopover in Valdosta, we were ready to head east to the coast.

The Fletcher Grand Tour of Georgia - Stage 2: Columbus

Why are you going to Columbus?  That was the question I had to answer every time I told anyone that our first stopoff point on our tour after Atlanta would be Columbus.  Well, maybe this is why...

or this...

  Now anyone who knows about Georgian geography will know that neither of these places are actually in Columbus; however, if we hadn't decided to head down to Columbus, we would not have seen either view.

 

The Little White House

On Tuesday morning we left Atlanta and began our journey south.  We stopped en route first at Dowdell's Knob (where the first picture was taken) and then at The Little White House which is in Warm Springs.  Before becoming president, Franklin D. Roosevelt came down to the town of Warm Springs to bathe in their warm springs (!) as he tried to find a cure for the paralysis of his legs which was a consequence of contracting polio.  Despite not being cured, he did find it helped, and the welcome he received led him to buy a property (called the Little White House) which he visited regularly.  While staying here he often liked to have picnics overlooking the Pine Mountain Valley from the top of Dowdell's knob.  I found it really refreshing to see a video of his life, and how relaxed he was around the locals of Warm Springs - there was footage of him splashing around in the springs with some of the local children.  It was amusing to hear that his picnics were no basic affair, with fine linen table cloths and silverware the order of the day!

  On the Wednesday, after lunch with some good friends I had made over the year who lived just across the border in Alabama (see earlier post for details of my Thanksgiving experience I had shared with them), we headed back up towards Warm Springs, but instead stopped off at Callaway Gardens (where the second photo was taken).  A better word to describe the place would be forest - we had to drive from place to place around it as it was too far to walk and see everything we wanted to.  There was a butterfly house and a number of different flower walks, and then the beautiful chapel situated in the middle of the forest.  As with a number of places we have seen on our tour so far, we felt as though we could have easily spent longer there, but time did not allow.  We had a quiet evening before, on Thursday morning, heading further south on stage 3 of our tour.

The Fletcher Grand Tour of Georgia - Stage 1: Atlanta

With my studies at an end, my parents flew out to Atlanta to join me on a tour of the State I have called home for the last 9 months.  We are going to travel around as much of it as we could fit in to 3 weeks, including a brief foray into North Carolina.

Mum and Dad in Decatur

Dad and I at the Decatur First chapel

  The tour began with 4 days in Atlanta.  As my Mum and Dad only landed on Thursday afternoon (9th May), the Friday was a low key day visiting the local area where I live.  We went to the Emory University Campus so they could see where I had studied, and we were all amazed by the amount of chairs set out for the Graduation ceremony which was to be held on the Monday.  From Emory we went over to Decatur so they could see Decatur First United Methodist Church and the downtown area of Decatur.  After a short rest in the afternoon we concluded the first day
with a trip to the Flying Biscuit restaurant for a real taste of the South - sweet tea and all!

 

Military leaders from both sides of the Atlanta Campaign

Mum and Dad at the Jimmy Carter Center

Dinner at Sally's

On the Saturday we went down to Grant Park in south Atlanta to visit the Cyclorama.  This is the world's largest oil painting and is housed in a circular building creating a 360 degree painting depicting the Battle of Atlanta, during the American Civil War.  Not only is the painting on an immense scale but it also gives an idea of the immense scale of the battle, and the high loss of life from both sides that it caused.  After a brief bit of lunch in Grant Park we headed to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.  This was a place I had always intended visiting but had never got round to.  However, I wish I had gone previously as there was too much to see in one visit.  It was interesting to see quite how much Carter has achieved, particularly since he finished as President.  It reminded me how fortunate I was to be able to go and listen to him speak earlier in the year.  In the evening we headed out to have dinner with Sally, an employee at Decatur First UMC, and her family.  It was a lovely evening, despite a heavy downpour putting paid to plans of eating outside, with great food (ribs, cream corn, fried okra; followed by peach cobbler and home-made ice cream) and great company.
 

Presentation of the cross-stitch

Mother's Day Lunch

Sunday was my last day at Decatur First UMC. After attending the early service I taught one final adult Sunday School before Mum and Dad joined me for the 11:00 am Traditional Service.  This meant that they had to navigate the bus system of Atlanta - something they managed with no problems!  At the service Dad presented a cross stitch done by members of Thatcham Methodist Church to the senior minister of Decatur First as a sign of the bond created between Thatcham and Decatur during my time here - a physical sign of Christian unity.  It worked out nicely (and obviously completely planned by me!) that Sunday 12th May was Mother's Day in America, so I was able to take Mum and Dad out for lunch to a nice restaurant in downtown Decatur called Leon's.  We ended the day with a walk around Mason Mill Park which is close to where I live.

Mum and Dad at the MLK Center

Mural at the MLK Center

  The final day of this leg was Monday which began with a bit of time doing necessary domestic duties (washing and shopping!) before heading off to the Martin Luther King Center after lunch.  As with every time I have been there this was a moving experience reminding us all of the cost of fighting prejudice and injustice, but also the necessity of doing so.  In the evening we went to an Atlanta culinary institution known as Mary Mac's Tea Rooms for dinner with my flatmates.  Then, after a piece of birthday cake to celebrate one of my flatmate's birthdays, it was time for bed in order to be ready to hit the road for the next part of the Grand Tour!

Dinner at Mary Mac's Tea Room