Savannah - Wormsloe & The Mighty Eighth

Friday was the day to visit Savannah's oldest family-the descendants of Noble Jones. Noble Jones came to Georgia with James Oglethorpe in 1733. He quickly became one of the most settlements most prominent citizens. He fought the Spanish in the War of Jenkins' Ear, and later built his own personal fort to defend his land from Spanish invasion. Today his home and fort are in ruins, as one of his descendants used material from the fort to build his own house. Noble Jones was a Loyalist until his dying day in 1775. But his son was a Patriot, becoming one of Georgia's leading voices for liberty.

Stacy had overexerted herself on Thursday, so she had to stay home. But the three kids and I went out to see the Jones' home at Wormsloe Historic Site. The most famous part of Wormsloe is the entrance with a large arch and an avenue of over 400 live oaks. The road from the entrance to the museum is an amazing sight as you drive under the branches of such majestic trees.

Unfortunately, the morning was quite rainy. It started raining about the time that we got to the site, so we went into the museum first. They had a short video on the history of the site as well as a room with colonial era artifacts. In the middle of the room was a diorama of Noble Jones house/fort. His house was very close to the Skidaway River. While today it is mostly a marsh, at the time the river was large enough for Spanish ships to sail up and attack. Since Savannah was the closest settlement to the Spanish, there was always the fear of Spanish attack.

After seeing the museum, it was time to take a hike. Which was great, since it was still raining. Nothing hard, but we were certainly grateful for our umbrellas. Elisabeth and I stayed relatively dry under our umbrella. On the other hand, Matthew and Rebekah didn't seem to understand that you are supposed to stay under it. The site had a colonial area with a reproduction of Jones' original house-a two story house with one room each. It also contained, a blacksmithy, who had no desire to forge in the rain and a cricket field. We played a few minutes on the field, but I have no idea how to play the game. While standing there unsure of ourselves, a British lady walked by. She immediately understood our predicament and took the time to give us a quick synopsis of how to play her national sport.

We didn't play long, given the difficultly of playing cricket in the rain and soon started our hike. That of course is a grand word for what actually happened. But we did walk a trail in the rain for about a half-mile. Upon returning to the museum, a colonial man gave us a tour of the ruins and the family cemetery. Turns out nobody knows where Noble Jones is buried, but somebody got moved from Bonaventure Cemetery to Wormsloe Plantation with much pomp and circumstance. After that it was time to go back to the house for lunch and see if Stacy was up to participating in the afternoon activity.

She wasn't. So she had to miss the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force. This is a great museum just outside of Savannah. It showcases the men who fought World War 2 from the air. The museum starts with a room showing the lead up to the war. While looking at the newspaper clippings, propaganda videos, and battle reports, a volunteer tour guide came up to us and explained the importance of not being a Nazi. In particular, he talked about how important the Hitler Youth were to solidifying his power over the country. After that, we were led into a reproduction of a Nissen hut to get our briefing for today's bombing run. We got the briefing, learned about the airplane crew, and watched as our patrol dropped hundreds of bombs while dodging enemy air-fire. It was excellently done and really helped you understand what a bombing mission was like.

After that we went outside to the a Memorial Gardens dedicated to all the different squads within the Eighth. It was a solemn place, reinforced by a chapel reminiscent of many that could be seen throughout the French countryside.

We arrived at the chapel in the middle of a presentation and decided not to stay. After wandering around outside for a few more minutes, we went back inside to where the museum is currently restoring a B-17. By this time it was getting late, so we had to hurry through the rest of the museum. There was still much to see, including a "Safe House" where downed airmen would hide, a POW exhibit, and a bust of James Stewart who flew 20 combat missions in the 4th & 8th Air Force.

While going back to the house, we took a detour to Leopold's Ice Cream. Established in 1919, this is the oldest ice cream store I have ever visited. The ice cream was delicious. However, we arrived at the start of the SCAD FASHWKND 2018 right next door. Consequently, Leopold's was standing room only and we had to get in and out rather quickly. Before leaving Savannah, we had one more place to visit, The Pirate's House. This is the place to go for both excellent seafood and a little bit of pirate history. Stacy loved the fact that they had a large GF menu. This is one of the oldest buildings in downtown Savannah. In its early days, it was a tavern that catered to sailors. It was also notorious for shanghaiing people. It was eventually shut down when a detective, who had been shanghaied, returned to Savannah and exposed the old tavern. In 1948 it was bought by a developer who wanted to raze the entire block to build newer and better buildings. However, his wife, Mrs. Hansell Hilyer, fell in love with the place and demanded that it be restored instead. Mr. Hilyer decided that his wife was more important than a new hotel and restored the Pirate's House into the adventurous restaurant that it is today.

With that, we went back to the house and played a game of Stone Age before heading off to bed. Saturday we would make the drive back to Huntsville after a great visit to the small and exceedingly historic city of Savannah.