Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1937 and encompasses over 400,000 acres.  Okefenokee is a Native American word meaning "land of the trembling earth."

Swamp Boat Tour

Evidence of the April 2011 lightning strike that burned 483 square miles, more than half of the refuge.  It is also the longest fire in the 75 year history of the park, it began on April 28, 2011 and was declared out in early April 2012, almost a year!

Area not devastated by wildfire. 

Chesser Prairie

Can you find the alligator?

Wood Stork

Hooded Pitcher Plants

A carnivorous plant, one of 3 found in the Okefenokee Swamp. The others are butterworts on land and bladderworts that grow in water.

Those white specks are Ibis roosting in trees at the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp.

Ibis 

We saw several signs like this one to help canoeists find their way in the swamp.

Peat moss from the swamp bottom!  The peat islands are how the Okefenokee got it's name from Native Americans because they're unstable and tremble when walked on.  The peat is 80% decomposing water lily and bald cypress.

Chesser Prairie

Suwannee Canal was dug in 1891 in an attempt to drain the Okefenokee Swamp into the St. Mary River.  The goal was to reach the cypress forests for logging and to create farmland.  After 12 miles of canal was dug, the company abandoned the project in 1895 due to lack of funds and the unstable sand banks.

Looking down on some bald cypress knees.

Chesser Island Homestead

The Chesser family settled this swamp farm in the mid-1880s on a small island on the eastern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp.  They ate what they could trap, shoot, catch and grow on the sandy soil.  Cash crops were primarily sugar cane and turpentine.  Did you know turpentine is made from pine needles?  I didn't! 

Families prided themselves in keeping a clean yard, free of grass, for several reasons.  The sand yard acted as a fire break, the five venomous snakes of the area were easy to spot on the white sand, and keeping it clear of damp, decaying leaves helped keep insects at bay.

Pioneer swampers erected gourd bird nests to attract the mosquito devouring Purple Martin.

Front porch flower box.

Scott is talking with the Chesser Homestead historian on the front porch.  This man was a family friend of the Chessers so he was a wealth of information and a storyteller!  

Quilt frame was hung from the porch roof when not in use.

Inside living room.

One of the bedrooms with many windows to bring in the outside light.

Kitchen area.

The Chesser girls wanted a bathtub so their father put one on the back porch where the afternoon sun could heat the water - it drained out onto the ground!  The sink drained into the galvanized bucket sitting on the ground.

The Chessers made and used cypress log wells as their water source.  Its use in a well is imperative since the wood is continually wet and without the hollow log, the sandy walls would immediately cave in.

A mule pulled the sweep around the rollers of the grinding mill.  An operator would feed two stalks of sugar cane through the rollers in order to squeeze juice from the cane.

Swamp Island Drive

This is an area of Longleaf Pine restoration.  

Unlike our pine forests, this forest has fan palm vegetation on the floor.

Tickseed Sunflower

This is a borrow ditch where material for the road was dug.  You could say it was "borrowed" and never returned.  We looked all along here for turtles and alligators.

Found a baby gator!  When we stopped he swam right over to the pick-up, just like he was as curious about us as we were about him!  

SCOTT'S SHOTS: Mrs. Wilkes' Boarding House

Mrs. Wilkes' Boarding House is a Savannah institution, everyone says you must go there to eat, so go we did.  You arrive at 11:00 to 11:30 to stand in line until a table is ready.  The meal is served family style.  We met some nice folks in line; a couple from Charleston and a family from Chicago that we would later eat lunch with.

Come on in and see what's cooking...

Here's a picture of the table before they served us.  Top right of tree clockwise:  creamed corn, collard greens, baked beans, okra succotash, barbecue pulled pork, white rice, gravy, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, turnips, macaroni and cheese, dressing, green beans, and black-eyed peas.  Plus sweet tea all around!  We sat down, then came the fried chicken, meatloaf, beef stew, dirty rice, squash casserole, scalloped potatoes, coleslaw, and cornbread (fried or muffins).  They reminded us to save room for dessert - blueberry cobbler or banana pudding!  As a fine southern gentleman, I tried everything.

Savannah, GEORGIA

Lady and Sons, Paula Deen's restaurant; it was fun to find this place but we were disappointed with our first lunch in Savannah.  I did have a good time shopping in her cooking store next door!

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

City Hall

The gold leaf dome is illuminated in the evening.  Built in 1906, City Hall was the first building built for exclusive use by the municipality.

Statue of James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the colony of Georgia, 1696-1785,  in Oglethorpe  Square.

The "presidents and poets" cast iron fence.

George Washington

Forest Gump

Remember when the dove feather floated down from the church steeple in the Forest Gump movie?  This is the steeple...

"Life is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're gonna get."

Scottish Rite Temple

Historic Masonic Temple was designed and built in 1912.  Freemason James Oglethorpe established the first lodge in Savannah in 1734.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Mercer-Williams House, where Jim Williams lived and was tried 4 times for the murder of Danny Hansford - the 4th time he was acquitted!  Want to read more about it?  Check out the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.

The parlor light is left on at night - just behind this window is where Danny Hansford was murdered.

Bonaventure Cemetery 

Bonaventure Cemetery is a public cemetery on the banks of the Wilmington River near Savannah and became famous because it is featured in both the book and movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  It has many old, ornate, beautiful markers.  Below are a few I found interesting.

The Bird Girl statue was featured on the cover of the book and actually in Bonaventure Cemetery but now, to protect her from vandals, she is in the Telfair Museum of Art.

Singer, songwriter Johnny Mercer's family plot.

Johnny Mercer wrote many famous songs such as Moon River but I think you'll recognize his holiday songs; Winter Wonderland, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, and Jingle Bells.

Conrad Aiken, southern poet, epitaph.

The Olde Pink House

A stately Georgian mansion that was built in 1771 was originally called the Habersham House but later referred to as The Olde Pink House when the native brick bled through the plastered walls mysteriously making them pink.  Today it is painted pink.

There are eleven dining rooms, the Ballroom is where Scott and I had dinner, prior to the restoration this room was part of the carriage house. 

At one time you could purchase a "house kit" from Sears and Roebuck and then build it yourself.  The original owner of this home in historic Savannah didn't read the instructions or held them upside-down because all the windows were installed upside-down!

Carriage door latch.

Savannah-Chatham County Metropolitan Police Barracks

Two old police cars in front of the oldest continually operating police headquarters in the nation.  The Barracks opened it's doors in 1870 complete with stables.

King-Tisdell Cottage

This is the only black history house museum in Savannah.  We stopped by and got a personal tour of this small Victorian home, built in 1896, and once owned by Eugene and Sarah King.  The King's worked to buy the house during the Great Depression.  After the death of her husband, Sarah remarried Robert Tisdell giving the museum the name: King-Tisdell.

Notice the haint blue shutters and porch ceiling - superstitious homeowners would paint the shutters and ceiling haint blue to keep the ghosts away!  Not superstitious?  Porch ceilings in the south were painted blue because it helps keep the bugs away in the evenings.

This block in the historic district was used as a step to make it easier to get into your carriage.

Fish downspout.

SCAD ( Savannah College of Art and Design) is historically preserving this building but what I found so interesting is all the palm trees they are getting ready to plant along the street.  They look like telephone poles!

Jimmy Carter announced his run for president from this bar in 1975.  Now it's his grandson Jason's turn!  (Read the sign in the window)

At first we thought this was someone's attempt to guarantee a parking spot but then we realized we were in front of the FBI building.

Leopold's Ice Cream

Oh so yummy ice cream and a Savannah institution!

Cotton Exchange

Savannah ranked first as a cotton seaport on the Atlantic and second in the world.  During it's heyday over 2 million bales of cotton were moved through this port.  Much like the Stock Exchange today, many of the world's cotton prices were set on the steps of the Savannah Cotton Exchange.

River Street is paved with the ballast from ship's that plied the Savannah River.

Old cotton warehouses that are now shops.

Scott relaxing on River Street.

Seashells are the aggregate in this sidewalk concrete.

The ferry is free that takes people across the Savannah River, from Georgia to South Carolina and back.

Waving Girl Monument

For 44 years Florence Martus greeted all the ships that entered the Savanah Harbor; by day she waved a handkerchief and at night a lantern.  She was often accompanied by her faithful collie and it is thought that she greeted over 50,000 ships in her lifetime.

Red Doors of Savannah

What does a red door mean?  There are actually several meaning but here it means that your mortgage has been paid!  It also means "welcome" in an early American tradition so tired travelers would know that they could stop for the night.  Some think a red door also signified a safe house on the Underground Railroad.

McDonald's

McDonald's lost their battle for a drive-thru window in the historic district but they do have a small walk-up window instead!

Richmond Hills KOA

Mute Swans and Canada Geese on the pond at our KOA.

Roadside Savannah

Giant Cow advertising Keller's Flea Market.  Be sure to read her cow bell!

World Globe gas storage tank with moon mailbox.

Great Dane, mascot for truck trailer manufacturing company.