June 15th through 21st, 2024
We were still in Savannah really enjoying the campground and its location. We felt like we had already seen so much in the area, but there was still more to go see and do. And it was all historically significant.
First, we went to see Fort Frederica. James Edward Oglethorpe is a big deal in Savannah and the surrounding area, as he was one of the founders. He wanted to build a community of hard workers, a place where people who were the "worthy poor" could live a good life. So, he built a colony and Fort Frederica to defend its shores. The town of 1,000 people and the fort are almost lost to time, but they are always working to uncover more and more of it. It was by far the smallest fort we'd seen, but the story around it was possibly the most interesting.
We're always looking for good vegetarian food, but restaurants that serve it are difficult to find in places that have such good seafood and Southern cooking on the menu. However, we found what is now one of our favorite restaurants in a strip mall in St. Simons Island, Sea Salt Healthy Kitchen. The food was amazing, and we were sad to leave it behind. Check it out if you're ever in the area.
We had gone to places on Tybee Island a few times since we got to Savannah. It's a beautiful place. This time, we headed there to check out Fort Pulaski. This fort was in stark contrast to Fort Frederica because it was huge and relatively complete. The way they built it meant there weren't even any cracks in its walls even after all this time. It was impressive!
As two women from the west, specifically the southwest, we were used to learning about native peoples and how they lived in the deserts. We didn't know much about the battles fought on the east coast, and not much more about the Civil War than we'd learned in classes. So, it was interesting to be learning so much. Fort Pulaski was one of the last forts to be built like these, because it was where they stopped using round cannonballs and started getting smarter. The new and improved cannons easily smashed through the brick walls in the Civil War, and that was it.
We wrapped our Savannah stay with a trip to the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park in South Carolina, just a short drive north of us. The park was spread out all over the town of Beaufort, and we only saw a couple spots before the day ended. It was enough to learn that we still had a lot to learn about the Civil War and how slavery really presented itself in the Southern states. It's sobering, and it's enlightening. We aren't sure if we'll ever truly understand the experiences of people of color, but we'll keep educating ourselves and doing our best.
It was finally time to leave Savannah, and we were sad about it. The campground was perfect, and we really liked Georgia. But there was still a lot more to see. We kept heading north.
