Travels Into Our Past: America's Living History Museums & Historical Sites. Wayne P. Anderson
and drifts down to where he is sitting on a bench and introducing himself to a lady. The site of the bench is now a local museum. Several of the trolley drivers gave some very good imitations of actor Tom Hanks’ speech patterns in that role.
We took the river walk, which allowed us to get glimpses of one of the most active ports in the United States; only New York handles more products. Several giant ships were coming up the river as we walked. The street facing the walk consists of fourand five-story commercial buildings that looked to us much like those we remember seeing along the canals in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Shops and cafes line the street levels of the buildings. Among the monuments along the way were the waving girl the city is so proud of, a black family, and the yacht race flame holder from the 1996 Olympics. Older men with their fishing poles stood along the way, but we saw only very small fish being caught.
One of our guides made much of the area where pirates hung out, an area that includes the oldest standing house in Georgia. This is also the area where men’s drinks were drugged before they were carried through an underground tunnel to waiting ships to serve as involuntary sailors. One man took three years to work his way back to Savannah.
America’s history is in a capsule here, from our founding through the Revolutionary War, our early growth as a commercial center, the Civil War and much activity connected to World War II. We spent three days here, and although we kept moving, we did not have time to tour more than a few of the many stately houses and museums that exist in this incredible city.
Preserving Savannah’s charm
USA Weekend Magazine has named Savannah as one of the 10 most beautiful places in America, and The New York Times Magazine placed it among the top 25 places to live and work.
Whether on a ghost tour or a formal city tour, we kept having buildings pointed out to us as having been renovated by the Savannah College of Arts and Design, a college recognized by the American Institute of Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
On our walks we began to see the college’s name or its logo, SCAD, on many of the buildings in the historic district. It seemed to be a rare square that did not have a building that had been renovated and put into use by the college.
All of our guides commented on how much the school contributed to making Savannah the beautiful, restored city that it is. For years, the historic district had been allowed to disintegrate. As a result, abandoned buildings could be bought cheaply. There had been talk of turning some of the beautiful squares into high-rises. Three of the original 24 squares had already been destroyed, and one was replaced with a parking lot.
One of our guides pointed out a small house of about 900 square feet that sold in the 1970s for $10,000. After the school renovated it along with 60 other buildings in the historic area, she claimed it is now worth $1 million.
Impressed by the impact the school had on a community, we sought out the school’s main office to get further information. That information included the school catalog, one of the most artistically designed we have ever seen, and, at about 3 pounds, one of the heaviest.
The school was founded in 1979 by Richard and Paula Rowan with only a few dozen students. The catalog says it now has 7,500 students from all around the United States and from 90 foreign countries. One of SCAD’s majors is historic preservation, a part of the School of Building Arts, which also includes architecture and interior design. These departments work collaboratively with the preservation students on restoration projects. The students are mentored by a professional construction crew that actually does most of the work.
When the Rowans started buying abandoned buildings, a certain amount of resistance rose from the community. Some residents resented that they were turning buildings into what they were not intended to be. Some examples of the renovations include the National Guard Armory, which now houses classrooms, offices and studios, and the Jewish Educational Alliance building, which now is an apartment-style residence hall for female students.
If any of this resistance still exists, we were not made aware of it. Instead, we heard only positive statements about how much the school had done for the city.
Savannah’s waving girl statue welcoming arriving ships
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