When I go to a town, especially an old one, I like to learn a little bit about the history of the place. And here we are in Savannah and they certainly have a little bit of history here, wouldn’t you know.
I sure would love to tell you about it here, too. So guess what’s going to happen. Savannah 101.
The city’s recorded history begins in 1733. That was the year General James Oglethorpe came here on the very good ship named ”Anne.” With 120 passengers. Or so.
I like the name Oglethorpe. It reminds me of the Chocolate Drink, Ovaltine… mixed with super athlete Jim Thorpe.
Anyway. They landed during February. Now I am sure that arrival dates were hard to plan for back then. But WHY in the heck do those early settlers ALWAYS land in February of all months. I’d leave England in February, and shoot for good landing weather. If I were Captain Choco-Drink.
Back to the story. Oglethorpe named the 13th and final American colony “Georgia” after England’s King George II. Savannah became its first city.
They intended this new start up… to give the working poor of England a sparkly new beginning. Also the English wanted to strengthen the new colony through increased trade. Not only that… Georgia was supposed to run block. Yep. It was sort of set up to protect South Carolina from the Spanish. The Spanish of Florida.
Once he was here, Oglethorpe became friends with the local Yamacraw Indian chief, Tomochichi.
Oglethorpe and Tomochichi pledged mutual goodwill. And thankfully…. the new arrivals from England were give permission to settle Savannah. So the town flourished without warfare. Big bonus. Really big bonus.
Apparently… Savannah is known as America’s first planned city. Oglethorpe laid the city out in a series of grids. Wider streets here. And… he also laid out a whole big bunch of shady public squares and parks. Back in the the day… the “squares” served as town meeting places and spots to do business.
Lot of dead people buried all around the place down here. There are something like 10,000 recorded burials down here in the Colonial Park Cemetery. But now there are only about 600 headstones. That means there are a lot of people six feet under that are being driven over… and such. In addition to all of that….there are a gazillion haunted stories, ghost stories, paranormal sightings, and the like.
But of all that, the thing that struck me the most… was that so many people for years and years have been wondering… “What EVER happened to Dicky Mopper?” Well, now we know. The writing, as they say… was on the wall.
Dicky, I’ll call you.
And a P.S. Best Restaurant so far…. 37th on Elizabeth. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.
