A friend and I visited Savannah, GA on saturday. It is an interesting town with a lot more history than Atlanta. We wandered around in the historic district and the riverfront. We visited Savannah history museum which was kind of small. It had some good information about the history of the city. It seemed to me though that Savannah hasn’t done well since cotton ceased to a major crop. We also visited Fort Pulaski national monument which was captured by Union forces in 1862. Visiting the Civil war sites is always interesting; one strange aspect of it is that the history told at these sites, whether they are in the former confederacy or not, is always neutral and from the point of view of the soldiers rather than the whole picture. Yes, the soldiers fought bravely but was it worth it? Were they defending a worthy cause? Were they on the wrong side? It is interesting that conservatives in general make judgments about Iraqis and Arabs etc. so easily but still hesitate about the Civil War more than 130 years later. Is it conservative post-modernism and moral relativism?
We also saw a number of other historic buildings like this mansion from early 19th century. Whenever I go near the ocean, I have to visit the beach as I love beaches (a result of living for 6 years on the Mediterranean coast). So off we went to Tybee Island, but I was disappointed. The beach was sort of like the ones in New Jersey. As was befitting, we had traditional southern food for lunch at Nita’s place and seafood for dinner on River Street.
