Savannah Bike Tour and Mrs Wilkes

On our last day in Savannah we did a fantastic bike tour and it’s no less magnificent in the daylight. We rode through 16 of the 22 town squares and learnt fascinating history including:

1. Jones street is where the saying “keeping up with the Joneses” comes from. It’s considered America’s most beautiful street.
2. We visited the church where Jingle Bells was written
3. Savannah has the second biggest St Patrick’s Day in the world next to New York City. This is because Savannah was the only port that would take Irish immigrants as paid employees as Savannah was an abolitionist/antislavery town, so the Irish could get work as indentured servants, which was basically lowly paid slaves.
4. Forrest Gump was filmed here, using the town hall and one of the town squares. But the bench where he sat was stolen. LOL
5. The first Africans brought to Savannah believed that evil spirits couldn’t cross water so the downpipes often had fish features to represent water.
6. A group of women called the ‘Old ladies of Savannah’ chained themselves to an old building in Savannah to save it from being torn down. They succeeded and using their combined funds purchased it and created the historical society. Thanks to them Savannah has an unusually large amount of historic buildings, so they literally saved Savannah!
7. Savannah has 22 Town Squares more than any other place in the world.
8. The hauntingly beautiful moss you see all over the trees is known as Spanish moss, and it flies in via seeds from the Caribbean!

After all that, we had lunch at Mrs Wilke’s dining room, where you sit with other people family style with fried chicken, brisket etc and no less than 16 side dishes. All your southern classics were there, like black eyed beans and fried Okra, and it was absolutely fantastic!

Finally we went to the hauntingly beautiful Bonaventure Cemetery considered the most beautiful in the USA.Read more