Tybee Island

17 and 18 November 2007

Tybee Island advertizes itself as the most laid back beach town in the Southeast. That may well be, but at least at this time of the year, I really wonder just what the attraction was. Apparently the real estate investors over estimated the demand as it seems that every other house is for sale. The resort area looks like it has seen better times. The town seems to be relying on the parking as its main income source as they have a large squad of meter personnel checking the few occupied spaces for expired tickets. They proudly proclaim no free parking anywhere on the island, even when it is mostly deserted.

The resort area was rather disappointing, with most of the structures really showing their advanced years. It does have a beach with obligatory pier with a couple of minor attractions in the form of the lighthouse and two 1899 era forts build for the Spanish American conflict. We did enjoy a nice bike ride around the area, but headed out without sampling any of the establishments.

Saturday, we decided to just stay on Skidaway Island where the State Park is located. We enjoyed a pleasant bike ride thru the park trails and watched the traffic on the intercoastal waterway heading south for the winter. The State Park has been a great place for us to camp. Our site is probably a half acre and others are even bigger. This will be added to our list of places to come again in the future.

Savannah pictures

A few more pictures of the city.

Savannah, GA

16 November 2007
Savannah is the first city established in Georgia, with arrivals beginning in the early 1700’s. They started the city on high ground above the river and laid the city out in grids which makes for easy navigation in the historic district. There are lots of “town squares” in the grids which contain historical monuments and lots of information about the city’s past. There is plenty of history from the revolutionary period thru the civil war to be found in almost every street and square.

We walked most of the historic district from the waterfront south to the Forsyth Park. While the city shows some signs of wear, the streets are a pleasure to walk. We enjoyed the many homes dating from the 1800’s and several of the churches from the mid 1700’s. The national bestselling book “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” is set in Savannah and is sold everywhere in town. We opted for the movie directed by Clint Eastwood. It gave us an interesting insight into the city.

There is a colonial period cemetery in the center of the city which contains an immense amount of history of the city and the region. The last burial allowed occurred in 1853.

Trail of Tears

14 November 2007
There is a small state park just down the road from us that is the site of the Cherokee National Capital-New Echota. We planned on a quick stop here today on the way to spend our last day with our grandson and parents. It was such an interesting story that we ended up spending several hours there.

Before the white man came to this country and during much of the period of the early settlers taking over the lands once used by the many native Indian tribes, the Cherokee Indians occupied much of the central eastern region of what is now the United States. By the early 1800’s, these people were driven from most of this land, but still held onto territory that covered north central Georgia, parts of Tennessee and South Carolina. Those that remained had transformed their life styles from hunter gatherers to farming, trade and business and adopted a lifestyle very much like the white settlers. They owned farms, ran all types of business and were generally productive citizens of the larger society.

By 1825 they had established a central form of government that was a mirror image of the white man’s national government with a legislative, executive and judicial system. They were the first Native Americans to develop a written language and the only to have their own national newspaper that was distributed in their native language and English throughout the country and the world. In 1828 there were a total of 18 newspapers in Georgia and this was one of them.

This successful integration was not to last, as Georgia believed that the state was entitled to all the Indian lands based on its colonial charter and an agreement with the federal government in 1802.

Long story short-after failing to get a treaty with the Cherokee to leave and then losing a U S Supreme court decision to the Cherokee nation on Cherokee rights, the state arranged a questionable treaty with a very small minority of Cherokee to vacate the land. The Cherokee nation refused to leave their land and homes. At the order of President Andrew Jackson, 15000 people were forced from their homes at gun point by 7000 Federal and State troops and sent on a forced march to eastern Oklahoma with whatever they had on their backs. The difficult journey during winter months left as many as 4000 dead along the trail.

This whole sad saga is known as the Trail of Tears.

Adairsville, GA

12 November 2007
We are camped in Adairsville, GA and have looked at the sign for the historic downtown for several days, as we come and go. So today we decided to see what it looks like. The town has been restored and has a certain Norman Rockwell look to it. It also turns out that it has had its share of excitement as well.

Adairsville saw its share of fighting during General Sherman’s push to Atlanta in the Civil War. One of these actions is celebrated every year. It was the Great Train Chase made famous by the Walt Disney movie of the same name. The original train station of that era is still standing and today serves as the town welcome center.

There are also a number of pre-civil war and Victorian homes that can be viewed in the historic district.

No posting in GA can be made without a picture of our Grandson.