Creekfire RV Resort- Savannah, GA

 Creekfire RV Resort- Savannah, GA

The swamp in the campground has posted a warning concerning alligators in the area. We looked but did not see any gators.

Forsyth Park (formerly known as the Military Parade Ground) is a large city park that occupies 30 acres in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia.

This monument is in honor of Georgians that served in the Spanish-American War.

Built in 1874, Forsyth Park hosts a large monument to the Confederate lives lost in war. One of the first and largest in the state, the monument was unveiled in 1874. The bronze statue of a Confederate soldier added several years later in 1879.

As one of the most photographed fountains in Savannah, the Forsyth Park Fountain was installed in 1858. Paris was the inspiration for the park and the fountain. At the time of installation, Parisian urban planning was centered on the development of residential neighborhoods radiating out from a central green space. The Parisian model of developing large city parks was emulated by cities in the United States, including Savannah.

This memorial honors Marines from Savannah that served from WWI thru Desert Storm.

Monterey Square is one of the 22 squares in the city of Savannah. It was laid out in 1847.

Monterey Square commemorates the Battle of Monterrey (1846), in which American forces under General Zachary Taylor captured the city of Monterrey during the Mexican–American War.

In the center of the square is an 1853 monument honoring General Casimir Pulaski.

Madison Square is located in the fourth row of the city's five rows of squares. The square is named for James Madison, fourth president of the United States. Madison Square features a vintage cannon from the Savannah Armory. These now mark the starting points of the first highways in Georgia, the Ogeechee Road, leading to Darien, and the Augusta Road.

William Jasper was a noted American soldier in the Revolutionary War. 

Jasper distinguished himself in the defense of Fort Moultrie on June 28, 1776. When a shell from a British warship shot away the flagstaff, he recovered the South Carolina flag in the Battle of Sullivan's Island, raised it on a temporary staff, and held it under fire until a new staff was installed. Governor John Rutledge gave his sword to Jasper in recognition of his bravery.

In 1779, Sergeant Jasper participated in the Siege of Savannah, led by General Lincoln, which failed to recapture Savannah, Georgia, from the British. He was mortally wounded during an assault on the British forces there.

Sgt. Jasper's story is similar to that of Sgt. John Newton. Five states (Indiana, Missouri, Texas, Mississippi, and Georgia) have adjacent counties named Jasper and Newton, as these were remembered as a pair, due to the popularity of Parson Weems' memorializing early American history. Several other states have a Jasper County with a county seat of Newton, or vice versa.

Lisa and Superdog Karma were posing at Madison Square.

Mark, Lisa and Superdog were in Madison Square at another memorial.

Chippewa Square is located in the middle row of the city's five rows of squares. 

The square named in honor of American soldiers killed in the Battle of Chippawa during the War of 1812. 

The James Oglethorpe Monument honors the founder of the Province of Georgia, who established the city of Savannah in 1733. Efforts towards the monument's erection began in 1901 and were led by members of several patriotic groups in the city, who secured government funding for the monument. It was dedicated in 1910, in a ceremony that attracted several thousand spectators and was attended by several notable government officials.

Wright Square is located in the second row of the city's five rows of squares, and was laid out in 1733 as one of the first four squares. 

The second square established in Savannah was originally name Percival Square, for John Percival, 1st Earl of Egmont, generally regarded as the man who gave the colony of Georgia its name. It was renamed in 1763 to honor James Wright, the third and final royal governor of Georgia.

The square is the burial site of Tomochichi, a leader of the Creek nation of Native Americans. Tomochichi was a trusted friend of James Oglethorpe and assisted him in the founding of his colony. When Tomochichi died in 1739, Oglethorpe ordered him buried with military honors in the center of Percival Square. In accordance with his people's customs, the grave was marked by a pyramid of stones gathered from the surrounding area. In 1883, citizens wishing to honor William Washington Gordon replaced Tomochichi's monument with an elaborate and highly allegorical monument to Gordon, called the William Washington Gordon Monument. Gordon's own daughter-in-law, Nellie Gordon, objected strongly to this perceived insult to Tomochichi. She and other members of the Colonial Dames of the State of Georgia planned to erect a new monument to Tomochichi, made of granite from Stone Mountain.  The new monument was erected in 1899. It stands in the southeast corner of the square and eulogizes Tomochichi as a great friend of James Oglethorpe and the people of Georgia.

William Washington Gordon was a railroad baron during the mid-1800s who served as the founder and first president of the Central of Georgia Railway. In 1842, Gordon passed away at the age of 46. Several years later, in 1883, efforts were underway to erect a monument in honor of Gordon in Savannah. 

In 1733, Johnson Square was the first square to be laid out and remains the largest of the 22.  It is named for Robert Johnson, colonial governor of South Carolina and a friend of General James Oglethorpe.

Interred under his monument in the square is Revolutionary War hero, General Nathanael Greene, the namesake of nearby Greene Square. Greene died in 1786 and was buried in Savannah's Colonial Park Cemetery. His son was buried beside him after drowning in the Savannah River in 1793. Following vandalism of the cemetery by occupying Union forces during the Civil War, the location of Greene's burial was lost. After the remains were re-identified, Greene and his son were moved to Johnson Square. An obelisk in the center of the square now serves as a memorial to General Greene.

The Nathanael Greene Monument honors the general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. While the cornerstone was laid in 1825, the monument was not completed until 1830, at which time it served as a joint monument for Greene and fellow Continental Army general Casimir Pulaski. The monument became solely dedicated to Greene in 1853, after which two bronze plaques honoring Greene were added to the structure. In 1902, Greene's body was reinterred under the monument.

The Savannah Cotton Exchange was established in 1876. Its function was to provide King Cotton brokers who were serving planters' interest in the market, a place to congregate and set the market value of cotton exported to larger markets such as New York City or London. 

The cotton exchange went out of business in 1951.

African American Monument was spearheaded by Abigail Jordan, an African American activist from the city who spent several decades trying to get the monument created.  In 1998, the city's Historic Site and Monument Commission approved the monument.

In January 2001, the city council approved the monument, but deferred action on a decision regarding a quote by Maya Angelou that would appear on the base of the monument. The proposed quote would have read, in part, "We lay back to belly in the holds of the slave ships in each other’s excrement and urine together, sometimes died together, and our lifeless bodies thrown overboard together. At the time, the quote was considered controversial in part due to the monument's proposed location along the Savannah River promenade, which was one of the biggest tourist attractions in the city.  David Jones, an African American city council member at the time, had the following to say about the quote: “Maya Angelou’s description was a little far out. I myself wouldn’t want to be reminded of that every time I look at it. History . . . can hurt.” Savannah Mayor Floyd Adams Jr. was also opposed to the quote. In January 2002, Angelou submitted to the city council the following addition to the quote: "Today, we are standing up together, with faith and even some joy." This amended version of the inscription was unanimously agreed upon by the city council in May of that year.

Florence Margaret Martus, also known as "the Waving Girl", took it upon herself to be the unofficial greeter of all ships that entered and left the Port of Savannah, Georgia, between 1887 and 1931. A few years after she began waving at passing sailors, she moved in with her brother, a light keeper, at his small white cottage about five miles up the river from Fort Pulaski. From her rustic home on Elba Island, a tiny piece of land in the Savannah River near the Atlantic Ocean, Martus would wave a handkerchief by day and a lantern by night. According to legend, not a ship was missed in her forty-four years on watch.

This bell which is believed to be the oldest in Georgia, bears the date 1802.  Imported from Amsterdam, it hung in the cupola of the City Exchange from 1804 until a short time before that building was razed to make room for the present City Hall.

In it's day, the bell signaled the closing times for the shops and was rung by a watchman when fire broke out.

The Haitian Monument, in Savannah’s Franklin Square, recognizes the contribution of the all-Black Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue to the fight for American independence.

Few Black regiments fought on the American side during the Revolutionary War. The Chasseurs-Volontaires – recruited from present-day Haiti, at that time the French colony of Saint-Domingue was the largest Black regiment to serve in that war.

Although they had been enlisted to occupy an auxiliary role, the Chasseurs-Volontaires did serve on the front line, the 545-strong force providing cover for their French allies during the Siege of Savannah in 1779.

The Telfair Academy is a historic mansion in Savannah, Georgia. It was designed by William Jay and built in 1818, and is one of a small number of Jay's surviving works. It is one of three sites owned by Telfair Museums. Originally a family townhouse belonging to the Telfair family, it became a free art museum in 1886, and thus one of the first 10 art museums in America, and the oldest public art museum in the South. 

Orleans Square boasts the German Memorial Fountain, which commemorates the contributions of the early German immigrants to help the colony of Georgia grow. Beautiful stone benches and shaded by huge live oaks surround the fountain, which appeared in the square in 1989.

The construction of Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist began in 1859 and was completed in 1876. The structure was nearly destroyed by fire in 1898, but was rebuilt by 1899. 

The colonial charter of Savannah prohibited Roman Catholics from settling in the city. The English trustees feared that Catholics would be more loyal to the Spanish authorities in Florida than to the English government in Georgia, however this prohibition faded shortly after the American Revolution. The church's congregation was reorganized about 1796. French Catholic émigrés established the first church in 1799 after they fled Haiti after slave rebellions that began on the Caribbean Island in 1791. It became the main church for free blacks from Haiti in the early 19th century.   

Lafayette Square is located in the fourth row of the city's five rows of squares and was laid out in 1837.   The square is named for Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution who visited Savannah in 1825. The oldest building on the square is the Andrew Low Carriage House, which dates to 1849.

The square contains a fountain commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Georgia colony, donated by the Colonial Dames of Georgia in 1984.

Troup Square  is located in the fourth row of the city's five rows of squares and was laid out in 1837.  The square is named for George Troup, the former Georgia governor, Congressman and senator. It is one of only two Savannah squares named for a person living at the time (the other being Washington Square).

In the middle of the square is the fascinating Armillary Sphere, a sphere held up by six tortoises. Originally invented by the Greeks and used to track celestial orbits, armillary spheres were also used by ancient astronomers to show the recurrence of equinoxes and solstices.

Whitefield Square is located in the southernmost row of the city's five rows of squares. In 1851, it was the final square to be laid out. The oldest building on the square dates to 1855.

It is named for the Rev. George Whitefield founder of Bethesda Home for Boys (a residential education program, formerly the Bethesda Orphanage) in the 18th century, and still in existence on the south side of the city.

The square has a gazebo in its center.

The Armstrong Kessler Mansion is a nationally significant example of Italian Renaissance Revival architectural style located in the Savannah Historic District. The structure was built between 1917 and 1919 for the home of Savannah magnate George Ferguson Armstrong (1868–1924). It was owned by the Armstrong family from 1919 to 1935. Afterward, the structure and grounds served as the campus of Armstrong Junior College. Threatened with demolition, the Historic Savannah Foundation purchased the Armstrong House along with five other threatened historic buildings from the college for $235,000 in 1967. Once saved, Historic Savannah Foundation then sold the Mansion (and Hershel V. Jenkins Hall) at the exact purchase price to preservationist and antique dealer Jim Williams who restored it as his home. Eventually, both were sold to a major Savannah law firm as offices. 

The Savannah Historic district was a wonderful visit.  We knew little about Savannah when we arrived and ended up consumed by the city.  The historic district was an easy walking tour but extremely deep in history.   The original founders of the city had the amazing foresight to lay it out with green spaces. It is just a fabulous and gorgeous city, so rich in beauty and history. It is definitely one of my favorite cities in the nation.  

A view down a street in Savannah with a canopy of Live Oaks and Spanish moss covering them. This scene is uniquely southern. My southern pride ran deep in Savannah. 

We had a great visit and a fabulous dinner with my nephew John and his wife, Savannah, at their home. He is a former Marine and now serving in the Army. They are currently stationed at Fort Stewart. Unfortunately, we neglected to take a single picture of them during our visit. They have 3 dogs, 2 are German Shepherds. Karma loved being able to play with them. It was so great to visit with them. I have not seen John since before he joined the Marines. Not being a bigger part of his life is one of my biggest regrets. He went into the Marines as a boy and he came out a man. I am so proud of his service to our country.

Lake Aire RV Park & Campground- Charleston, SC

 Lake Aire RV Park & Campground- Charleston, SC

One of our first stops was at Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum in the Charleston Harbor. This was on our "must see" list for the city.

The above sail is from a 640 Class Ballistic Submarine, the SSBN 644 USS Lewis and Clark. The submarine is supposed to look as if it was surfacing from underwater through the grass.  

 

The Cold War lasted 42 years- from March 1947 to November 1989.  Mark spent 12 years, almost 30% of the Cold War, aboard submarines.  

Starting the tour of Fort Sumter with our Star Model, Lisa-minus her trusty sidekick, Karma.

Fort Sumter is accessible by boat only. This was our first view of the fort as we were approaching. 

Notice the American Flag- it is the style flag that would have flown over Fort Sumter after the Civil War. 

This 15 inch Rodman Cannon with a range of 5500 yards was one of several types of cannons displayed.

This 8" Columbiad cannon has a range of 4800 yards.

The 10" Mortar cannon has a range of 2200 yards.

It is hard to believe that in the mid 1800's, there was the capability to blast shells over 3 miles. 

These rifled style shells penetrated the walls at Fort Sumter.

This repaired cannon would have shot through the cannon ports in the fort walls.

The actual flag that was flown at Fort Sumter when the Civil War started. Notice the difference in the stars from present day flags.

A model of what Fort Sumter would have looked like prior to April 12, 1861.  All of the buildings that are on 3 sides of the fort are completely gone.  The walls that stood 50 feet tall were decimated to an average height of 10 feet.

USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier, as seen from the water. She is now a museum ship and a National Historic Landmark.

Dolphins playing off the bow of the boat we took to Fort Sumter.

The insignia of the U.S. submarine service is a submarine flanked by two dolphins. Dolphins, attendants to Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea and patron deity to sailors, is sometimes referred to as the sailor's friend. Sailors "get their dolphins" when they qualify in submarines by completing an extensive qualification process that lasts about one year. Both enlisted and officers are required to qualify in their respective programs that cover all the submarine's systems. 

The Bennett Rice Mill façade stands at the enter of the SC Ports Authority’s Union Pier Terminal in downtown Charleston. The mill, which opened in 1845, is considered one of the finest examples of 19th-century American industrial architecture.

An architectural design we found interesting in Charleston was the door on the street side typically opens up into a porch.  Entry into the home is via a door off the porch from the side of the house.  Due to the grid system of Charleston, homes can be laid out east-west or north-south. The porches are always on the south or west sides to protect from the late afternoon sun when Charleston is at its hottest.

The Col. William Rhett House was built in 1712 as the main house for Point Plantation, later known as Rhettsbury, lying outside the walled city's limits. 

The John Cordes Prioleau House is a historic residence built in 1808 in Charleston.

 Construction of the US Custom House began in 1852, but was interrupted in 1859 due to costs and the possibility of South Carolina's secession from the Union. After the Civil War, construction was restarted in 1870 and completed in 1879. 

An architectural mix of townhouses located on Broad St. 

St. Michael's Anglican Church (formerly St. Michael's Episcopal Church) is a historic church and the oldest surviving religious structure in Charleston.  It was built in the 1750s by order of the South Carolina Assembly.

The historic U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, built in 1896, serves as the federal court for South Carolina.

Poyas Mordecai House, circa 1788, is a historical landmark. An interesting fact-Mr. Mordecai brought home the bodies of South Carolina soldiers who fell at Gettysburg at his own expense. He owned a fleet of merchant ships and imported many goods. Many of his ships were used by the Confederate army during the Civil War. He lost his great wealth during the war and had to rebuild his fortune after the war. 

South Carolina Society Hall, designed by Gabriel Manigault, was built between 1799 and 1804. The portico, designed by Frederick Wesner, was added in 1825. It is regarded as one of the most historic and beautiful buildings in the nation.

Washington Square is a park downtown in the historic district of Charleston named in honor of George Washington. The planting beds and red brick walks were installed in April 1881. 

Along the east wall of the park is a monument to Gen. Pierre Beauregard, the Confederate general in charge of the city's defenses from 1862-1864.

In the center of the park is a memorial to the Washington Light Infantry. The memorial is a miniature version of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. The memorial is about forty-two feet high and is inscribed with the names of important military battles. It was unveiled on February 23, 1891.

William J. Johnston was a drummer boy in Company D of the 3rd Vermont Infantry during the American Civil War. When his division was routed during the Seven Days Battles during the Peninsula Campaign of June to July 1862, he was the only drummer to come away with his instrument. His superiors considered this a meritorious feat, given that the regiment's other soldiers had thrown away their guns and equipment to lighten their loads as they retreated. As a result, he received the Medal of Honor in 1863; at age 13, he remains the youngest recipient of the award.

Mary Edwards Walker, M.D. was an American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war and surgeon. She is the only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor.

In 1855, she earned her medical degree at Syracuse Medical College in New York, married and started a medical practice. She attempted to join the Union Army at the outbreak of the American Civil War and was denied. She served as a surgeon at a temporary hospital in Washington, D.C. before being hired by Union Forces and assigned to Army of the Cumberland and later the 52nd Ohio Infantry, becoming the first female surgeon in the US Army. She was captured by Confederate forces after crossing enemy lines to treat wounded civilians and arrested as a spy. She was sent as a prisoner of war to Richmond, Virginia until released in a prisoner exchange.

Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth. These three astronauts-Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders-were the first humans to personally witness and photograph the far side of the Moon and an Earthrise.

Apollo 8 launched on December 21, 1968, and was the second crewed spaceflight mission flown in the United States Apollo space program after Apollo 7, which stayed in Earth orbit. Apollo 8 was the third flight and the first crewed launch of the Saturn V rocket, and was the first human spaceflight from the Kennedy Space Center, located adjacent to Cape Kennedy Air Force Station in Florida.

Apollo 8 took 68 hours to travel the distance to the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times over the course of twenty hours, With Apollo 11 in July 1969, the fulfillment of U.S. president John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the decade. The Apollo 8 astronauts returned to Earth on December 27, 1968, when their spacecraft splashed down in the northern Pacific Ocean. Apollo 8 Capsule was recovered by the USS Yorktown.

Lisa is investigating 2 different fighter aircraft aboard the USS Yorktown on the flight deck.

Located on Shutes Folly, a small island about one mile off the Charleston shore in the harbor, the fort was built over the ruins of an older fortification called "Fort Pinckney". The original log and earthen fort, named after the Revolutionary War hero Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, was built beginning in 1797 and was intended to protect the city from a possible naval attack when war with France seemed imminent. A replacement brick-and-mortar structure called "Castle Pinckney" was erected in 1809–1810 and was garrisoned throughout the War of 1812.

By the late 1850s, Castle Pinckney was part of a network of defensive positions in the harbor, which included the larger and more strategically placed Forts Sumter and Moultrie, and other, smaller earthworks and fortifications.

On December 27, 1860, one week after South Carolina seceded from the Union, the fort was surrendered to South Carolina militia by its small U.S. Army garrison. Castle Pinckney became the first Federal military installation seized forcefully by a Southern state government.

One hundred and fifty-four Union army prisoners of war (120 enlisted, 34 officers) captured during the First Battle of Bull Run and previously incarcerated at Ligon's were kept at the Charleston City Jail until the lower casemates of Castle Pinckney were converted into cells.

The Angel Oak tree is one of the most visited sites in the area.  Not many trees have their own gift shops and full time staff to protect it. 

Karma was napping at lunch after a long walk on the beach in South Charleston. We found a restaurant on the beach with an outdoor patio so he could sit with us. The town is pretty dog friendly.  He always gets lots of love and attention when he is out with us, which he loves. We call him our attention whore. I think we wore him out today though. He knows he has to be a good boy to go with us. Good boys get special treats and get to go. Bad boys get left at home.  There is absolutely no where he would rather be than with us, so he does amazingly well no matter where we take him. I know we brag on him frequently, but he truly deserves it. The big doofus definitely keeps us entertained.