Georgia on Our Minds

From Asheville we drove to Hilton Head Island, arriving mid-afternoon. The Prius did very well at nearly 50 mpg. The island was a bit surprising to us, though I’m not sure what we expected. It’s not all high-end condos. There are slums, too.

Ordinances forbid businesses to have anything more than very modest signage, and all businesses are hidden from the roads by trees. So, while it’s a pretty drive, we had a very difficult time finding a gas station, for example. Even a big Walmart was invisible until one was right on top of it.

We visited Mitchelville, which was a community of formerly enslaved persons created by a Union officer named Mitchel (hence the name) near the very beginning of the Civil War. Despite South Carolina’s status as a state in rebellion, the Union held the island. It was the first community in the U.S. to have compulsory education for children, and demonstrated that formerly enslaved African Americans could maintain a democratic civic government — something doubted even by some abolitionists at the time.

We also took a walk through part of the Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge. Our Google Maps got very confused about finding this place. It tried to take us there through a very highbrow gated community. The security guard had obviously encountered others similarly misdirected. We did find it, finally, without the GPS, and it was a very nice walk. But at this time of year, there aren’t that many birds present.

We continued to Savanna, which is just across the state line. We got a room in a B&B that was a huge Victorian house directly across the street from Forsyth Park in the Historical District. We had the Honeymoon Room (about a half century too late for us), which was quite elegant. We walked around the Historic District, all the way down to the River and the old port. The new port is one of the busiest in the U.S., but where sailing ships used to dock in Colonial times is where we were.

The B&B had a complimentary wine & cheese reception, and we sat outside on the veranda with our wine, having a socially distanced conversation with a couple from Seattle. After sunset, we walked several blocks to a restaurant we had scoped out on our previous explorations, and enjoyed a nice meal next to a high flame propane heater. The B&B had a complementary dessert waiting for us upon our return.

The next morning at first light we took another walk to further explore the Historic District. The homes are remarkably well preserved over a wide area. Then we hurried back to the B&B for our 8 a.m. breakfast reservation. It was a big breakfast, and very well done.

After breakfast, we packed up and checked out. But before hitting the road, we stopped by the very famous  Bonaventure Cemetery. Overlooking the Savanna River, the cemetery is the final resting place for veterans from the Revolutionary War to the present, as well as famous authors, and many of Savanna’s prominent families.

Then we hit the road, which in this case was I-95. It was a mess of traffic — like Minneapolis rush hour all the way for seven hours. It was a very exhausting drive. But we had no difficulty finding the resort and getting checked in. The condo is not fancy, but quite nice, and with a pleasant view of the beach and the ocean, as well as of the pool and “tiki bar.”

We got a take-out meal from the seafood restaurant right here in the resort, and brought it back to eat our our deck. And after the long drive, we were early to bed.