Since I spend a large part of my winters in Edisto Beach, SC, it is only natural the part of Georgia I have visited most frequently is Savannah. Nevertheless my first trip to Georgia in 2011 involved a business trip to Atlanta. I spent a week there and had some time to view some of the sites, including a tour of CNN’s headquarters and a ride up their giant escalator. However I must admit that I did not leave my heart in Atlanta, certainly not at the Hilton in Buckhead. I am sure it is a fine hotel, it just didn’t do a lot for me. My favorite places in Georgia include Warm Springs, Fitzgerald, and, of course, Savannah and Jekyll Island, all of which are distant from Atlanta, both physically and every other way.
I will begin with Warm Springs. If you have read any of this blog you know my fascination with all things Roosevelt. Nothing says more about FDR than Warm Springs, the place where he died in 1945. Harold and I visited there in the Spring of 2014. There is nothing grand about Warm Springs. It is a simple cottage in the Georgia mountains surrounded by woods and rural countryside. Roosevelt believed the warm waters of the springs help ease the pain associated with polio and he developed an area where polio victims could partake of the waters. He also enjoyed the simplicity of the place. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/presidents/roosevelts_little_white_house.html He called his cottage the “little white house.” it was not a huge resort, not even as large a cottage as Campobello. But it was the place where FDR escaped whenever he could get away from Washington. The cottage itself has basically been left the way it was the day FDR died. The simplicity of the place is haunting.
While driving around rural Georgia if you are not frightened by the movie “Deliverance” you might take a short detour to Fitzgerald, a small town in the south central part of the state. I came upon Fitzgerald through the Audubon magazine which explained that the feral Burmese chickens roaming about the town were a genuine life list find for the dedicated birder. I am not a true birder, but the notion of feral chickens taking over a town somehow appealed to me so Harold and I set off for Fitzgerald on our way to Warm Springs. The roosters did not disappoint. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OXlKPvSkyA We spent about an hour driving around the town with me jumping out of the car to try to snap pictures of the elusive roosters as they roamed freely through the town.
For me the most interesting part of Georgia has be the Sea Islands (called the Golden Isles) and the City of Savannah. Jekyll Island always was a fascination for me because when I was a young girl in Pennsylvania my rich aunt, Minnie, always drove each winter in her big Buick with her fur stole thrown over her shoulders to Jekyll Island. I thought someday I would visit the place and see if it really was as glamorous as Aunt Minnie made it seem. Finally in 2020, just before the pandemic struck, my friends from Maine, Carol and Brenda, went with me on an odyssey to the Jekyll Island Club, a national historic landmark and indeed a beautiful old hotel. https://www.goldenisles.com/discover/jekyll-island/things-to-do-on-jekyll-island/jekyll-island-historic-district/ In an interesting historical note, we learned that the Federal Reserve was invented on Jekyll Island when a group of wealthy undercover industrialists posed as duck hunters and hid away there until they had agreed upon the establishment of the Federal Reserve. Our trip involved no financial intrigue. We simply enjoyed our elegant two room suite. We rode rented bikes all around the island and enjoyed both the historic hotel and its sister property, a modern resort with hot tub and pool. We also found the Georgia Turtle Center to be an educational and worthwhile place to visit. It became easy to understand why the wealthy folks of the Gilded Age, the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and others of their class, built winter “cottages” there to escape the dreary weather of the northeast. Originally the wealthy came there to hunt in the fall and winter. Gradually the cottages were built, and entire families arrived for a winter respite.
Finally, I need to say a few words about Savannah, a delightful small city to visit and the perennial rival of Charleston for the title of “best” small southern city. While my heart belongs to Charleston, I enjoy an overnight trip to Savannah every so often. One of the prime reasons for my enjoyment is The Grey, a converted bus station that now serves as a mecca for foodies from all over the United States. https://thegreyrestaurant.com/ Not only is the menu eclectic and delightful, but the ambience of dining in a converted segregated bus station is unbeatable. Perhaps you might take your drink and choose to wander into the “colored waiting room.” Of course, The Grey is not the only good restaurant in Savannah. The city abounds with interesting places to eat and each square you visit offers a new culinary experience.
Another part of a visit to Savannah usually involves cemeteries and ghost stories. There are many beautiful gravesites in the Savannah area and ghost stories abound. The story of Gracie, the young girl pictured in marble at the top of the page, is one of the enduring legends of Savannah. https://ghostcitytours.com/savannah/ghost-stories/little-gracie/ My daughter once took one of these ghost tours. While she enjoyed the tour, I don’t think she encountered any real ghosts. She did take a lot of lovely pictures of Savannah after dark and she enjoyed her time in the city. After all, anyone who has any sense enjoys spending time walking around Savannah.
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