5/19/2019

Weekly Update 5/19/2019

The week began with an exciting visit to the Burlington Outlet at Savannah Mall. Dave wanted to buy some things, and who am I to complain about shopping? From there, we went to The Mighty 8^th Museum. Dave and I had visited before, but Lisa had never been. Since a lot of the museum is the History of the 8^th Air Force Unit, which made bombing raids in Europe from Great Britain in WWII, Dave and I are both interested. (In fact, I believe he may be planning visits to some sights in France for when I visit there in the Fall. Cool!) After that, we met Kay and her family at Churchill’s for a wonderful visit.

Tuesday morning, Kay came over to MP early to get tickets to go to UK next September. We’d been watching, and prices seemed to be as low as we were going to find, and we felt that we would get our tickets when Dave and Lisa were here, so we could be sure of dates. I couldn’t get it. Poor Kay! It was like working with a 2-year-old, but she held my hand through it all, and we’re both booked now. A new SCAD museum has recently opened, and I thought it might be something a little different for us to do. It was really interesting. The story of how it grew from an idealistic vision into a major college was told through visual displays and animated experiences. And after that, we went to the Prohibition Museum. I had been there before, and enjoyed it very much. More history, what’s not to like? Kay had to leave us then, but Dave, Lisa and I all went to Kevin Barry’s in the evening to listen to the always entertaining Harry O’Donough.

Wednesday, we had tickets for a guided tour of Daufuskie Island in Hilton Head, SC. We had to take a ferry to get to Daufuskie, and then we had a bus tour around the island. There is a lot of history there: Native American tribes were here until they were driven away by explorers, traders and settlers. Plantations were developed in the Colonial era, growing indigo, and later, Sea Island cotton. Because the plantation owners were away for much of the year, the isolation of the slaves provided the setting for the retention of their African culture. After the war, freed slaves returned and purchased small plots of land. The boll weevil destroyed the cotton fields, and then the economy turned to oyster canning, until that also was decimated by pollution in the river. By the 1980s, the popularization was less than 60, with most people moving away for better opportunities on the mainland. Developers came in to create a resort community, full of condos, expensive homes, and golf courses. We enjoyed riding around and seeing the Bloody Point lighthouse (and winery), the Mary Fields Schoolhouse (famous in Pat Conroy’s book, The Water is Wide), two churches, the Council Tree, a bald eagle nest, and many other points of interest. While we had hoped to stop and get something for supper in Bluffton, that didn’t work out. We had to go all the way back to Savannah and eat at The Crystal Beer Parlor – I was not unhappy about that.

Thursday was a slow-down day. I felt that we had been on the move continually for days, and I needed a little relaxing. I think the others did too. So we began at Two Cracked Eggs for a breakfast / lunch (while Kay was at the dentist). Then down to River Street for Wet Willies and to people watch. There were several interesting exhibits at the Jepson that Dave and Lisa were interested in, so we went there. I especially liked the Talking Continents sculpture by Jaume Plensa. One more time, we raised pints of Guinness at The Rail, and then went to Treylor Park for supper.

Friday morning, Dave and Lisa left early. I missed them immediately, and my condo seemed very empty. But, Friday is always DH and The 90, so I didn’t have long to mourn; I had to get back into the routine.

Saturday, I was up early to open BC, and from there, I went downtown for a tour in the area around the King-Tisdell Cottage. This was an African American working class neighborhood in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. But we also walked past some houses that wealthy African American’s lived in during this time. It was very interesting, but almost too hot to be able to enjoy walking around and standing to listen another story about another family.

I had to be a BC in the afternoon to answer questions and hand out maps. But, it was a sad, sad day. A Savannah police officer was killed in the line of duty a week ago, and his funeral was set for Saturday, just about the same time I was to be there. I didn’t have trouble getting to the cemetery, but I thought I might, so I left some extra time. There were people all along the procession route with flags and salutes as the cars drove by. I counted over 200 police cars from all aver Georgia and South Carolina. Two fire trucks raised their ladders and hung a huge flag at the entrance to the cemetery. It was very moving, very sad. RIP Sgt Kelvin Ansari.