Destination Unknown 23: Savannah’s Dark Past

Day 187

Today we returned to downtown Savannah to explore a little further. We parked in a central location giving us easy walking access to all twenty two squares of the city. Our first stop is the Colonial Cemetery Park, located between Lafayette and Oglethorpe square. The cemetery was created in 1750, by 1789 it had expanded three times to reach its current six acres. The cemetery was closed in 1853, eight years before the start of the civil war. When Union troops occupied Savannah, the graveyard became a temporary home to several hundred soldiers. It is alleged that the soldiers defaced and altered dates on the grave stones and took shelter inside the vaults. The cemetery was abandoned for several decades, become a favoured spot for youth and homeless to hangout. In an effort to clean the cemetery up, Savannah turned it into a park in 1896.

After we finished with the park we worked our way down to River Street along the Marsh Island Canal that connects to the Savannah river. River street is now a beautiful walk along the shore with excellent markets to shop and restaurants to eat in. That was not always the case. From the Indian burial ground the street is built over, to the slave pens and multitude of deaths that occurred unloading the ships in port, residence and tourists for years have reported strange and eerie sightings.

Today was our last day in Savannah as we head for Florida tomorrow. We did did not know what to expect from Savannah when we arrived, but in the end we really enjoyed the city.

Due to the desecration to headstones and the buried bodies, the Colonial Cemetery is one of the most haunted sites and is considered “Paranormal Central” by the locals.

The pathways around the cemetery were built using tabby.

Tomb of Button Gwinnett one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He died from partaking in a duel.

In the early days, people would settle there disputes through pistol duels. This section of the cemetery is where citizens would be buried from duels, Button Gwinnett was one of the casualties.

Back then it was said “Pistols for two, coffin for one”

In the old days Savannah was not very good at respecting the dead. In order to make the pathways around the park, the town simply removed the headstones and paved overtop of the graves. They placed the headstones along a wall that lined one side of the cemetery.

Looking closely at the tombstones you could see deaths recorded at remarkably old ages. This is the work of vandals, who at some point in the cemetery’s past altered the memorial inscriptions.

Once the park was opened, remnants of Hoodoo rituals were often discover in the morning. Hoodoo is similar to Voodoo but yet different. Voodoo is based around spirituality mixed with Catholicism. Hoodoo is not mixed with religion, it is a belief entered on a deep spirituality, believing in both ghosts and a type of magic cast by charms, potions and amulets.

Over seven hundred victims of the yellow fever plague were buried in a unmarked mass grave.

The Savannah Cotton Exchange was established in 1867. Its function was to provide King Cotton factors (a kind of union), brokers serving planters interests in the market, a place to congregate and set the market value of cotton exported to larger markets such as New York or London.

The cobblestone roads and walls are built from stones that incoming ships used as ballast material. The ships would discard the rocks on the shore, so cotton could be loaded for the return trip.

The streets along the harbour were always packed with people and cargo. The owners and upper class had built walkways over the road to access their warehouses.

Savannah has the fourth busiest seaport in the US. Some big ships were coming down the river as we explored the river front.

If your big on celebrating St Patrick’s Day, Savannah is where you need to be. The city has an open liquor law, dyes all the city’s fountains green and shuts down all transit and roadways.

Our spot at the Savannah Oaks Rv Resort. Located in the corner of the park, we faced into the forest. There was no lights around our site, so when the sun went down it was pitch black around us.