Hardeeville/Savannah Recap: Part 1

Monday 1/7/2013

Hardeeville RV

Hardeeville, SC

As I mentioned in our last blog entry, Hardeeville RV is located very close to Savannah, GA, and also the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge.  We stayed a total of 10 nights at Hardeeville RV.  As is our nature, we spent a few days just relaxing around the RV with a few errands thrown in.  The weather during our visit was a bit chilly with many overcast days and some rain.  However, we did get some sightseeing days in too.

Our first day out, Wednesday, 1/2/13, we drove in to Savannah.  First stop was the historic Forsyth Park with beautiful walkways and landscaping, a fountain, and the Confederate Memorial Statue.

Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy with intermittent sprinkles, but that didn’t stop us from continuing onward and enjoying the day.  Our next stop was the Colonial Park Cemetery located in the Historic District-North area.  We parked on a side street across from the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department which is located right next to the cemetery.  There were a couple of old police cars sitting out front.

Located in the center of the boulevard in front of the police station is the Chatham County Police Memorial dedicated to those lost in the line of duty in Chatham County.  The names are inscribed down the sides and date back as far as 200 years ago.

We walked next door and into the cemetery.

 

There was quite a bit more we wanted to see here at this cemetery but we also wanted to go down to River Street along the Savannah River, so we decided to come back another day.  We drove down to River Street and happily found a FREE parking place on a side street.  There are many shops and restaurants along the riverfront.

We stopped in and saw this delicious looking “pie” for sale at a candy shop.

We chose to pass that one up!  In fact, our only purchase was a postcard.  We enjoyed our day in Savannah, but we had one more stop before leaving town…

the Great Dane Dog Statue in front of the Great Dane Trailer Company at the intersection of Bay Street and Lathrop Avenue.  As you can see from the pictures, he was still decorated for Christmas.  On our way home we swung by the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and drove the 4+ mile Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive.

We didn't spend too much time on the drive, but we knew we would be going back another day.

Our next day out, Friday, 1/4/13, we drove out to Tybee Island east of Savannah.  We walked the beach,

and we saw this sign at the dangerous jetty.

If you look closely, you can see “Dad and his daughters” climbing on the jetty with “Mom” looking on.    We also took in some great views of the Tybee Lighthouse.

Fort Screven is all but gone

except for a couple of batteries (a fortified emplacement for heavy guns) that are still present.  One of them,

Battery Garland, has been converted into the Tybee Island Museum.  We elected to pass on touring the museum as well as the lighthouse for now.  We left Tybee Island and went to the Bonaventure Cemetery in Thunderbolt, GA, just east of Savannah.  We were specifically looking for the gravesite of Johnny Mercer, who was a singer/songwriter and co-founder of Capitol Records.  The cemetery has directional signs leading to his gravesite, so it was quite easy to find.  There is a memorial bench nearby with a reproduction of a self-portrait.

Bonaventure Cemetery is a very historic and beautiful place.

We decided we would have to return to spend more time here exploring.

Stay tuned for Part 2…