More Savannah, Georgia

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014

Hardeeville RV Park

Hardeeville, SC

SAVANNAH GEORGIA

SHIPS OF THE SEA MUSEUM

We sat out the tornado watch and rain storm on Monday with temperatures in the high 70's.  Overnight those temperatures dropped to high 20's.  It was pretty cold this morning but we still had one more day on the trolley tours to use, so we bundled up and headed into Savannah.

Ships of the Sea Museum had lots of ship models done in 1/8" to 3/8" = 1' scale.  

 Amazing samples of sailing ships right up to modern battleships.

This model was the Titanic as it was sinking.

It was not surprising that a lot of the ships on display were name Savannah.

The Sailors indulged in the hobby of carving on ivory know as scrimshaw.

In the displays of "life at sea" was this 19th century cat.  Ceramic "cats" like this were placed in the windows of brothels in English ports in the late 18th and 19th centuries.  If the cat had green eyes, this meant the house was open; if the cat had red eyes, it meant the house was full or that police were nearby; if the cat's back was turned, it meant the house was closed.  Do you suppose this is where the name "Cat House" came from?

These plates were definitely to be used by ship's officers.

Thor made a good figure head on a ship.

This museum was housed in the William Scarough House.  The tile floor in the entry area was beautiful. 

Ships of the Sea also has ships in bottles.

This one had a complete town as well as the ship.  This took some work!

You could even go into a pilot house to feel what it was like to pilot the sailing ships.

This should give you an idea of the scale of the models.

A little history on the house.  

The front of Scarbrough House.

OWEN-THOMAS HOUSE

Our next stop was to the Owens-Thomas Historical House.

This is looking from the back balcony at the carriage house and slave quarters.  It is now the gift shop and ticket office for house tours.

The south side of the house.  No photos were allowed inside.

Amazing iron work.

This house was very unique for 1800's as it had indoor plumbing.  Rain was captured from the roof and stored in 3 cisterns, one on each level.

After visiting the house it was time for lunch.  Our house guide pointed us to the 17Hundred90 restaurant on the ground floor of a hotel right across the street.  An wonderful lunch on linen covered tables at a reasonable price.  We then decided to walk the 3 blocks through the cemetery to the Cathedral.  Check out the sidewalk made with seashells.

COLONIAL PARK CEMETERY

Interesting Crypts in the cemetery.  Our waiter at the restaurant told us about family crypts with caskets all around the inside and one big urn in the center.  When the crypts became full, the oldest deceased in the crypt would be cremated, put in the urn, and the newly deceased would be put in the casket.

Some very old head stones

CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

The Cathedral we featured in our last blog was open for viewing today.

Beautiful statues...

Murals...

Stained glass windows...

Main alter.

We found out the main structure of the building is made of cast iron, including the vaulted arches.

The Organ pipes and more of the cathedral...

 Beautifully carved Carrara marble Baptismal font...

with this Celtic Knot in the bottom done, in gold leaf.

Check out the candle stick.

The daytime temperature did not get over the low 50's and tonight is another freeze warning so we unhooked the water hose.  Tomorrow we will head another 100 miles south to Brunswick, GA in hopes of getting into warmer temps but not sure it it will help.  We will be catching up with Ann and Archie Chisholm again to see Jekyll Island, off the Georgia coast.

More to come...

Becky and Lonnie