Tuesday, October 23, 2012

October 9, 2012. The Hawthornes Are In Savannah.

This is not my picture:
I wanted to go check out the Bird Girl statue
an iconic image of Savannah,
made famous by the best selling book,
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
Bird Girl once stood in Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery,
but she's no longer there.
The original statue is now in the Telfair Museum.
It seems that people were chipping at the statue
while it was in Bonaventure,
 taking pieces home with them.

I was determined to see the statue
and that's how we ended up at
 the Telfair Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Created under the will of Miss Mary Telfair,
(c1789 - 1875),
the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences
opened as the first public art museum
in the Southeast with a preliminary  
private showing,
February 12, 1885.
After extensive remodeling and additions,
with Detlef  Lienau of New York as architect,
the building was formerly dedicated May 3, 1886.
Among the prominent persons who attended the dedication were:
Jefferson Davis and his daughter Winnie Davis;
Charles C. Jones, historian; Gen. A. R. Lawton; 
Gen. Henry R. Jackson; Gen. G. Moxley Sorrel;
Col. John Screven, and Col.Charles Olmsted.
Carl L/ Brandt. N.A,
served as Telfair's first Director, 1883-1905.

In 1875, Mary Telfair, Alexander's sister,
and heir to the family fortune and 
last to bear the Telfair name,
bequeathed the house and its furnishings to the 
Georgia Historical Society
to be opened as a museum.

Telfair Academy contains two 19th century
period rooms and houses nineteenth- and twentieth-
American and European art.



Designed in the neoclassical Regency style,
the academy is a former mansion
built in 1818 for Alexander Telfair.

Outside the Academy stands Rembrandt and ...

... Michaelangelo and ...

... Phidias ...

... Raphael and ...

... Rubens.

I tell you, 
I was excited about checking this museum out,
seeing the Bird Girl statue,
and taking pictures.

Sadly, photography is not allowed.
Fie!

I did get to see the bird girl;
however, she was being guarded 
by a large burley woman
who wore combat boots,
and kept giving me the stink-eye,
so I couldn't get any pics.
Daggummitt.

Both my favorite exhibition and Mr. Hawthorne's favorite
were the watercolors by Mary Whyte.



A trip to Savannah is not complete
without stopping by Pauler's the Lady and Sons.
Apparently, our trip is incomplete
since we didn't go.

I wanted to,
for you, my readers.
But I am sorry.
I simply could not stand in line for a buffet.

That said,
we drove around in squares, not circles, once again.
I set a destination in our Garmin
for Old Town Trolley tours.
And off we went.

Our driver/guide explained this artwork.
It's locally known as the "shaft."
It stands in front of the IRS building.


This is the old Jewish synagogue.


Don't you like that pole in the middle?
I'm telling you,
even a carriage ride can't do photographic justice
to these towns.
I guess I'm just going to have to hire
a private tour, 
with a guide letting me out at every point of interest
so I can shoot pictures,
and Mr. Hawthorne would man my recorder
and get the history on tape.
Or whatever it is they use these days.

This might have been the park
where Forest Gump sat on that bench,
watching the feather wafting down
and telling his life story to anyone who'd listen.

I don't know.
Our tour guide said the bench had been moved
because people kept trying to steal it.
The original bench is now at the Savannah History Museum.

People!
What the hell is wrong with you?????



We were at a stop light
and I enjoyed watching 
the birds take a bath.
Rosie has a simple nature.





This is the home of Juliet Lowe,
founder of the Girl Scouts.

Our guide later drove by the Methodist church
where Juliette Low was baptized, married, and funeralized,
or as she put it,
"Hatched, matched, and dispatched."



Yes, I was aiming for the tree.
Why do you ask?

































Again, we see the welcoming-arms staircase,
also known as men to the left,
women to the right,
so the men won't catch a glimpse
of the ladies' virginal ankles as she lifts her skirts
to climb the stairs,
which would be downright scandalous.









I love watching the big ships
come into Savannah harbor.






People throughout the historical districts 
of both Savannah and Charleston,
make roses, crosses, and baskets
out of reeds to sell to the tourons.


Golden dome of the City Hall.
It's covered in tissue-paper-thin
23 carat gold leaf.


Pauler is callin' to me,
"Rosie!  Rosie!  
You know you want to come in, y'aaalllll."
Insert hysterical cackling here.

5 comments:

Catherine said...

Dear Rosie, I hope you are having a nice time...God bless you in all your travels. I hope you are having a nice relaxing time.

Blessings dearest, your friend, Catherine xo

DH said...

Yayyy I liked the bird bathing too. :)

Marilyn said...

Pretty pictures.

But you traveled all that way and didn't eat at Pauler's place? Fer shame! You must really learn the value of patience, grasshopper.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Mar, you have no idea about the parking and the maneuvering to obtain a parking space. And Pauler's is a buffet. Eventually, I will eat at The Lady and Sons, just not this time.
Been through Savannah twice. And I'm sure Mr. H. is up for a third time.

Anonymous said...

The pictures of Savannah are wonderful. I love the architecture and the bathing birdies.

We ate at Pauler's when we were there. Lunch, not dinner. We stood in line and had a great time talking to all the other folks from all over the place. The restaurant is very organized and once the doors opened it didn't take much time to get to our table. We ordered from the menu rather than go to the buffet and I have to say, the food was really good. I had tomato tart which was good and my husband had the crab cakes, which he loved. The service was good and we were glad we tried it. I have to say, though, that standing in line again is not on my agenda.