Today I’m heading slightly out of town up to Savannah’s Bonaventure Cemetery on the bluff of the Wilmington River. Seen as it was a key deciding factor on me stopping here over Charleston; I’m pretty excited to say the least.

On the way out I pass white mail boxes on sticks in front of houses, and the little out-of-town communities have quaint names like ‘Thunderbolt’.

I get there and It’s a beautiful quiet graveyard; headstones signalling some of Georgia’s oldest family names, as well as an influx of European settlers. As with most of Savannah, live oaks permeate the plot boundaries and you get the feel somewhat of being in the hanging gardens of Babylon, but with a genteel southern flair.

Next stop on my historic tour is The Wormsloe Plantation on the Isle of Hope. My journey passes me by lush marshes, the smell of salt in the air, and stunning properties adorn a jettied waterfront.

Once a busy plantation site established by one of Savannah’s founders, now all that remains of the original home of The Jones/De Renne family is a small ruin of fortified tabby walls. Through the entrance gates and more live oaks stretch their fingers across from either side of a gravelled approach avenue; forming a perfect archway of branches a mile and a half long. It’s a beautiful spot and belies the grandeur of what must have long ago been a proud and expansive estate.

Once on the lands, magnolias and palms stand guarding the remnants of this formerly thriving complex, before civil war scarred the south and fractured the economy.

It’s a perfect slice of history and I leave feeling serene and bewitched by the ghosts of a time gone by.

The route home takes me back past train crossings and hand painted signs for hot boiled peanuts (The best in Georgia!) and fairly soon I’m back in the main town and in this century.

My last evening here in the south, and having been consistently told that literally not a care is given here in Georgia; I venture back out for cheap booze and good food.

I retire much later, completely spent from my day, and reluctantly packed and ready for my early morning flight to Florida.

A mere three days here, but it feels like an age has passed. Oh Savannah, what an adventure it’s been-you’ve stolen my heart and softened my soul.

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