Raritan River 0-4-0 Steam Locomotive, Tifton Georgia

With the train whistle hooting in the background, I walked through the burst of steam and for a brief moment I felt like movie star Marlene Dietrich in “Shanghai Express” or perhaps more suitably Madeline Kahn in “Blazing Saddles” (I am, after all, one the stunning and vivacious innkeepers of Savannah Inns)! In any event on my previous trips to the Museum I had never seen any of the locomotives actually MOVE so it is fitting that I choose this day to share this great surprise as we rapidly approach National Train Day and encourage you to celebrate at the Roundhouse Railroad Museum in Savannah, Georgia.

The museum is believed to be one of the oldest and largest railroad repair facilities in the world! For over 100 years (1833-1963) the complex served as the major repair facility for the Central of Georgia Railroad and played a vital role in Savannah’s industrial heritage. Today a guest can see and tour refurbished coach cars, locomotives and hand cars, take a ride on a steam or diesel locomotive, and learn about the functions of each of the buildings in this complex. If you are lucky enough to plan your trip on one of the special train ride days – you are in for a treat. Perhaps you will find yourself transported to a different time, a different America, maybe you can pretend to be John Wayne in almost any old Western!

The Coastal Heritage Society is the steward of three major Savannah historical sites: Old Fort Jackson, the Savannah History Museum, and the Roundhouse Railroad Museum which includes Battlefield Park. A much anticipated future project is the addition of the Children’s Museum.

May is a beautiful time of the year and the weather is near perfection so be sure to book your room soon at one of the four best bed and breakfast inns in Savannah (www.SavannahInns.com)

Savannah in Springtime

SAVANNAH GA — We at Savannah Inns recently stopped to consider, “What is it about sweets in the American South, especially in Savannah?”  Not so long ago meeting up with friends for dessert and coffee was the sweet, familiar habit after a downtown Savannah concert.   Old spots included hometown favorites like Anton’s (now a bank parking lot), and the Pirates’ House restaurant, once legendary with its smorgasbord of fresh desserts.

That sweet little tradition continues, just in new places in Savannah’s nightlife.  In Garden and Gun magazine Annabelle Carr writes, “After a concert at the Trustees or Lucas theater, Savannahians of all ages gather at Stratton Leopold’s refurbished soda fountain” — Leopold’s Ice Cream shop.    On a night out with the gals, Lulu’s Chocolate Bar might be just the ticket!   A drive out towards the islands to Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House is well worth the trip for their signature Key Lime Pie.

Not just a wonderful place of candy shops that the Girl Scouts love, sweet Savannah is about the beauty.  When you add the sweet smiles, sweet birds singing, and that warm southern expression, “It’s sweet of you …” you will begin to gain a sense of the sweetness of spring in Savannah.  Truly, there’s something magical about March, April, May and early June here.

Of course, our four innkeepers at Savannah Inns think it’s so sweet to choose lodging at one of our historic Savannah inns – Green Palm Inn, Zeigler House Inn, Azalea Inn and Gardens, or Dresser Palmer House.  You’ll find patient, sweet southern hospitality, plus a sideboard waiting with a mini confectionery of homemade desserts.

Life is sweet!  So, what extra special sweet shall the gals at Savannah Inns help you to enjoy in historic Savannah?  We hope to see you soon.

Diane McCray, Innkeeper at Green Palm Inn

The best thing about the restaurant is the reason it is there in the first place. The Starfish Cafe is a joint venture between Union Mission and the Savannah Technical College. The culinary arts training program serves lunch to the public on weekdays with breakfast and lunch on Saturdays. Particiants in the program are homeless or are looking for job skills to make a better life for themselves. Since the program’s inception in 2000, over 200 stuents have graduated and obtained full-time employment. The goal of the program is to assist each student in finding employment and making them independent and successful members of our community.

Located at 719 E. Broad Street, on the corner of E. Broad and Gwinnette Street this restaurant is a great place for a quick lunch or breakfast. If you’re in a hurry they do a great job with their to-go orders. Their hours are 8:00 am – 2:30 pm Monday - Friday, breakfast & lunch.

Plan your winter getaway now with Savannah Inns and take advantage of our Black History Month package.

Let us give applause to Savannah’s black musical heritage, not only in February (Black History Month), but June (Black Music Month) and September (Savannah Jazz Festival), at Christmas, on Sunday, and lazy nights during the full year.  Unknown slaves first brought the African, black, Negro, colored, spiritual, and washboard minstrel here.  Jazz and blues music are alive every day because the slaves sang and played the music of their souls.

Longtime Savannahian Benjamin Mayer “Ben” Tucker was the invited guest bassist at, playing with the famous Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis a few years back in Savannah’s Johnny Mercer Theatre.  It was also Tucker who began teaching jazz appreciation classes in Savannah.  Edith and Isadore Karpf (owners of Punch & Judy shop in Habersham Village, and the parents of Chatham County Senior Judge, Michael L. Karpf) were among Ben’s first students. They joined Tucker, Teddy Adams and others to co-found Coastal Jazz.

Today the Coastal Jazz Hall of Fame honors the musical heroes and heroines of jazz in Savannah.  We cannot copy their web site content, but we surely want to point you to them and the rich stories there. The list is long and distinguished!

WHERE ELSE IS THE AFRICAN MUSIC HERITAGE IN SAVANNAH?     

How many Sunday congregations and choirs will be singing traditional songs passed from one to another as folk songs from memory?  Whitney Phelps tells of old Negro spirituals, which use only five black notes – the “slave scale” found in America’s most beloved hymn – Amazing Grace.   The words were written by John Newton, an English slave ship captain.  The music composer, officially recorded as “Unknown” is sure to be a West African slave chant.  Listen to the Phelps story and powerful performance.

Then, mosey along Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard.  Stand for a moment of respect at the memorial plaque of jazz great Joe Oliver (514 MLK Jr. Blvd.).   Ride a Black Heritage Tour through Frogtown.  Walk the South Laurel Grove Cemetery.  Browse the African-American art exhibit of Dr. Walter Evans at the SCAD Museum of Art.   Riding across the Savannah River, can’t you picture, too, the plantation slaves singing in the nearby rice paddies, and plantation cotton and collard fields?  Walk through City Market and listen for the echoes of hawking – free blacks and slaves selling fresh vegetables, seafood, fowl, and fruits.  Dr. Jamal Toure, historian, who leads the Day Clean Journeys tour chants the hawking.

FOLLOW THE MUSIC!

Little Johnny Mercer, whose family heritage is Scottish, German and Italian followed those street hawkers, walking from his family home on East Gwinnett Street, through Forsyth Park, and over to West Broad Street (now Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard) to listen to “race records” in music shops. In that day, it was THE Savannah busy corridor of shops, theaters, rail and trolley car transportation.   Mercer was born in 1909, so already – before the 20^th Century – music from the “black quarter” of Savannah was catching root.   He was fascinated with the soulful blues and jazz, which took secular root from religious Negro spirituals.  He was fascinated with the river folks, and he spoke their Geechee language.   In Blues in the Night, Mercer penned and sings, “My mammy done told me, when I was in knee pants…” capturing the simple ways of the African-heritage people he so admired.

Vibrant today in Savannah, the Coastal Jazz Society keeps the rich musical heritage alive with weekly “Music across the River,” hosting the Savannah Jazz Festival in September annually, and the Coastal Jazz Orchestra playing year around.   Occasionally there’s a Blues and Barbecue Festival at the Georgia Railroad Museum.  We hope there are far more!

Yes, the music revival continues in Savannah, the city where Jazz was King in the early 1900s.

Get away to Savannah, Georgia, to experience world music, being sure not to miss places and happenings that pay tribute to African-American heritage in Savannah, GA.  Enjoy being near the rich black history in Savannah, while lodging at one of the historic Savannah Inns – Green Palm Inn, Zeigler House Inn, Azalea Inn and Gardens, or Dresser Palmer House. Each is a unique experience, and you’ll be near some of the best African American places of interest.

Diane McCray, Green Palm Inn

Sisters of the New South is located at 2605 Skidaway Road in Savannah, Georgia and locally owned by Kenneth and Vickie Brown.  In business since 2009, this laid back restaurant offers great Southern cooking that you would get at Grandma’s house on Sunday!  Come to think of it though,  Grandma never cooked like this!  The Brown’s menu includes Oxtails, Fried Chicken, Baked Chicken, Smothered Pork Chops, Hamburger Steak, and BBQ Ribs.  Some of the vegetables include Collard Greens, Lima Beans, Mac & Cheese, and Candied Yams.  Most items on the menu are prepared with secret family recipes handed down through the generations.

Meals come with 3 sides which is enough food for 2 people without the entree. We tried an order of ribs, fried chicken and the hamburger steak, along with the sides of mac n cheese, collards, black eyed peas, yams,okra & tomato, broccoli cheese casserole and some delicious corn bread.   Somehow we managed to find room for a little dessert; the Red Velvet Cake was the best yet!  We definitely needed a wheel barrel or a cot after that meal!

Great Soul Food!

So, if you are ever stuck in a food rut or if you just haven’t tried this cultural phenomenon; be sure to check out Sister’s of the New South.  Savannah Inns, – Dresser Palmer House, Azalea Inn and Gardens, Zeigler House Inn and the Green Palm Inn of Savannah GA, highly recommend you give them a try.

Dedication of Pin Point Community Marker

Savannah’s Black Pin Point Community, located near Skidaway Island, is one of the last mainland waterfront communities along the entire Eastern seaboard still owned by descendants of the original African-American settlers. Located within the community is the newly dedicated Pin Point Heritage Museum, built on the grounds of a closed seafood factory.

Situated on Shipyard Creek, Pin Point was once part of the Beaulieu Plantation. Mr. Henry McAlpin purchased the land with the intent to sell it to wealthy white Savannahians as vacation property.  As Pin Point was only accessible by the creek it was considered less desirable and Mr. McAlpin sold several lots to African-Americans in early 1987. Pin Point was mostly settled by former slaves and their descendants from Ossabaw, Green and Skidaway Islands and nearby plantations.  Pin Point was a logical destination for them because land on the islands was not open for sale to them, and they sought to escape the devastating hurricanes that pounded the barrier islands from whence they came.  Two of the earlier settlers started the Sweetfield of Eden Baptist Church (formerly the Hinder Me Not church of Ossabaw), which for a time also served as the community’s school. Later Pin Point children attended the Rosenwald school in the community. This school was one of several schools established throughout the south by the president of Sears, Roebuck & Company to provide education for African Americans within segregated environments.

Pin Point’s location along the marsh and river was perfect for ventures into the maritime industries and in 1926 the Varn Oyster Factory opened and remained in operation until 1985, providing the area with its prime source of income.  Crab, oysters, and shrimp were harvested, prepared, and shipped to local markets by boat and by street car to places as far away as New York.  Men and women in the community worked in a variety of capacities at Varn’s seafood factory: harvesting and processing oysters in the winter and crabs in the summer. Bateau building, net knitting, and crab trap making were home industries related to the seafood business in Pin Point. Children earned money by scrubbing crab barks and women prepared deviled crabs for area restaurants. The business closed in 1985 deeply affecting the propserity of its residents.

Today, Pin Point represents one of the few traditional Gullah-Geechee communities remaining on the Coast of Georgia.  The people of Pin Point are determined to save their way of life, to preserve their heritage, to raise their children free of crime, drugs and apathy.  Pin Point remains a thriving community with an active neighborhood association.  In 2009 the Pinpoint Community became an active participant in “Blueprints for Successful Communities” and was recently listed to the Chatham County Register of Historic Places.

In 2006, with the passage of the National Heritage Areas Act, ten new national heritage areas were established, one of which is The Gullah-Geechee National Heritage Corridor (2006).  The Heritage Corridor was created to recognize the important contributions made to American Culture by Africans and African-americans known as the Gullah Geechee who settled in the coast counties of  northern Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and southern North Carolina, and to assist in identifying and preserving sites, historical data, artifacts and objects associated with the Gullah Geechee culture.  In November of 2011, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas returned home to Pin Point to participate in the dedication of the Pin Point Heritage Museum and the placement of the Pin Point Community Marker as a part of the Gullah-Geechee National Heritage Corridor.

Savannah Inns celebrates the rich black history of Savannah with a powerful two-day Black History Package during the months of January and February.  Book now while these limited packages are still available!

• On November 26, 1890, the Georgia Assembly passed legislation creating the Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youth, now Savannah State University.
• A preliminary session of the School was held in the Baxter Street School Building in Athens, Georgia where it operated for several months.
• The school moved to its permanent location in Savannah, GA on October 7, 1891.
• The College awarded its first baccalaureate degree in 1898.
• In 1921 the first female students were  admitted as residents on the campus.
• In 1928 the college became a full four institution for the education of freedman as teachers in both the North and South.
• In 1932 the college became a full member institution of the University System of Georgia and its name was changed to Georgia State College.
• The college served as Georgia’s land-grant institution for African-American students until 1947. The designation was then transferred to Fort Valley State College.
• In January 1950, the college changed its name to Savannah State College.
• In 1996 the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia elevated Savannah State College to the status of state university and the name was changed to Savannah State University.
• Savannah State University is the first institution in the state of Georgia to offer the homeland security degree program.
• It was the second institution in the University System of Georgia to offer wireless Internet connectivity to students throughout the campus.

Savannah State University is located approximately 5 miles east southeast from the center of Savannah, Georgia, 250 miles from Atlanta, Georgia, and 120 miles from Jacksonville, Florida.

Get away to Savannah, Georgia, to experience African American History Month. Enjoy being near the rich black history in Savannah, while lodging with one of the historic Savannah Inns – Green Palm Inn, Zeigler House Inn, Azalea Inn and Gardens, or Dresser Palmer House. Each is a unique experience, and you’ll be near some of the best African American places of interest.

Ralph Gilbert Marks Civil Rights Museum

Black History Month is in February and as part of our continuing series we are highlighting the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum which chronicles the civil rights struggle of Georgia’s oldest African-American community from slavery to the present.

The innkeepers of Savannah Inns visited the museum last week while taking the African American History - Freedom Trail Tour. The museum has three floors of photographic and interactive exhibits that includes a  NAACP Organization exhibit, a map of 87 significant civil rights sites and events, a lunch counter where “sit-ins” took place, segregation exhibits and a video presentation. These are meant as part of the continuous education of the public on the history of the civil rights struggle here in Savannah and Georgia.

The Museum was named for the Rev. Ralph Mark Gilbert. Dr. Gilbert served as pastor of the historic First African Baptist Church on Franklin Square. Known as the father of Savannah’s modern day Civil Rights Movement and Leader of the NAACP, in 1942 he reorganized the Savannah branch of the NAACP and served as its president for eight years. He also convened the first state conference of the organization. Under his courageous leadership, more than forty NAACP branches were organized in Georgia by 1950. His tenure as president is marked by significant contributions for equality and justice in Georgia. The thing I found most encouraging about his handling of this piece of our history was that he and his followers were able to work toward their goal for equality without violence.

The museum located at 460 Martin Luther King Blvd. in the Savannah Historic District is just 5 blocks south of the Visitor’s Center. The museum is housed in a building that was erected in 1914 as the Wage Earners Savings and Loan Bank for Black Savannahians. It was the largest Black bank in the country at that time. This is a must see for anyone interested in African-American History and the Civil Rights Movement.

Contact Savannah Inns today to book your Black History Vacation package.

1st African Baptist Church links to the Underground Railroad

Perhaps the best known celebration of Savannah’s culture, history and heritage is embodied in the St. Patrick’s Day Festival where for more than two centuries, folks have imbibed in our Irish values and customs while flirting with the quirky persona that is known as Savannah. Our history, however, is not simply our Irish ancestors, the British who founded our colony, or the Jews who formed the third oldest Jewish congregation in the New World, Temple Mickve Israel. It is neither the Catholics nor the lawyers who were first banned from settling here. It also embraces the culture, history and heritage of Savannah’s blacks, both free and slave. February is Black History Month and Savannah embraces our rich African heritage during the 23rd Annual Savannah Black Heritage Festival, February 1 – 16, 2012.

Savannah Inns, a group of four women-owned/operated bed and breakfast inns, invite you to take a different walk with the Lady Savannah, a lesser-known stroll through her history to learn about some extraordinary people and incidents which helped build this great city. Throughout the months of January and February, Savannah Inns will send you on a mesmerizing journey beginning with Day Clean Soul Tours. Dey-Kleen is the Gullah-Geechee philosophy of life that “each day is a new day, each day starts anew; no matter what occurred yesterday – today is a new day!” Jamal Toure’, a renowned lecturer, author and living history performer, will guide you through Savannah’s black history with stops at the Beach Institute, built in 1867 by the Freedmen’s Bureau and now an African-American Cultural Center, Laurel Grove Cemetery South – where in 1853, 15 acres of the original cemetery were set aside for the burial of “free persons of color and slaves”, and also the Ralph Gilbert Marks Civil Rights Museum which will open eyes to the courageous acts undertaken to ensure equality of all.

Take a few steps along the Underground Railroad with a stop at the First African Baptist Church, the oldest black Christian congregation in America followed by a visit to the Haitian Monument also located on Franklin Square. Jamal will fill your 2-1/2 hour journey with enough tidbits to compel one to learn more about our black history.

Lunch would not be quite the same if we did not point your way to some of the wondrously delicious Soul Food on which reputations have been built and food critics won over. Our top secret list will be handed over as you begin your journey wrapped in a neck handkerchief – the sort worn by working tradesmen and laboring slaves. Feel free to dab your brow with it as you labor over the heaping lunch plates of favorite hidden-away soul-nourishing restaurants.

There is much to learn, so many places to explore, and so little time but we believe we have packaged the best of the best, the amuse bouche to the meal of Savannah’s Black History and the Civil Rights Movement. Join the thousands of visitors from around the world who have embraced the story of Savannah’s black history, culture and heritage.

PACKAGE HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Three days and two nights in one of the four Savannah Inns’ specially selected rooms with check-in on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday in January or February 2012.

2. Day Clean Soul African American History Tour for Two, including admission to select venues

3. Secret Map of Soul Food Destinations and specific must see Black History/Heritage Sites

4. $398 per couple/room plus tax and gratuity)

SavannahInns.com is a collection of 4 distinctly southern bed and breakfast inns located in the Historic District of Savannah, Georgia