For our third full day at Hilton Head, we decided to drive over to Savannah.  It seemed a shame to be so close and not visit.  We knew we would enjoy the architecture and just walking around, but we wanted to find something specific to do so we could wander with some intention.  After a bit of research, Jeff wanted to see John Wesley’s marker and statue (he’s a history buff and a pastor, so the Great Awakening hits a sweet spot with his interests) and I wanted to see the Telfair Museum which includes two art museums and a tour of an early 1800s house.  We also marked Forsyth Park in the historic district and the river walk as places to go.

We found some paid public parking and decided to walk around first and finish the day with the museum and house tour.

As I expected, I loved the architecture and everything was made even more beautiful by the surrounding lush greenery and mature trees wearing Spanish moss.

If you’ve never been to Savannah, the city’s hallmark is its squares.  Where most cities have parks and green spaces dotted here and there, Savannah has 22 squares, each with eight surrounding blocks.  They make walking through the city even more enjoyable.

They also add a lot of shade, which was welcomed on a warm late-October day.  As we were walking, I decided I would also remember Savannah as the city of dappled light.  Just about every building and sidewalk was spotted with light that poked through the gaps in the trees.  It was quite striking.

Of course, we popped into a little used bookshop – The Book Lady Bookstore.  It had quite a nice selection of art and design books, but I didn’t see any that tempted me enough to carry around for the rest of the day.  I would put it on the list to visit for any book lovers, though.  It was a cozy shop with little nooks, wing chairs, library ladders, and book stacks.  It wasn’t messy, but it also wasn’t overly organized and meticulous.  The book stacks and packed shelves made it feel like an invitation to find a book, take a seat, and thumb through it.

We found John Wesely’s square and said hello…

And we climbed down an old, steep brick staircase to the river walk…

One thing I noticed throughout the city was the use of oyster shells.  They were a part of the sidewalks and, in the 1800s home, we toured, part of the walls.  You saw them in garden beds as well.

We meandered our way to the Telfair Museum, starting at the Jepson Center.  On display was an exhibit on Norman Rockwell and his peers and I was interested in seeing that.  This Rockwell painting was one I had never seen before and the lighting was stunning.  I know he’s known as an illustrator, but I’m not sure that title fully encapsulates his work.

His studies for his famous boy scout paintings were amazing to see close up.  My studies are usually small scribbles.  These studies are so intricate and huge!  I can only image the hours spent on each one and they weren’t even the finished work.

We took a short walk over to the Telfair Academy to see their gallery and sculptures.

I gathered some inspiration for my dining room mural in this fantastic room…

It isn’t a huge museum, but there are some lovely pieces.

I’ve come to really appreciate seeing paintings in person and learning in to see and appreciate the details.

I got to see original works by some artists I love like Childe Hassam, Williard Metcalf, Henry Ossawa Tanner, and one of my very favorites, John Singer Sargent.  I was able to see some of Sargent’s paintings in Paris, but I have studied more of his work since then, so it felt special to get to see one of his paintings in person.  The placement of the labels made it a little confusing to know which painting was which on this wall, but  had no doubt this was Sargent.

He says so much with so little.  Just look at the eyes, the ears, and the mustache.  They’re not detailed at all, but they completely capture a person who looks very real and present.

The Telfair Academy is also where the “Bird Girl” statue is which was made famous by Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil.  I was so frequently visited that they moved it to the museum to keep it safe.  (I’m sure charging admission played a part in that decision, too!)

Anyway, from the Telfair Academy, we walked a few blocks to the Owens-Thomas House for a tour.  I imagine it’s packed in the summer, but we were able to get into the next tour that was starting in just a few minutes.

Jeff felt a little neutral about touring the home, but even he loved it.  The guides were knowledgeable and made an effort to paint an honest picture of life in the home for the family as well as for the enslaved people who worked there.

The house was beautiful and I enjoyed the gardens, period furniture, and architecture, but one of the most interesting things about this house is it was the first in the US to have indoor plumbing.  It used a gravity-fed cistern system inspired by Roman baths and aqueducts.

In the garden, I made sure to point out the espalier trees to Jeff so he could envision what ours might look like in a few years.

The parterre garden was added in the 1950s, so it’s not a representation of how the grounds would’ve looked in the 1800s, but I’m glad they left it this way even if it wasn’t historically accurate.

They are still in the process of restoring the slave quarters, but enough of it is finished to give you an idea of the dramatic differences between the family home and where enslaved people lived.

The thing I noticed right when we walked into the common room was the paint on the ceiling.  I was hoping the guide would talk about it and he did.  It was tested a few years ago and was determined to be the original paint.  Before the paint was tested, they assumed it was milk paint (a buttermilk-based paint), but the testing showed it was a pigmented lime and plaster wash.  I couldn’t help myself and leaned over to Jeff to say, “I could’ve told them that wasn’t milk paint just by looking at it.  Milk paint doesn’t chip like that when applied directly on raw wood.  It might still chip and wear in places, but it would’ve soaked in more like a stain.”  Yep.  I’m a paint nerd.

I enjoyed looking at the furnishings and paint colors throughout the home.

Naturally, the antique watercolor box caught my fancy.  I leaned in to try to see what paint cakes were intact and who the maker was.

I had never heard of Osborne watercolor boxes, so I looked it up and learned Osborne was one of the best American makers of watercolors in the 1800s.  A box almost identical to this one was used by Audobon.

There were a lot of interesting design features in the house including faux marbling, faux oak paneling (or “foak” as Jeff called it), and even an arched bridge upstairs instead of a flat landing.

I wanted to take this linen press home with me.  You don’t think they would notice two people wrestling this down the stairs, out the door, and through town do you?  It is one of those pieces wearing the kind of patina that makes it glow.  That only happens with age.

The basement houses the kitchen, laundry, and a few other utilitarian rooms.

It was a wonderful tour and a lovely day trip from Hilton Head Island.  We were initially going to eat dinner in Savannah, but we didn’t want to pin ourselves down with reservations.  We wanted to leave the city when we were ready and that happened to be late afternoon, so it worked out well.  We ate dinner back on Hilton Head Island at Alexander’s, a fine dining restaurant featuring low-country cuisine.  The atmosphere and service were excellent and the food was equally matched.  They probably served the best bowl of pimento cheese grits I’ve ever had in my life (and I’m a grits girl through and through.)  I may have grown up in Germany and moved around a lot, but our Virginian family made sure we knew good southern food.

We had just one full day left…

You can read about our first and second days at Hilton Head HERE and HERE.