Savannah, Georgia is a charming Southern escape where period architecture, trendy boutiques and haunted stories are all set under a veil of Spanish moss. Savannah is a place where cuisine comes straight from the coast and cocktails are served at every meal.
In 1887, Florence, daughter of an ordnance sergeant at Fort Pulaski on Cockspur Island, decided to greet each ship entering the Port of Savannah. Florence welcomed visitors by waving a handkerchief during the day and holding a lantern at night, and according to legend, not a ship entered or departed Savannah without her greeting or farewell for the next 44 years.
Savannah’s Cathedral (credit: gallivantertours.com): “In the late 18th century, after arriving in Savannah following the Haitian uprising and the French Revolution, French Catholics founded Savannah’s first Catholic Parish and called it Congrégation de Saint Jean-Baptiste. The Mayor of Savannah passed a resolution for the first congregation to use half of a trust lot on Liberty Square for their new church in May of 1799. One year later, the first cornerstone was laid for Congrégation de Saint Jean-Baptiste. In 1811, the church chose a new plot for a larger structure to accommodate its ever-growing population. In 1835 a new church was built that could seat 1,000 people, and on April 1, 1839, it was dedicated by Bishop England as the Church of Saint John the Baptist.”
Per Wikipedia, “Freemasons’ Hall, formerly the Savannah Cotton Exchange, was built in 1876. Its function was to provide cotton factors a place to congregate and set the market value of cotton exported to larger markets. By the end of the 19th century, factorage was on the decline and the cotton exchange went out of business in 1951.”
