A practically perfect DVC HHI beach trip with a side order of ghosts & drag queens

We got back to the hotel & had a little while to relax in the room before heading out to our ghost tour. We could have walked, but as the tour was getting over close to midnight, we did not want to walk back that late. So we drove & parked at Clary's Cafe where we were to meet the group.
IMG_2944.jpg

It was a beautiful evening & with the sun down it was actually cool & quite pleasant. We remembered to put on bug spray this time!
We met the group & before long were heading out to one of the squares where we talked about Savannah's hidden cemetaries. It seemed that we were standing on top of an old slave cemetary in Calhoun Square. That area used to be outside the city limits & was a place for slave burial, but as Savannah grew & expanded, they just built over the old cemetaries. So Savannah is literally a city built on her own dead.
We walked to a house at 423 Abercorn street.
IMG_2954.jpg

The house is abandoned now & according to the tour guides story has been since 1984. People don't want to live there because of all the paranormal activity. It is a very spooky looking place where supposedly back in the 1800's a man's little girl misbehaved & he took her punishment to extremes. He sat her in front of the window facing the square & told all the servants to ignore her. So for 3 days, she sat there with no one bringing her food or water & with the afternoon sun shining in on her & all the people walking by the square seeing her. She died in that chair with everyone looking on of dehydration & is now said to haunt this home showing up in the window on the right in the 2nd story where she sat.
IMG_2963.jpg

We were able to go up & look in the window & in the mail slot in the front door. Pretty spooky & I kept expecting a face to be peering back at me.
IMG_2969.jpg


IMG_2968.jpg

There is also a face on the side of the house. This is a more contemporary story about college students living there & a friend refusing to go in because he saw another friends face on the house.
IMG_2964.jpg

We went to another old home that is being redone that is haunted by a young man's ghost that was beaten because he was cheating with a mobsters girlfriend. They tied him to the front banister of his father's house & left him for dead.
IMG_2972.jpg

The father was a judge & didn't want people to know what happened so he would not take him to the hospital so he died a few days later in the home. He is said to haunt the 3rd floor & appears on the balcony.
IMG_2974.jpg

Then we went to Mercer House which is a setting from Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil. There have been quite a few deaths here & not all can be explained so the local legend is the house has it out for people. A man that killed his wife here was one night seen to be almost lifted off a side balcony by the wind & pitched over to his death. And this home is where the infamous crime from Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil was commited.
IMG_2978.jpg

We visited another home where we were told about a ghost as companion. A confirmed bachelor lived in home where a doctor had lived. The doctor showed up & kept the bachelor company & he liked having him around. He left for a trip to Europe allowing a priest friend to stay there & the priest thought he was doing the man a favor by doing an excorcism to get rid of the spirit but it made the man really mad when he came back to discover his companion was gone.
Our last stop was to look in one of the backyard gardens behind a home. Here we talked more about the hidden cemetaries. At one point, Union troops were disturbing graves in the cemetaries around Savannah, so people would go out & exhume their dead relatives & bury them in their back yards to keep their graves from being disturbed by the D@M* Yankees :scared1:. So the moral to that story is, if you buy a home in the historic district in Savannah there is no telling who you have in your garden.
IMG_2981.jpg

All, in all the tour was good & was a fun way to see Savannah in a different light. I think I would enjoy doing a tour that was a little more historical next time as a lot of these stories aren't the famous ones but it was still fun & the guide Larry was a very good story teller. I didn't capture anything weird in any of my photos either, not even any orbs. :sad2:

Up next......walking tour & it's rainin' men
 
Too bad you didn't get to see anything supernatural!
 

Today, we slept in after our late night hunting ghosts. After we got up, we decided to head to River Street to eat brunch at a place that was recommended to me by a girl at work.
River Street is so named because it is right beside the river. It is a mix of restaurants, shops & areas to sit & watch the river go by.
IMG_2986.jpg

It is cobblestones & really quaint but hard to walk on at times.
IMG_2990.jpg

We wandered in & out of some shops & then meandered on down to Hueys for our brunch.
IMG_2994.jpg

We had to wait a few minutes for a table, but it was worth it! First up an order of beignets which were too die for!!!!
IMG_2991.jpg

I had eggs benedict with grilled tomatoes on it & Eric had an omelet. It was a great breakfast.
135.jpg

After filling up our tanks, we decided hey we are in Savannah & it's after 11am lets have a drink. :lmao:So we headed over to Wet Willies to get one.
IMG_2995.jpg

This place has tons of different flavors of frozen drinks & they are POTENT per reports I had heard.
IMG_2996.jpg

We decided to get one & share it so we wouldn't be too looped to walk. We got a shock therapy which was an electric blue delight & it did pack a wollop so our decision to share was a good one. We walked across the street to some benches & sat watching the river sipping our drinkie.
IMG_2998.jpg


IMG_3000.jpg

The skies were looking a little ominous & it started to sprinkle a little but we trudged on. We had no umbrella so we hoped the weather would hold out.
IMG_3007.jpg

We walked down to the Waving Girl. She is based on a real woman that used to go out to signal welcome to boats passing on the river.
IMG_3012.jpg

Then, we walked up some of the crazy steep stone stairs & started walking around some of the squares.
138.jpg


140.jpg

It was so hot & humid that we were dripping sweat (just like the trees are dripping in spanish moss) in no time, but enjoying seeing all the beauty around us.
IMG_3015.jpg


IMG_3019.jpg

We toured the Owens Thomas House & it was a really neat place that was designed by a 24 year old british architect in the 1800's.
IMG_3021.jpg

It was of a style that believed eveything should be in perfect symmetry so there are false doors & things everywhere. Pretty cool. It also had running water which was really unusal at that time & they did this with a really cool cistern system. No photos were allowed inside, but it really was beautiful.
Gardens between the Carriage House & the main house.
IMG_3023.jpg

Inside the slave quarters/carriage house. I took this because I thought the no pictures inside only applied to the main house, but after I took it they said no photos in there either. Opps.
IMG_3024.jpg

Another garden view.
IMG_3027.jpg

We also found the Turner Hamilton Inn.
IMG_3043.jpg

There is a rumour about this place that this home inspired the design of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. I can see a bit of architectural influence.
IMG_3046.jpg


Continued in the next post......
 
We continues walking & seeing things like beautiful magnolias.
IMG_3033.jpg


IMG_3069.jpg

And gorgeous street lamps.
IMG_3045.jpg

We walked over to the Cathedral of St John the Baptist but there was a sign out front that a service was in progress so we couldn't go in then. Probably a wedding as we seemed to encounter that over & over again trying to go in churches that day. It was a Saturday in May after all. So, we hoped we would get to come back & see it later, since this was the one we were most looking forward to seeing.
IMG_3101.jpg

We had been walking awhile & were really hot & our feet were hurting. About that time, we made it back to Clary's cafe & decided to go in & get a bite to eat & cool off.
IMG_3047.jpg


IMG_3048.jpg

Clary's was used in the filming of Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil & there are some nods to that in the restaurant.
IMG_3049.jpg


IMG_3050.jpg

We split a club sandwich & then I had to try a piece of homemade coconut pie for dessert.
IMG_3051.jpg

It was a great lunch & we left feeling refreshed & ready for some more walking. We went back over to see 423 Abercorn...the really spooky house from the night before in day light.
IMG_3053.jpg

And also went back to Mercer house.
IMG_3060.jpg

That's the room where the shooting occured.
IMG_3062.jpg

We went into the carriage house shop there & browsed before heading over towards Forsyth park passing another movie location...the attorneys office.
IMG_3068.jpg

Forsyth park is a beautiful green area in the city with a fabulous fountain. There was a wedding reception going on here as well---what a setting for a party.
IMG_3070.jpg


IMG_3073.jpg


IMG_3074.jpg


IMG_3077.jpg

After enjoying a stroll through the park, we headed back over to the cathedral.
IMG_3081.jpg

The sign was still up, but we saw people going in so we went over & got to take our peek inside. The pictures don't do it justice. It is really gorgeous.
IMG_3083.jpg


IMG_3085.jpg


IMG_3093.jpg


IMG_3094.jpg


IMG_3098.jpg


IMG_3099.jpg

It was so nice & peaceful inside. We lit a candle & said a prayer. When we came out of the cathedral this is what we saw..........
IMG_3100.jpg

It was pouring rain. We waited a few minutes until it slowed down a little bit. By now it was nearing 5pm & we were exhausted from being out in the heat all day & we had probably walked close to 5 miles. We headed out into the rain back to our hotel for a bit of rest before our evening activities.

cont in next post.
 
We made it back to the hotel & cranked up the AC & crashed for while. I don't think a shower has ever felt so good. :lmao: We debated back & forth about what we wanted to do for dinner. We had orginally intended to drive over towards Tybee Island & go to Bubba's fish house for dinner, but we were tired & really decided to heck with it. We ended up ordering a bite from room service & it was so nice just to lounge around & relax.

Before, we knew it it was time to head on over to Club One for our evening entertainment.
IMG_2984.jpg

We were only a block away so that was nice that we didn't have to walk too far on our tired feet. We were going to Club One to see the Lady Chablis.
IMG_2914.jpg

For those of you that don't know. She is a famous drag queen that played herself in the Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil film. She performs at Club One only about once a month now & it just happened to fall during our time in Savannah. I had always wanted to go, so I talked Eric into it.
IMG_2915.jpg

So here we were about to experience our first time ever in a gay club & see a bunch of drag queens.
IMG_2916.jpg

The place was full & we were anticipating a good time.
148.jpg

The master of ceremonies was a lovely lady called Layla Foxx.....they bill her as so Southern if you cut her she bleeds gravy.
IMG_3104.jpg

Now here was this woman with big hair & big you know what's but when she opened her mouth out came this very deep voice. :lmao: Talk about ruining the illusion. :rotfl: She was really funny though & got the show started off in the right light mood.
Then out came Lulu Viva who shall we say is a healthy girl & she proceeded to delight us with a version of Don't mess with my Toot Toot-HI Larious!!!!
IMG_3108.jpg

Then what I thought was the prettiest drag queen of the night, Tiffany Du Bois who danced around so much it was impossible to get a good shot of her.
IMG_3110.jpg

Layla Foxx with her big hair came out & performed Reba McEntire's Fancy....I mean what else would she do?:rotfl2:
IMG_3118.jpg

Then we finally got to meet the fabulous Lady Chablis who did 2 numbers & then chatted with the audience. She was as hilarious & as off color as I thought she would be. Delightful.
IMG_3135.jpg

Then we got another number from all the ladies & Layla Foxx did a great speech from Julia Sugarbaker from Designing Women before doing The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia. Terrific!!!!
IMG_3142.jpg

Lady Chablis closed out the show with Leaving on that Midnight Train to Georgia & was fabulosity personified.
IMG_3149.jpg

As she walked by, I put my hand up in the air & she grabbed it & gave it a squeeze! :teeth:
It really was sooooo much fun & we enjoyed ourselves & never once felt uncomfortable. After the show, Layla Foxx was out to take pictures with & these 2 girls said if you will take our picture we will take yours. OK great. But guess that dumb chick didn't do something right even after trying to take the picture like 2 or 3 times, because not one thing showed up not even a blurry image. DUH!!!!! I was a bit disappointed but what are you gonna do?:confused3
IMG_3150.jpg

We made our way out of the club & decided to go find a place to get a night cap. It was so pleasant out now in the evening to walk & not be sweating bulllets. We ended up at Murphy's Law Irish Pub.
IMG_3151.jpg

We had a drink & then got a second one to go because after all this is Savannah & we wanted to experience carrying a drink around in the streets. We enjoyed walking back to the hotel & ending our night in our room with our night cap.

What an awesome day in Savannah.

Not much to tell about Day 10 5/23/2010.....we got up & checked out. I wanted to check out one house that I had seen pictures of that was a bit out of the historic district. So on our way out of town, we went to find this beautiful gingerbread covered Victorian.
IMG_3158.jpg


IMG_3156.jpg

Then, we headed for a McD's to get a biscuit & headed up the road back to Tennessee.

It was a wonderful vacation & we had a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We started out with good friends & Broadway culture, threw in some beach side fun & ended up with a night spent with dudes dressed up like ladies. What more could you ask for out of a vacation?

NEWS...................
We will be heading down to WDW in August. Eric has a conference at Coronado Springs & of course I could not pass up the opportunity to tag along. So I will probably be doing a trippie for that!!!!! Stay tuned.
 
Your trip report was fantastic - all of your pictures were amazing - I loved the ones on the ghost walk and in the memorial garden. Savannah looks beautiful - I think we will try to visit for a day next June, when we are staying at HHI for a few days.

Thanks so much!!:)
 
Fantastic report Melanie! You guys did a little bit of everything. The Cathedral of St John the Baptist is beautiful, I would love to see that!

Thanks so much for sharing your trip, I look forward to your next one!!
 
Your trip report was fantastic - all of your pictures were amazing - I loved the ones on the ghost walk and in the memorial garden. Savannah looks beautiful - I think we will try to visit for a day next June, when we are staying at HHI for a few days.

Thanks so much!!:)
Thanks so much. Savannah is a great day trip from HHI.

Fantastic report Melanie! You guys did a little bit of everything. The Cathedral of St John the Baptist is beautiful, I would love to see that!

Thanks so much for sharing your trip, I look forward to your next one!!
Thanks Michelle. If you have never been to Savannah you should go. It really is beautiful. I will let you know when I start my trippie for August.
 
Great TR as always Melanie!

How exciting that you get to go again in August! :thumbsup2 I can't wait to read that trippie!

I hope to write one for my June trip so stay tuned for that! :goodvibes
 
I really am going to have to make a trip to Savannah! I think we will do it next year in April before it gets too hot. I loved the ghost tour! I bet it was a lot of fun. You are so lucky to Lady Chablis! You are going to have to email all of the websites you used to do your research!

I am so happy that you get to go to WDW in August! It seems like everyone I know is going then. I can't wait until we go in October!
 
Great TR as always Melanie!

How exciting that you get to go again in August! :thumbsup2 I can't wait to read that trippie!

I hope to write one for my June trip so stay tuned for that! :goodvibes
Thanks Jennifer. I am excited to get to tag along to the conference too! I am really hoping they hold over the Main Street Electrical Parade as I really would love to see it but it's supposed to be over Aug 14 & we will get there the 18th so keep your fingers crossed for me. Let me know when you start your trippie.

I really am going to have to make a trip to Savannah! I think we will do it next year in April before it gets too hot. I loved the ghost tour! I bet it was a lot of fun. You are so lucky to Lady Chablis! You are going to have to email all of the websites you used to do your research!

I am so happy that you get to go to WDW in August! It seems like everyone I know is going then. I can't wait until we go in October!
I really love Savannah. It was cool to see Lady Chablis. You need to go sometime. I can't wait until August!
 
Great report! Love the pictures. It looked like a very relaxing time at HHI. I'll definitely have to get there sometime.
 
Great report! Love the pictures. It looked like a very relaxing time at HHI. I'll definitely have to get there sometime.

Thanks for coming over to take a look. HHI is a great place to have a relaxing vacation vs a WDW go-go-go vacation.
 
Hey everybody...........I've started a trip report for our conference getaway in 2 WEEKS!!!!!! Link is below in my siggie. :teeth:
 



















DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top