Savannah: Weird and Cool, Too, Even in Summertime

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Surely, the folks who voted Savannah "One of the 15 Coolest Cities in North America" in an MSNBC poll weren´t thinking about the thermometer in summer.

Still, whether it´s during a hot and humid July or a sweater-weather January, Savannah really is a cool place that exemplifies why the Southeast is such fun to explore.

You can verify the cool factor with just a couple of hours riding on a trolley tour, taking a ghost walk or simply observing and eavesdropping while enjoying cocktails along River Street.

Consider this collection of Savannah trivia, history and weirdness to rate the cool factor:

When Georgia was founded as a colony in 1733, there was a ban on Catholics, lawyers and hard liquor.

(That´s changed, of course. Savannah´s famous now for its St. Patrick´s celebration and cocktails to go, and a plaintiff´s attorney is as close as the nearest billboard.)

The Pirates House, a famous Savannah restaurant, actually was a tavern frequented by Caribbean pirates in the late 1700s. Events there inspired Robert Lewis Stevenson´s "Treasure Island."

In 2002, the American Institute of Parapsychology named Savannah "America´s Most Haunted City." Based on Savannah´s history of fires, plagues, wars and voodoo, the institute determined Savannah was the perfect place for supernatural activity.

That spooky overlay is one reason you´ll notice that many Savannah door frames, porches and window sills are painted a specific blue/green color. It´s called "Haint Blue" and is rooted in slave superstition. According to the Geechee/Gulla culture of the Lowcountry, "Haint Blue" represents water, which true believers feel spirits cannot pass over.

Speaking of haints and haunts and voodoo, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," the John Berendt novel about secrets, socialites and murder in Savannah, spent more than five years on The New York Times best-seller list.

You needn´t feel odd about waving to ships that pass right by River Street. It´s a grand Savannah tradition started by the Waving Girl, Florence Martus. She lived with her brother, lighthouse keeper George Martus, from 1887 to 1931 near the entrance to Savannah Harbor. She waved a welcome or goodbye to every ship—more than 50,000. There´s a memorial to her hospitality on River Street.

Five months after General Oglethorpe and the original settlers landed in Savannah, 42 Jewish refugees from Spain arrived in July 1733. This was the largest immigration of Jews at one time to the New World during colonial times.

You always can get into a heated discussion about who serves the best barbeque, but almost everyone agrees you need to check out Walls´ Barbeque—if you can find it. "Non-descript" is barely appropriate, and it´s located in an alley (OK, they call it a "lane"). Ask a local for directions.

The Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. were founded in Savannah in 1912 by Juliette Gordon Low. Her childhood home is the organization´s national headquarters.

More about Savannah is at VisitSavannah.com, and you can scout other regional destinations at EscapeToTheSoutheast.com, a site that covers 12 states from West Virginia to Louisiana.