Tuesday, March 29, 2011

East Coast Bound--Day 27

Our car is still in the body shop. We stopped by there yesterday and they had gotten in the last of the parts they needed to complete it. Once all the parts are in place they can move it to the paint shop and then put it all back together. We were hoping that would happen today but apparently it did not. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow. We figure whatever day it is completed we can head out the next day. So, our return home, which is at least three days away, will be determined on when we can leave here. We have really been enjoying our visit to Savannah, although what was to be a four day visit is not in its third week. Also, the great weather we had for the first two weeks is now gone and it is cool and rainy. This weather is supposed to last through Thursday and then clear up. One of the things we have been interested in is the Cockspur Island Lighthouse. It is on an island in the Savannah River and can only be reached by boat. When the tide is out the base of it is exposed along with the island. When the tide comes back in the island is covered along with the bottom of the lighthouse base. We'd love to go explore this lighthouse since it is open but we are not planning to try to swim to it. This is a close as I could get and still had to use the maximum zoom on my camera to get these pictures.






We are still doing some sightseeing while we are here. Today we went to discover another old military fort. There are two historic forts here in Savannah, Fort Puluski and Fort Jackson, that we explored when we were here in 2007. This one, Fort McAllister, is in the next county south of us. This was very different than any of the historic forts we have seen before. Most are built of wood or brick/stone. This fort is an earthen fort. It was manned by the Confederate Army during the War of Northern Aggression (1861-1864). This fort is on the Ogeechee River and was the first defense of Savannah from ships that were part of the naval blockade by the Union forces. Although it was attacked many times by naval ships from the North they never succeeded in getting through. The fort actually fell when General Sherman attacked from the land during his "march to the sea" as his forces burned a sixty mile wide swath from Atlanta to Savannah. The attack did delay Sherman's forces long enough for the 10,000 Confederate troops stationed in Savannah to withdraw. This actually saved Savannah and, therefore, Sherman did not destroy the city like they did Atlanta and everything else in their path since there was no resistance when they arrived in the city. Most of the fort is underground with tunnels connecting the gun emplacements and the magazines. The center section of the fort is called "the bombproof" and is where the men lived. The shelling from the Union ships in the river did no damage to the fort with the shells bouncing off the earthen walls.

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