We continued on from Chareleston and had the pleasure of meeting up for breakfast with Jennifer, a friend of mine  who ran around in the same gang as I back in Mt. Shasta.   We probably haven’t seen each other since we were teenagers.  She has grown into a lovely woman and has a wonderful heart!  Jen is someone I would love to know better and stay in touch with 🙂  Knowing we were visiting  Savannah and mentioning we loved going to old cemeteries she informed us of Bonaventure Cemetery.  Off we went!

John and I had tried to visit this cemetery the day before Thanksgiving but were turned away at the gate as it was closing early.  FEMA was coming in to clean up debris and such due to Hurricane Matthew recently coming through and creating a little havoc.  So we ventured out the next day and we were so excited and enthralled with the mysterious and even wicked scene we found.  The moss hanging off the trees gave an eerie feel to the place and the few autumn colors still hanging on for dear life before winter claimed them just popped and was such a contrast to the crippled branches and old foliage.

I can see why this cemetery was used in the book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  To call it spooky would lessen the beauty of it and make it sound trivial.  There is certainly history here and I would have to say by far it is the best cemetery we have been to so far!

As always John and I cherish your comments/thoughts and appreciate you reading about our precious venture.  Don’t forget to see more great pictures from John of Bonaventure Cemetery by visiting http://compositionbyjohn.com and http://facebook.com/compositionbyjohn

Sometimes during our precious venture around America, we are pleasantly surprised by a place we never heard about before.  Fort Pulaski, a short drive from Savannah GA, was one such place 🙂

The fort was built after the War of 1812 to protect our coast from invasion.  Large solid brick walls with two levels of cannons protecting the entrance to Savannah GA.

Now normally a fort of this design would be a large obstacle to any invader.  A young Robert E. Lee was one of the noted commanders in charge of designing some of the fort’s  defenses.   The Confederate Army quickly took control of the fort at the start of the Civil War.

Enter the rifled cannon used by the Union Army, in the spring of 1862.  The grooves on the inside of the barrel permitted the rifled cannon to be fired further with more accuracy than a normal round cannon ball.  The increased weight of the shells also gave it a penetration of 6 feet into brick walls compared to 6 inches for the round cannon ball.  Needless to say, the Confederate fort surrendered within 30 hours when a wall was breached and the ammunition storage area in the fort was in danger of being directly hit.  Large brick walled forts were no longer the defense they once had been.

Now why did this fort interest us more than we had expected?  First the Park Rangers were welcoming and informative from the instant we walked into the visitor’s center.  A couple of them led us on a tour of the fort, helping us understand the conditions the soldiers faced while under battle and how the fort was designed.  The preservation of the fort was astounding and you could tell meticulous care was used to keep the fort a gem of our historical past.   We loved spending time in Savannah and in the Bonaventure Cemetery, but finding this great monument to our country’s past was also just as rewarding.

We really cannot stress enough how wonderful our National Park Service has worked tirelessly to bring to our attention so much of our past history that should never be forgotten.  We are truly indebted to the hard working members and volunteers of the National Park Service that make it possible for us to appreciate and experience our history and culture in many ways that reading a book cannot hope to accomplish !

We have many more lovely pictures of Fort Pulaski National Monument on our website http://compositionbyjohn.com and on Facebook at http://facebook.com/compositionbyjohn

Thank you for following our blog and living our adventure with us 🙂

John and Roni

Next on to Chareleston, SC where we experienced a little more of the south.   John was not able to get many pictures here as we took a carriage ride like the one above and it is a bit hard to take pictures without stopping which wasn’t possible. Nevertheless we enjoyed it as it was also relaxing!

Keeping in tune with our love of train, boat and carriage rides we took out boat ride out into the Charleston Harbor which took us out to view Fort Sumter and also under the magnificent bridge above, the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.  This boat ride was especially fun for me!

We visited Fort Sumter National Monument  while in town and enjoyed the well thought out visitor center.  It spoke of the first battle of the civil war and the story of the  underground railroad which seems to have followed us on our precious venture which is fine with me as I am captivated by the history.

At the suggestion of a friend we decided to have lunch at Hominy Grill.  She raved about the chocolate pudding which we found out they are famous for and well deserving of.  We also tried the soul food that was being served here and we were in for a treat.  We started out with Jalapeno hush puppies since John had never had one and we continued on with an assortment of other southern fare. She-crab soup, fried cheese grits, collard greens, cornbread, red beans and rice and a glass of ice tea!  Don’t gasp in astonishment as we did share 🙂

As always, thank you for reading our blog and don’t hesitate to comment as we look forward to your thoughts. For more images please visit http://compositionbyjohn.com and

http://facebook.com/compositonbyjohn