the haunting first days of summer in Savannah

With summer vacation ahead of me, I determined that I needed a good gothy vacation. I wanted the ambiance of a haunted house (or two) and some strolls through some old cemeteries. Last year, there was a road trip to the Crescent Hotel; the year before, I had two trips to New Orleans. Three cemeteries in three days while staying in two haunted hotels in Savannah, Georgia was just what I needed.

Savannah is about seven hours south of where I live so I determined that I could drive there in a day. After all, I used to live outside of Boston, Massachusetts which was nine hours. Of course, I was almost twenty years younger, but still, a drive to Savannah seemed reasonable.

I headed out on Monday and arrived at the Amethyst Garden Inn, a Victorian Queen Anne Bed & Breakfast located in the Historic district right around check-in time. I pretty much picked it because it popped up on the Orbitz page; it once was a Victorian home; and, it was painted purple. The fact that it was haunted was something that I discovered later; and, it only added to the ambiance of the place.

Almost immediately, I dropped off my bags and headed to see Savannah. I was somewhat close to the cathedral, which I’ll write about later. I went there and, because I was so close, I went to Colonial Park Cemetery, which is right in the middle of the historic district. In fact, for many of my excursions, my GPS routed me through Colonial Park Cemetery. My gothy heart grew each time I strolled through that enchanted place.

That night, at 10pm, because I had only been up since 4:30am and driven 7 hours so a late-night tour seemed so reasonable *yawn* at the time that I booked it, I headed to the The Beyond Good and Evil Tour. My tour guide, Zack, was awesome. He was both theatrical and informative as he shared details about Colonial Park Cemetery and various haunted spots in Savannah. The tour went on until beyond midnight. 

Of course, most of y’all know that I’m there for the atmosphere so seeing a ghost is not necessary, which helps since I’m completely a skeptic. That night, I discovered that I was the only guest on the second floor of the inn.  But, with such a whirlwind of a start, I slept right on through and did not have a moment to consider being frightened. If one of the ghosts of the Rose Room, the room where I stayed, dropped in, they did not wake me. The next day, my plans were to wake early so that I could catch a Bonaventure Cemetery tour.

I will write about my adventures in Colonial Park Cemetery, Bonaventure Cemetery, and (my favorite) Laurel Grove Cemetery in the next few days. Overall, it was a great little excursion. I arrived home just in time to begin my first day of summer classes. I’m taking a course called Marketing the Past. Sounds cool, right? So far it is, and I spent most of yesterday working on my project for the class... a project that focuses on local cemeteries. More details on that soon.

Savannah is going to haunt me for a while; and, I do have a great deal to share. 

 

With just a few days in, how are you spending your first days of summer?  Hope you're keeping it spooky!