"Savannah wears her past like a fine old cape,
draped in Southern graciousness,
pockets filled with treasures of a rich, proud history."
An Early 19th c Mansion on One of the Twenty-Two Squares in Savannah
Arched Gateway to One of Savannah's 18th c. Plantations
General James Ogelthorpe's Plan for the City of Savannah, c. 1733
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Founded
by the French in the Late 1700's
"The most beautiful city in North America,"
is the way Paris's famed Le Monde newspaper describes Savannah
Today I make the eight hour journey across America from San Francisco to Savannah, Georgia, the city that General William Tecumseh Sherman, the father of modern "scorched earth" warfare, thought was too beautiful to destroy during the War Between the States. (It was the only place in Georgia he left untouched.)
I'll wander through the wide open streets and moss-shaded squares laid out by General James Ogelthorpe in 1733. I'll visit the grand mansions that grace the squares including the Owens-Thomas House, considered one of the finest examples of English Regency architecture in America. I'll check out the cutting edge contemporary art at the Jepson Center for the Arts while enjoying the Jepson Gospel Brunch on Sunday with live performance by area church gospel singers.
A Map of Bonaventure Cemetary.."The Garden of Good and Evil"...
in Savannah Where My Ancestors are Buried
I'll pay a visit to my many ancestors in Bonaventure Cemetary in this, the place where my mother, my grandmother, my great-grandmother and my great-great-grandmother were born.
I'll go out to Coffee Bluff, the site of my ancestors' home, and visit my dearest and nearest cousin, Claire McCluskey, a lovely, funny, intrepid Savannahian who built a home for herself and her two strapping sons, Will and Ben English, out there on that spit of land near the shelter islands.
There I will design a new kitchen for Claire that speaks to her, that draws on her spirit and her place on Coffee Bluff. I am so excited to do this; there is nothing more fun for a designer (me) than to create a unique space that resonates with the area and the inhabitants.
Especially when you consider that my great great grandmother probably stood on that very spot trying a century or two ago to decide just where to put the hearth and just where to put a window looking out onto the garden.
It's good to know just how deeply my designer roots grow.
.............................................................
for elegant, sustainable and pragmatic
Chic Provence Interior Design
0 comments:
Post a Comment