For obvious reasons, many coastal U.S. cities have an international feel. San Francisco – Chinese, New Orleans – French, San Diego – Spanish, Boston – Irish; but what to say about Savannah, Georgia? The historic town has the narrow, cobbled streets of old world Tuscany, Parisian-style cemeteries, Spanish moss, and a waterfront reminiscent of an Atlantic-side English beach town, but Savannah remains somehow all-American.
The culture of the city is vibrant in an edgy, Greenwich Village way, and its independence is exemplified in the game resistance to allowing major food chains (save a Starbucks) into the old town. Sure, Paula Deen has a cooking store here, but you have to look for it to find it, and it melds into neighborhood seamlessly. The City Market has retained a delicate charm, anchored by the beautiful Belford’s Restaurant.
Maybe it’s the strong 19th century American historical element. Cotton, paper mills and sugar processing envelop Savannah; all quintessential icons of the pre-industrial South. In fact, the Imperial Sugar factory still thrives here after a century, and much of the plant property itself is historical. Rebels lobbed shells from gunboats in the Savannah River at Union troops positioned within 50 yards of the current sugar refinery. Now the river carries barges laden with raw cane sugar bound for the Imperial facility.
Savannah’s loveliness and non-confrontational swagger are appealing, and it remains a gem in America’s coastal towns. It has absorbed its influences without shunning them, yet performed a strange alchemy that makes Savannah unique in America, and uniquely American.
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