On September 3rd, we were up early to take the coast road (and two ferries!) down to Wilmington, NC.  If we were “normal” people, we would have gone inland and driven for 4 hours, but we are COAST people, so we took the scenic route down the Outer Banks and spent 11 hours getting to our hotel!  

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Too tired to do much that night, but the next morning we checked out the North Carolina World War II battleship.

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Before we left Wilmington, we took a quick drive around the historic downtown and found beautiful mansions and churches:

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Next stop: Savannah, GA.  We had reservations at the Kehoe House in the heart of the historic downtown area.  Apparently Mr. Kehoe owned the ironworks in town, providing many of the decorative iron fences around town.  

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We took a carriage ride around the historic center, then toured the Davenport House, right across the street from where we stayed.  This 1820 federal style house is interesting for at least a couple of reasons.  Mr. Davenport was a builder – and carpenter.  He built his home with a relatively plain exterior, but a lavish Greek Revival style interior, so he could impress potential customers with his talents.

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The Davenport House had been scheduled for demolition in the 1950s to make another parking lot, but a group of seven ladies stopped the demolition.  It’s said that the women stood between the building and the wrecking ball – I don’t know how true that story is.  However, the women saved the building and became the founding members of the Savannah Historical Society, which went on to preserve many more old buildings in the city center.

Next blog will cover our visit with long-time friends, Jack and Carol.  See you there!