The goal of today was to see Owens-Thomas House as soon as it opened, leave, get to Columbia with enough time to see their state museum and then make it to Winston-Salem without having to drive in the dark. The Owens-Thomas House doesn’t open until 10, so, given my sleeping habits, I had time to see two things before I even got there. One was Forsyth Park. It’s a lovely plot of land in the city with a beautiful fountain. Great for a quick stroll and some pics. After that, I visited the Savannah History Museum, mostly because it was something to do while I waited for O-T to open. But it had some interesting things including Johnny Mercer’s Academy Award, the bench from Forrest Gump, and an exhibit on Juliette Gordon Low and the Girl Scouts, which probably would have been more interesting to me had I been a girl scout. Still, I think Low was an interesting woman, a Renaissance woman who traveled and developed several skills including metallurgy and woodworking. I get the feeling the scouts have sort of failed her. I’m sure they do great things, but I think the scouts themselves have been eclipsed by their cookies.
The Owens-Thomas House is a great example of English Regency style architecture. Our tour guide made sure to point out several examples of details that were typical of Regency, namely a strict adherence to symmetry that resulted in false doors and windows. Other than being what they espouse as “the best” example of English Regency in America, the house can also lay claim to fame for being the site of the Marquis de Lafayette’s visit and delivery of two speeches in 1825.
When the tour ended, I had enough time on my parking meter to wander around Savannah, checking out some of the neighboring squares. Savannah has several squares, small, one-block parks that frequently have monuments erected in the center. I saw one that was the site of Tomo-Chi-Chi’s grave (a Native American who is credited with helping Olgethorpe found Georgia) and one that honored John Wesley, who had a congregation in Savannah in the 1730’s. I stumbled upon the Old Cotton Exchange and several beautiful buildings before hitting the road for Columbia.
Columbia is a little under three hours from Savannah and had only one place I was much interested in: the state museum. Unlike North Carolina’s History Museum, the South Carolina Museum tries to encompass much more than just history. It also tries to address science and industry. So in addition to historical artifacts like the Secession Ordinance, it has dinosaur skeletons, exhibits on the lumber industry and farming, and a planetarium. I’m mostly just interested in the history because the other things are pretty universal. After the museum, I found a Piggly Wiggly, the very first I have ever been to, and purchased Cheerwine, a regional pop, which I think tastes a bit like Robitussin, but in a good way, if you can believe it. I drank it during the two and a half hour drive to Winston-Salem.
Old Salem is a group of historic buildings in (duh) Winston-Salem. These buildings date back to the mid-1700’s when a group of Moravians settled there. Each building has a guide in period dress to tell you about the building and an aspect of what life was like among the Moravians. Again, I arrived even before the ticket counter opened, so I managed to stay ahead of the big tour groups for most of my time there and often had what amounted to a private tour. The first building I visited was a gunsmith’s. I learned that guns at the time were distinguished by regional decorative differences. I saw the tavern, where George Washington was once a guest, and walked on the same floors he walked on. In the single brothers’ house, I saw pottery being made, heard an original pipe organ played, and saw small pieces of furniture being made. I saw the shoemaker cutting leather to make fire buckets, and since it was Holy Week, I saw women dying eggs using natural dyes like red cabbage and turmeric. It was one of my favorite experiences on the trip, probably because it was so history-immersive and the gift shops had substantive offerings, not cheap tchotchkes. And, honestly, probably because I stayed ahead of the crowds of children, and the people who worked there honored that and hurried me in to get a solo tour rather than make me wait until a group came.
Only 40 minutes away is the small town of Mount Airy, aka Mayberry. This is the town where Andy Griffith grew up and which the town of Mayberry is based on. I was happy that I was able to spend all the time I wanted at Old Salem and still make it to Mayberry before the Snappy Lunch closed at 1:45. The Snappy Lunch is a small diner that is explicitly mentioned in the show. It really is snappy and it’s very no-frills. As in, no plates or cutlery. I ordered their famous pork chop sandwich, which is topped with tomato, onion, coleslaw, chili, and mustard, and it was delivered to me in a paper wrapper.
After that, it was off to the Andy Griffith museum, which is probably what you’d expect: a lot of photos of him on set and movie posters from films no one has heard of because he’s best known for his TV work. But if you’ve seen Onionhead, you can enjoy both English and Spanish language posters for it. For the price of admission (a steep, I think, $6.50, which you can only pay in cash unless you also want to pay a $2.40 credit card fee), you also get admission to an exhibit devoted to the Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, because they lived nearby. To call the juxtaposition of the two “museums” on the same ticket surreal is an understatement, but really, it’s not such a surprising experience to have in small town America, and maybe it’s a little of what endears small town America to me.
Once I got my picture taken with the Andy and Opie statue, it was time to head home. Five and a half hours later, I was unpacking and heading to bed with two more states (and six cities) checked off my list.