A Tale of Two Cities

Savannah and Charleston.  

Both cities bring to mind images of graceful living and southern hospitality.

Old fashioned carriage rides are popular tourist attractions.

One can get fresh shrimp or southern barbequed pork, not to mention their addictive sweet iced tea, in either place. 

And both of these tourist-driven cities have adopted this wonderful idea of free shuttle buses around their historic areas.

Despite all their similarities, here are the differences:

1.     Streets and parks

Historic downtown Savannah, in Georgia, is the pinnacle of urban planning. It was built in identical sections of 8 blocks around a town square, consisting of four blocks for residential homes, and four smaller blocks for shops. I counted 22 of these 8 block sections still standing. Remarkable when you factor in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Most of the town squares have statues or monuments to people of importance. Some are just peaceful green spaces with flowers and benches.

Charleston, South Carolina, does not have arrow-straight streets nor parks all lined up in a row like Savannah. It is an older city and was built on a peninsula, so the roads bend at will and the parks are placed around the city along the waterfronts. It has far fewer parks, but what it has are much larger.

2.     

Waterfront

Savannah was built on the bluffs beside the Savannah River, and getting to the waterfront street usually means navigating a treacherous set of stairs carved out of rocks.

 But it is well worth the danger to get to stroll along the cobblestone road and enjoy the assortment of shops and restaurants.

Charleston has lost most of its cobblestone streets, except this one preserved near the tip of the peninsula. 

What it does have is a pedestrian walkway made of slate slabs. This walkway borders the waterfront street, but it is raised 4 feet above the street level, making it easy to see both the harbour and the beautiful houses on the other side of the road despite the heavy traffic.

3.     Architecture

Savannah streets were designed before the houses were built, so the footprints of their homes are almost all the same.  To build a bigger house, owners had to expand upwards, creating tall, narrow buildings.

Charleston has large elegant homes built by wealthy plantation owners and some of them take up to a full half of the length of a block. Most of these houses have their own expansive walled gardens as well.

4.     Markets

Savannah’s city market is mostly art galleries and pubs. It runs two blocks long and is just a street blocked off from traffic.

I preferred shopping at a specialty store in the shopping district instead. These are the kind of souvenirs I prefer to bring home.

We stopped in Charleston primarily for the city market. It starts at Market Hall and stretches for 4 blocks. 

Inside the long shelter is a wide assortment of booths selling local sweet grass baskets, jewelry, and clothing.

5.     Residents

Panhandling is banned in Savannah but buskers are not, and can be great fun. 

The locals are tolerant of tourists, but are quite aggressive in their driving, so stay out of their way!

Our first walk down Charleston streets had us stopped by an older man in a wheelchair asking for “coins for a cup of coffee”. When hubby started digging in his pocket, the request changed to “and maybe a Danish?”

 In all, I found these residents extremely polite, even the young ones, with their “yes, sir” and “no, ma’am” attitudes. I’d love to import that.

6.     History

Both cities have an amazing history and we enjoyed walking the older districts. In Savannah, there were so many placards and historical markers that it took a long time to walk a city block. They keep their historic district in a time capsule. It was perfect to begin with, so why change it. All new development is relegated to the outside edges of the city.

Charleston’s history is one of change. They are still finding parts of an old fort lost beneath the streets and buildings. They enjoy what they have, but aren’t afraid of progress.

The biggest difference between the two? Now that we’ve seen Savannah, we probably won’t go back, unless it’s to buy more honey. But Charleston with its changes, we may see again.

W