Back to FORTING!

Frog got a once over while we were away today so we’re waiting for the diagnosis of the power loss tomorrow.  And hopefully, a fix.

But staying through tomorrow gives us a chance to get to know Sarah & Devin O’Rourke.  Their parents live in that ghost town back in Colorado?  The O’Rourkes who took us in for a week when the coach was getting its door repaired after the tornado?

These O’Rourke’s don’t live in a ghost town. They live off base at Parris Island.  I look forward to learning about what Devin does with the Marines, unless he will have to kill me after he tells me.

Before we left today I gave FROG and TOAD a good washing. Have you ever heard a vehicle say ‘thanks’ for being washed?  They squeal when you touch their shiny finish.

So today we headed a bit south. Yes, its back to local history and all its surprises and drama.  This time in the town of Richmond Hill, and Bryan’s Neck, along the Ogeechee River Inlet into the Atlantic Ocean.

On the way we noticed a unique turtle crossing.  These folk down here take their turtles SERIOIUSLY!

Then we stopped at a Krogers to drop off my Redbox rental of last night.  The newest TRANSFORMERS movie.  Eye candy for older children, and lots of explosions and noise for the comic book lover I once was.

While there I saw our first Salvation Army bucket!  John told me he’ll be out here himself till 9 tonight. All day!  This guy is dedicated! But why shouldn’t he be? He’s working for one of the finest give-back organizations on the planet, and it gives back in Jesus’ name!

Richmond Hill lies on old route 17 and newer I-95. We chose the 17 approach.  We like two lane surprises, and we found one.  Henry Ford was here!

In the 1920’s and 30’s Ford was looking for ways to grow rubber trees in the US to avoid loss of their valuable product in war time.  He never did find a way to productively grow them so far from the equator, but he did make many friends in Georgia and Florida buying land and developing summer places to stay.  One of them was at Richmond Hill.

We toured another last January in Fort Myers, Florida, where Henry and Tom Edison lived side by side.

Called the Ford Plantation now, the 9,000 acres he bought was all sold after he and his wife’s deaths but the mansion they built along what is now Ford Way is famous for the Ford Plantation of private, gated homes that surrounds it today.

Ford had a great desire all his life to enhance young people’s education experiences.  Across from the site of his home, which itself is well hidden from public view in that gated community, is the first of many schools he built for children on Bryan’s Neck and throughout the Richmond Hill area. A lovely kindergarten for white children.

 

He even opened a vocational school, and many other local schools, for Negro children, with the advice of George Washington Carver.

Early in the development of his Ford Plantation he learned that he had the remains of an old Confederate fort on his acreage.  He asked for a tour into the overgrown jungle and discovered that its bomb-proofs and earthen walls were in very good condition, saved by the vegetation that held them in place for so long.

He began the work of restoration and completed much of it before he died.  Then his estate sold it to the International Paper Association who deeded it to the State of Georgia along with some bucks to continue the restoration.  By 1863, 100 years since this fort made a memorable stand against several Union Monitors, the park was opened to the public.

Today the fort itself is the draw.  It’s historically accurate reconstruction and signage takes you through not only the heavy bombardment of 1863, but the arrival of Sherman’s Army which completed its March to the Sea right here on Bryan’s Neck.

The Ogeechee River pours into the Atlantic here and Fort McAllister had kept Union ships out of the river, and away from the back door to Savannah for the entire war. But to end his easterly march Sherman had to take Savannah.  He took it by first surrounding Fort McAllister and opening the Ogeechee.  With the back door open he sent supplies up this river to surround Savannah and its river too;  the war ended in months of the fort’s fall.

One other major event occurred on the Ogeechee River to the detriment of the South. Early in the war the US mail steamship NASHVILLE was taken by the Rebels in port and sent to England to be turned into a warship.  There she was armed and became the first ship of the Confederate Navy.

Later her speed and light draft made her an excellent blockade runner and she brought supplies into the south from Bermuda and the Bahamas.  But fate was not kind at the end of her life.

The CSS Nashville got caught on a sandbar at low tide just off the fort itself.  And the Forts guns could not hold off the attack of one of Ericson’s mighty little monitor gunboats, the Montauk.  That ship’s two powerful guns blasted away at the helpless Nashville till her crew abandoned her and she blew up and burned.

Today parts of her resurrected engine are on display near Fort McAllister, and her story is told along with the forts in the park visitor center.

While I was walking the fort grounds Mona was enjoying the warm weather on the park fishing pier.  She found a hearty and very happy fisherman, Terrance,  on the dock who was catching whiting for his families evening meal. “best eating fish in the water!” He declared.

  

It turns out Terrance works for Savannah Camping World’s RV repair shop.  But Mona said he doesn’t like to talk shop on his day off, so they talked fish, Thanksgiving, and history. He told Mona the area of the fort is burrowed with tunnels and caves. 

Terrance says pirates loved to bury treasure, and their dead, all over these little islands and lonely necks of land stretching out into the ocean from the low country. Cool!

-Ken