Drive. Pray. Scream?: Day 129: "Hey, Y'all!"

Paula Deen, chef of Food Network fame (and who liberally says tonight's title phrase), has helped to reinvigorate Savannah, Georgia, as a "foodie" destination. Today we ate lunch at "The Lady and Sons," the restaurant owned by Deen and her sons, enjoying the ultimate in Southern comfort dishes...fried chicken, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, collard greens, yams, green beans, and biscuits. Yum! Our arteries feel a little sluggish tonight, but our mouths enjoyed every bite. I have a feeling we consumed more butter (it was in every single dish) today than we have in six months of our usual healthier fare.

Savannah is a lovely city, one that contains neighborhood squares scattered throughout the historic downtown. In fact, 22 of the original 24 squares created when the city's grid was laid out by planners, in 1733, still exist. Many of them feature dramatic gardens and fountains, and some contain monuments and other historical markers. We lingered in Johnson Square, the city's first, which has at its center a tall obelisk dedicated to the memory of Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene, who died in Georgia (he was from Rhode Island). The square's fountains are surrounded by huge trees draped in Spanish moss and beds of greenery, which more than likely are full of blooming flowers in the spring and summer.

From Savannah's squares, we headed due east to Cockspur Island, home of Fort Pulaski National Monument. Upon its completion in the mid-1800s, it was considered one of the "most spectacular harbor defense structures" in the United States. But its reputation was permanently blemished in April 1862, when it was the scene of a milestone battle during the Civil War. Union soldiers fired upon its occupants, Confederate soldiers, for 34 hours before the fort was surrendered. The historical significance is that rifled cannons--whose barrels were grooved or spiraled--were used for the first time, weapons that had much greater accuracy and impact. They ripped into the fort's brickwork, breaching its seven-foot-thick walls and compromising its structure.

The battle forced a permanent change in military strategy; no longer could stone or brick structures be considered defensive anchors for armies. If rifled guns could knock out huge sections of Fort Pulaski, so the reasoning went, not even the Rocky Mountains could withstand their destructive power.

Some of the damage was repaired by the new Union occupants, although there are still many obvious signs of the destruction, including gaping holes in the brickwork which contain unexploded shells. Another of the fort's defensive features is a moat, which is home to alligators (although we didn't see any!). Combined with iron-studded doors, drawbridges and cavernous, vaulted rooms, it was easy to imagine ourselves in a place of knights and dragons. To that end, it is a place of Hollywood drama; it was one of the major filming locations for the recent Robert Redford movie about the alleged plot behind Lincoln's assassination, "The Conspirator." Nice to know Fort Pulaski is finding new life past age 160.