A 2 -week Deep South Road Trip - Part 4

This is the fourth and final section of my diary about our three-week road trip through America's Deep South. In this post, I'll be recounting the days highlighted in bold below! You can find all the other parts of this blog here!

Day 1 and 2: Nashville, Tennessee

Day 3 and 4: Memphis, Tennessee

Day 5: Tupelo, then drive the Natchez Trace Parkway to Natchez

Day 6: Natchez, Mississippi

Day 7, 8 and 9: New Orleans, Louisiana

Day 10: Monroeville, Alabama and Senoia, Georgia

Day 11 and 12: Savannah, Georgia

Day 13 and 14: Charleston, South Carolina

Day 15 and 16: Washington DC

Day 11 and 12: Savannah, Georgia

First, I've got to talk about the Wormsloe Estate. I can't lie, I have a thing about oak alleys and Spanish moss. So when I heard about this oak alley covered in Spanish moss, it was my mission to check it out!

And I was not disappointed! From the decaying stone gates to that vanishing point at the end of the oak alley, Wormsloe is an eerie homage to the South's colonial past. This plantation was built by one of Savannah's colonial founders, Noble Jones, in the 1700s. The fact that it's now a derelict ruin is somehow apt considering its history of slavery and injustice.

Wormsloe Estate's oak alley

And then we went to Savannah itself. Savannah is a beautiful city with more green, Spanish moss-draped squares than anything else, it seems!

The most famous of its squares is Chippewa Square, known for being the filming location for that scene in Forrest Gump - you know, "life is like a box of chocolates..."

Life is like a box of chocolates

We got to explore many more of Savannah's squares during not one but two ghost tours with Ghost City Tours. Without giving too much away, we learned a lot about the old burial grounds of Savannah and even more about the background to the novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which is set in Savannah. Believe me when I say I was thoroughly creeped out by the end of them.

Day 13 and 14: Charleston, South Carolina

At this point, nearing the end of our trip, we cheated a little! We happened to hear that some family friends were house-sitting in the rather exclusive Isle of Palms. So we popped over for a visit and spent the afternoon at the beach, feeling a little like phoneys as residents drove by on golf carts on our way down to the beach, happily greeting us as they went.

Another highlight of Charleston was an incredible meal at Home Team BBQ, where we may have eaten not once, but twice during our stay!

My favourite sight near Charleston was the Magnolia Plantation, famous for its vast and beautiful gardens. We arrived early, wanting to explore the gardens in all their glory before the crowds thickened - it was totally worth the early start!

Reflections at the Magnolia Plantation

Day 15 and 16: Washington DC

We rightly spent our time in DC visiting as many Smithsonian institutions as we could. We also ticked off the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, the frankly awe-inspiring Lincoln Memorial and the White House, whose security had been dramatically ramped-up since Trump's presidency had begun.

With a little bit of a local tip-off we ate at the incomparable and hugely-popular Founding Farmers, for pot pies, corn bread and beignets.