The morning news., 1892-03-16
VIEW OF SAVANNAH
PRESENTED By a TOURIST FROM
TIE NORTH.

A Growing Winter Resort-Why Peo-
ple Like to Come to the Forest City.
something About the hotels and
Other Matters of Interest.
From the RelV York Times.
ris more than twenty-eight years since
Gen. Sherman wrote to President Lincoln:
aIsend you the capture OF Savannah as a
Christmas present" Two weeks before
that be had taken Fort McAllister, not by
charge of the 400. though the fort was
named. understand, after some of Ward
McAllister's ancestors
SHERMAN cut bis connections with the
north" the histories tell US, land deter
mined to live upon the country" But it
was not as good country TO live upon in
those days as it is now. The De Soto hotel
was not built then, and tbese. .7ere no car
loais Of New York beef s. southwark
every day. Living upon the entry then
meant hog and hominy in small quantities.
In these days tie yankees do not
live upon the country, the country lives
upon the yankees. l have never seen any
estimate Of how many nortnerners are
housed for long or short periods in Savan-
nah every winter, but 1t must be great
many thousands for Savannah is the gate
way TO the winter south, not Jacksonville
Some idea of the number of New Yorkers
alone who go down may be formed from
this: Every desirable state room in the Sa-
vannsb steamships is engaged for days in
advance, sometimes even for weeks, though
there are four steamers q week; and it is
the same with sleepiDg>car sections
ha | / a,,1 81
the two ways Of reaching Savannsh Not
only Is this the case now, in March, but
10 was the case early in January. When l
started southward had to 90 on three
hours notice, because there happened to be
vacant section that night, but there was
nothing else to be had for days With
three of these trains every day and four of
these steamships every week, and all going
crowded, it is easy to see that Savannah il
familiar to large number Of New Yorkerss
There are more marks of the revolution
than OF the rebellion in Savannah. There
are monuments to Greene, jasper and Pu-
iaski; but the greatest monument of all
may be saen all over the city In the busy
Streets the handsome buildings, the ships in
harbor-this is the monument to present
prosperity, which is better than anything
that can be erected to thirty years ago or
l2O years ago. Savannah was founded by
Oglethorpe; and from what I see of Ogle-
thorpe's work throughout Georgia / am
forced to the conclusion that be must have
been considerable of a man. 1t is pity he
is not alive now to see the Oglethorpe hotel
IN Brunswick, and glory in his fame. His
selection Of the site for Savannah in 1888
shows that he was a great man. He selected
the only high land on the river bank, with
rice swamps all around IL. A smaller man
might have put the city in the swamp.
The high land runs along the river bank
for mile or more, and extends back about
SIX miles into the country, growing wider
as it runs farther back. Here Savannah
stands. with the river in front. Though it
was not chartered as a city until 1889, Ogler
thorpe laid it out with view to the future,
and the result is one Of the finest citi es on
the Atlantic coast. Another thing that
shows Oglethorpe's wisdom Is his going far
enough south 10 insure fine weather. Sa-
vannah is about ten miles further south than
the southernmost point of Bermuda, and its
climate is delightful. Its streets
crossing at right angles. are
broad and finely shaded, and
at frequent intervals there are well-kep
little parks, varying in size from an acre to
three acres There are twenty>four of
these little parks, and in spring and summer
Savannah is one big garden. There is no
winter as we know it in the north; all the
year the trees are green and the grass is
green. There are some handsome and ex-
pensive modern houses. but none OF these,
TO my mind, can compare with the solid,
old-fashioned dwellings to be seen on every
hand, with broad fronts and ivy clIm bing
over them, and hospitality written over
their front doors.
Savannah is pleasant place to spend q
winter, with good hotels. comfortable and
healthy climate, plenty of Amusements,
and some OF the largest and best stores to
be found in the south. But it is more of a
stopping place for people who are on their
way to Florida or some Of the Georgia
winter resorts. Hundreds stay, thousands
60 on; but among the thousands there are
many who stay for q short time to see the
city. They used TO stay to rest after the
journey from New York but now the jour-
ney from New York, whether by land or
sea, is so easy that even invalids rare ly
think Of stopping merely to rest. There are
many advantages in being In a
place Of some size when away from
home for health or Observation-Disclosures so
obvious that 1t would be wasting time to
enumerate them. Time was when most Of
Vie big winter resorts of the south, particus
lsrly Florida, were away from civilization,
FAR away from large towns. But all that
has changed. Where the hotels stood alone,
where there were small towns they have
grown larger. Charleston, Savannah,
Jacksonville, st. Augustine and Tampa
those are principal winter places on the
main routes OF travel, and they are all
cities.
1t is only within few years that the
southern cities have made any great prepa-
ration for winter visitors, outside of Florida.
but the demand for accommodations came,
ano the supply soon followed. In Savannah
me Pulaski house, the Soreven and the
MARSHALL were fer years the principal
notels, and unless report bellies them very
much, they were not particularly attract
I've When visitors began to crowd into
savannah, however, they polished up the
handles Of their big front doors aud became
more comfortable. Still there was demand
ior something larger and better, and the De
soto was built Its proprietors knew what
eaey were doing, for it is the best hotel that
9oes the business. Northerners do not 20
down south asking "Where can l find a
easonably good hotel at a moderate
priee| The question almost invari-
sDly ls: What is the best hotel in this
@WnT In Savannah the only answer to
sls question, is. ''the De Soto" The an
uouncements call it lone of the finest and
Iost complete hotels in the world" and
NS1ey DO not exaggsrate in the least. The
De soto would be fine hotel Ia New York,
10 FariS, in any of the capitals of the world.
has accommodations for more than 500
Guests, and its equipment and appointments
He perfect throughout. Watson g. Pow
~ w. It's proprietors, take pains to make II
s. Ie sort of stopping place that northern
,Altors want, and they are reaping their
ieWard. It is largely owing TO the De Soto