I’ve
compared streets (advantage Savannah), parks (advantage Savannah), tourism (a tie), downtown shopping districts (advantage
Charleston), and restaurants (no opinion because I’m unqualified to
judge).
And now it’s
time to reach a conclusion. Often during
my career, when advising clients, I’d ask myself what advice I’d want if I were
the client. The question served as a reminder
of the difference between what would be good for the client and what would be good
for my firm. A similar test works here. If I had to pick one city in which to live,
which would it be?
Based on the
comparative results above, perhaps you’d expect an edge to Savannah. In fact, for three reasons that weren’t even
obvious to me until I posed the question, it’s Savannah by a large margin. I’ll summarize the three key decision points:
Race
relations: On my first full day in Savannah, I had lunch with a friend who is a
professor at a local state college. Savannah
has two state colleges, which seemed unusual for a city of Savannah’s
size. So I asked my friend about the
history.
He offered a
simple answer, “Because you’re now in the South.” I assumed he was referring to parochial
politics, so I nodded my understanding. But
my nod may have been hesitant because the west coast can also be subject to less-than-enlightened
politics.
My friend
presumably noticed my lack of conviction, because he quickly dropped the other
shoe. “One was originally a black
college and the other one white.” Ahhh,
he was right. I hadn’t yet grasped what
it meant to be in the South.
Within my
lifetime, laudable progress has been made on race relations, although much
still remains to be completed. And that’s
particularly true in the South. But
between Savannah and Charleston, I felt more comfortable than Savannah would
make the needed progress.
I chatted
with several African-Americans during my days in Savannah. My sense was they were on the track to
equality. There was still much to be done
and many ways in which the process could and should be accelerated, but at
least their feet were on the right path.
Charleston
didn’t give me the same feeling. For
one, many Charleston residents describe the local African-Americans as Gullahs,
which represents a particular path from Africa to the Low Country via the
Caribbean. They further note that the
ancestors of the Charleston Gullahs arrived in the 1870s, thereby removing the
possibility that “their” Gullahs had any heritage in American slavery. It’s a history that seemed both dubious and
self-serving.
Furthermore, the attitude toward African-Americans seemed gratingly paternal. One Charlestonian noted that many Gullahs had been encouraged to move from servants’ quarters in Charleston mansions into public housing. He suggested that the African-Americans may have been better off when they had white property owners to look out for their best interests.
And I found
it offensive that African-American women weave baskets at the entry to
Charleston’s City Market, on the front steps of the Daughters of the
Confederacy Museum.
There is
racial progress to be made in both cities, but Savannah seems more likely to make
the needed in an expedient and efficient manner.
A friend
suggested that “South of Broad” by Pat Conroy might be the equivalent book for Charleston. Not even close. “South of Broad” is an over-wrought, soap
opera of a book. I may have devoured it in
a few days, but that’s more of a character flaw than a recommendation of
literary merit.
Savannah has
the better book, by far.
Circle of
Life: I don’t consider downtown cemeteries to be essential components of urban
life. Indeed, they probably inhibit
urban walkability and vitality. (No bad
joke intended.)
But the nearby
presence of cemeteries gives a sense of the circle of life and offers a
reminder that we’re only passing through.
They remind us that we remain connected to our past. Savannah includes Colonial Cemetery on the
edge of downtown and Bonaventure Cemetery, which is a short drive away but is
often present in the Savannah consciousness due to “the book”.
And Savannah
residents have a connection to their cemeteries, whether it’s the maudlin statue
of Gracie, an innkeepers’ daughter who died at a young age, or prolific
songwriter Johnny Mercer, who was born in Savannah, retained lifelong ties to
the community, and was buried in Bonaventure Cemetery next to a bench listing
his most successful songs.
The closest
equivalent in Charleston is a story about how the Confederacy exhumed and
relocated the remains of John C. Calhoun during the Civil War to prevent the
Union Army from desecrating the body. (The
remains were returned to Charleston after the war.) It was an interesting story, but lacked the daily
presence of the Savannah cemeteries.
Ultimately,
it feels like Savannah is living a continuation of its past, with both the
highlights and the warts. Meanwhile,
Charleston has put its past under glass, but only after some creative editing.
And so, if I
had to pick one city in which to live, it’d be Savannah. There is still much to recommend
Charleston. If I was a Savannah
resident, I’d look for opportunities to spend weekends in Charleston. But I would expect daily life in Savannah to
feel like a real life, not a bit of make-believe.
Meanwhile, I
still prefer living in the North Bay to either.
But there are lessons from the Low Country that can be applied to any
city, including those in the North Bay.
As always,
your questions or comments will be appreciated.
Please comment below or email me.
And thanks for reading. - Dave Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)
On the subject of cemeteries, I rather like when they are clearly placed within a city such that they are not difficult to find. Not necessarily downtown, but close enough that one could walk there. My husband and I are likely strange people in our habits, but one of the first places we go when we visit a city is the cemetery - they tend to give a sense of the place in a way that nothing else seems to. In short, I appreciate the cities that don't hide their cemeteries.
ReplyDeleteTaylor, I agree with you. Having cemeteries in the urban core can get in way, but having them adjoining the urban core can provide a sense of place.
DeleteHi, I found your blog via Vibrant Bay Area - all good stuff! Charleston's definitely more higher-end than Savannah. Most of everyday-Charleston occurs in West Ashley (west of Ashley River) and Mount Pleasant (east of Cooper River). If I were picking between Savannah and Charleston as a place to live in the future, I'd go with Savannah - downtown's on a bluff over the Savannah River, while Charleston already floods during high-tide/heavy rainstorms, NOT boding well for sea-level rise. ; )
ReplyDeleteScott, thanks for commenting. My wife and I didn't have the opportunity to visit either West Ashley or Mount Pleasant. And yeah, we knew that meant we were seeing the Disneyland aspects of Charleston.
DeleteYour comments about weather are good. Also, Hurricane Hugo hammered Charleston in a way that no hurricane will ever likely touch Savannah. One more reason to pick Savannah.
I'm an African American with roots in the SC Lowcountry, and I find this...interesting, particularly the part about race relations that I found to be extremely biased and one-sided (and not to mention ironic in light of the Paula Deen fiasco in Savannah and at a time when SC Sen. Tim Scott from Charleston, who's quite popular in his city and statewide, is on track to be the first elected Black senator from the South since Reconstruction). So you say you spoke to African Americans in Savannah and Whites in Charleston, but did you speak to any African Americans in Charleston and any Whites in Savannah? Did you take the time to learn the perspectives of Black Charlestonians from...Black Charlestonians? If not, why? Why would you extend that courtesy to Black Savannahians but not Black Charlestonians and then come to the hasty (and I'd add, ill-informed) conclusions that race relations are markedly more advanced in Savannah than Charleston? That "gratingly paternal" attitude you found in Charleston is, unfortunately, not exclusive to the city and is a mindset you'll occasionally encounter in the South as a whole, particularly in rural areas and smaller urban areas (again, refer to the Paula Deen fiasco last year in Savannah). As far as the basket-weavers, it appears as though you're implying that they are ignorant of the historic significance of their location in the historic district, which I find rather appalling. However, it's actually a rather shrewd move, to sell their wares in front of the City Market, which is a very high-traffic area, where tourists with money to spend come to purchase authentic Charleston trinkets and the fact of the matter is that they make REALLY good money doing so. Furthermore, I find it extremely hard to believe that White Charlestonians, on the whole, think that the Gullah were post-Civil War immigrants to Charleston; that doesn't even jibe with Charleston's well-known history as an epicenter of the slave trade and it's pretty apparent that you came across one uninformed individual. I'd say that overall, you made a major error in using limited experiences in only the tourist-oriented historic districts of both cities (and the majority of people live elsewhere in both cities) to draw conclusions as to what life is like in those cities on a day-to-day basis.
ReplyDeleteAs to which one is preferable to live in, if you're only considering the historic districts, that's one thing since, as I said, most people don't live there. However, in my opinion Charleston is definitely more livable as it is larger (metro population is twice as large as Savannah's), has a larger and faster growing economy, more job opportunities, and more to do and see overall.
Thank you
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