has only to take a glimpse at the tax returns made to the city treasurer
for 1891, to have the doubt quickly dispelled. In 1890, the returns of
personal property footed up $9,948,048, and in 1891 they were
considerably over $10,000,000, the increase being about $500,000. The
banks alone in ’91 made returns of $506,000 in excess of 1890. This
shows that there is a great demand for banking institutions. Real estate
has increased $1,300,000.
Such being the present condition and future prospects of Savannah, it
was time that some movement were made for the better entertainment of
visitors, so at last the citizens put their heads together and concluded
that no matter how rich a city is in natural attractions, the climax of
success is only capped by railway facilities and first class hotels.
Mr. H. B. Plant, head of the Plant System, furnished the railway
facilities, and now the citizens of Savannah have supplied the hotel.
They formed a stock company, subscribed a million of dollars and opened
the De Soto, two years ago, which proved to be exteriorly one of the
handsomest houses in this country, if not in the world, and interiorly
one of the best appointed--in keeping with the American idea.
Savannah never had a habit of going across the seas for hotel names. It
boasts of no Victoria, no Buckingham, no Imperial, but it has a Screven,
named after a prominent Georgia family; a Pulaski, named for a military
hero, and now a De Soto, in honor of the discoverer of the Mississippi
river. Savannah is nothing if not patriotic. It has a Monterey square, a
Forsyth park, and among its monuments are the noble columns erected to
perpetuate the memory of three revolutionary heroes--Jasper, Green and
Pulaski.
The De Soto cost a round million of dollars. It occupies, but does not
literally “cover, an entire block of ground,” as the writer of the
little descriptive pamphlet has it. The house is built in the form of a
hollow square, with entrances on three sides. This plan of construction
was adopted to leave a large open court in the centre, thus securing an
ample supply of light and air; and the plan has succeeded to perfection.
The dining-room, which seats nearly four hundred guests, has air and
light its full length, on both sides. Some of the bedroom doors, instead
of wooden panels, have panels of ground glass to let light into the
halls. The bedroom in which these lines are written is fifteen feet
square, not counting a deep recess for the windows, of which there are
two, each measuring seven feet six by four feet six. There is also a
transom over the door. To such an extent has this love of light been
carried that even the elevator, instead of being built with solid sides,
has sides of strong, open wire work, through which light and air stream
freely.
The interior, while being on a broad, liberal, yes, a luxurious scale,
has no striking novelties. It is modelled after the style of the large
modern American hotels of the first-class. There is a large and splendid
“office” with reading-room, smoking-room, writing-room, and small
parlors branching off; there are open fires and all the etceteras of
convenience and luxury; the whole ground floor is marble-tiled, the
corridors are ten feet wide and richly carpeted; they lead on each side
to an inviting veranda; there is pure water from an artesian well and
the sanitary arrangements are said to be scientifically correct.
The parlor, with its onyx tables, its gold-framed chairs, delicate
carpets, its richly-embossed furniture covering, its mirrors, electric
lights and the light-colored walls minus anything that suggests a work
of art, is, to my mind, rather cold and stiff. I prefer the home-like
drawing-room of the Imperial Hotel in Aberdeen, Scotland, with its
profusion of fresh flowers, its cabinets and pretty things, or say, the
drawing-room of the Langham Hotel, London, rich and pleasing in subdued,
dark colors; but the De Soto is an American hotel, it is kept after the
American methods, and without doubt the parlor suits to perfection those
for whom it is furnished--then why should anybody criticise its
decorations?
But the exterior with its novel and beautiful construction, a
combination of architectural styles forming a very pleasing whole,
commands instant admiration. There are towers, turrets, arched
entrances, Queen Anne windows, fountains and a number of overhanging
red-tiled roofs through which waterspouts project in picturesque
fashion. The walls are of brick in two different colors with terra cotta
trimmings, railings and ornaments of black iron. All of these materials
and colors are used with skill and the very best taste, making an
artistic combination which is remarkably pleasing. Then the graceful
palm trees here and there give the surroundings a tropical appearance
and serve to add to the beautiful picture.
The site of the De Soto was well chosen. All of the four streets on
which it is built being wide, ample opportunity is afforded to admire
from a distance its lines of beauty. Its main front is on a very wide
street, Liberty street, probably not quite so broad as Unter den Linden
in Berlin, nor has it the grand palaces of that renowned German street;
but Liberty street is neat, clean and kept in good order, which is more
than can be said of Unter den Linden. The sidewalks are of smooth-faced
red brick; between them and the roadway on either side there is a row of
trees. There is another row of trees, also a car track, in the middle of
the street, and on either side of the track again there is an asphalt
drive for carriages. There is abundant space, and although it lacks the
solid buildings of larger cities, the street itself is not lacking in
attractions.
Within five minutes’ walk of the house is Forsyth park, with its acres
of forest trees, and plenty of japonicas and roses in full bloom at this
writing, January 26. In the centre of this park there is a handsome
fountain, modeled after the grand fountain in the Place de la Concorde,
Paris. It is a mistake and a pity to half hide it behind japonica trees
and rose bushes, from six to eight feet high.
It is very enjoyable to sit in any of Savannah’s pretty parks these
days, say between noon and four o’clock. There is no danger of taking
nor of feeling cold. At night and in the early morn the air is cool (36
to 42 degrees), but in the afternoon it is soft and balmy--anywhere from
56 to 76 degrees. It is an old habit of mine to carry a thermometer in
my satchel, so I am not dependent on the hotel instrument nor on hearsay
for my facts and figures concerning the temperature. Frost is rarely
seen in Savannah, and they never get a sight of snow unless some of the
“beautiful” article should remain on the car roofs of trains coming from
the North.
The De Soto can accommodate four hundred guests, and besides, the
dining-room and the smaller “early breakfast-room” on the main floor,
there is a banqueting hall on the first floor in which two hundred
guests can sit down comfortably. A novel feature for a hotel is a
gymnasium, on the sixth floor, and above this, at the very summit, there
is a large “Solarium,” fitted up with chairs, tables and lounges. Here
you can sit, bask in the sun, and, as Walt Whitman says, “loaf and
invite your soul.” In this elevated position you get a magnificent view
of Savannah and the surrounding country--as far east as the Tybee coast,
twenty miles distant.
There are in all three hundred and thirty-eight bedrooms, forty parlors
and sixty bath-rooms in the house, affording many choice suites for
families. There are no dark rooms nor inner rooms; all have a street
view, a park view, or look out upon the court-yard. Every room has a
wardrobe built in the wall, and this is covered by a tasteful portière.
All the carpets and draperies, by the way, came from W. & J. Sloane, and
the electroliers and gasoliers were supplied by Archer, Pancoast & Co.,
both leading New York houses in their respective branches.
A band of twelve pieces (Cobb’s Savannah Band) performs excellent music
in an alcove near the dining-room during the luncheon and dinner hours.
The house has been leased for fifteen years by Watson & Powers, who have
had long experience in Charleston and other hotels. They kept the
Pulaski House here, as a colored driver told me in answer to a question,
“a right smart time,” which still leaves the number of years rather
indefinite. The same gentleman and brother, who drive carriages for the
house, and who drove me through Bonaventure Cemetery, said that the fire
of two years ago, which burned for two days, destroyed the “‘Sonic
Hall.” He also volunteered this piece of intelligence: “Der Pulaski
House is makin’ a very big condition,” which I translated to mean
addition. My esteemed friend, Mr. Marcus Wight and his charming wife, of
Lowell, Mass., were our travelling companions for that day, and their
delightful company enhanced the interest and the enjoyment of the drive.
If you desire to see a hotel which contains all the latest and best
American ideas, and, unlike the hotels of Europe, combines them into a
perfect system, telegraph for rooms to the De Soto. It is advisable to
take it in, as a resting place, between New York and Florida, or vice
versa.
* * * * *
P. S.--This is called a cold winter in Savannah, yet at six A.M.,
Thursday, January 29, the thermometer marked sixty degrees.
THOMASVILLE, GEORGIA.
Time, eleven A.M., February 1.--Your correspondent is seated at his
bedroom window; there are two large windows in the room, and both are
wide open. The apartment is twenty feet square with a twelve-foot
ceiling; it is not heated artificially and yet the temperature in it is
seventy-two degrees. This is not said from hearsay, nor is the record
taken from a hotel thermometer, which may be unreliable, but from a
portable thermometer of my own.
WHEN THE PLACE WAS SETTLED.--People ask, “How old is Thomasville: when
was it first settled?” The writer can answer this question because he
had the good fortune to be presented to no less a personage than Mrs. M.
A. Bower, a most charming woman to look at and to converse with, who is
proud of her fifty-six years, but whom you would judge to be at least
ten years younger. Mrs. Bower was the first white child born in
Thomasville, and in the first real house erected in the place. It stood
on the present site of the Mitchell House. Mrs. Bower is the daughter of
Colonel and Mrs. Edward Remington who came here from Pawtuxet, R. I., in
the year 1828. Set it down for a fact then that Thomasville is three
score years old.
LOCATION.--Thomasville, the capital of Thomas county (this is not from a
gazetteer, please believe), stands three hundred and thirty feet above
sea level, being on the highest ground between Macon and the Gulf of
Mexico, in the Uplands of Georgia. It is two hundred miles from the
Atlantic, sixty miles from the Gulf of Mexico as the bird flies, twelve
miles from the Florida State line, a thirty-three-mile drive from
Tallahassee, and is reached from Jacksonville at the South or from
Savannah coming from the North in a few hours by way of Waycross or
Jesup, two places not particularly attractive to the tourist but quite
useful as way stations, affording junctions for several lines of
railroad.
HEALTH AND PLEASURE.--Thomasville was at one time simply a health
resort: people with consumption or other lung or throat diseases came
here for relief and they found it. They, the sickly people, still come
to get well; but beside being a health resort it is now also a place for
pleasure. Fashion has set its seal on Thomasville. New York and Boston
are well represented among the visitors, but the West especially favors
Thomasville, and St. Paul, for its size, sends more people probably than
any other city. A number of St. Paul citizens have cottages here and
have set up fine establishments. Ladies dress for the morning ride or
drive; they dress for the mid-day dinner and again for the evening
dance. Ladies at the hotels exchange visits with the cottagers, also
with the townspeople, the permanent residents giving strangers a warm,
Southern welcome.
FEATURES OF THE TOWN.--To-day Thomasville has churches of all
denominations (including a Jewish place of worship), two hotels far
superior to any between Baltimore and Jacksonville, unless exception be
made of the new Oglethorpe at Brunswick; a number of smaller hotels,
numerous boarding houses, two daily newspapers, several good private
schools, a flourishing college for girls and one for the other sex, a
railway direct to the town--and five thousand inhabitants. The boys’
college is a branch of the State University and has at present two
hundred and fifty pupils. The other institution, called “Young’s Female
College,” was endowed by a Georgian, and the charge for tuition is so
low as to be nominal, ten dollars per year to each pupil. So the
religiously inclined have ample opportunity to worship at their
particular shrine, and the educational advantages of Thomasville are
good.
NATURE’S GIFTS.--The reputation of this place was gained by its dry and
balmy atmosphere, its even temperature, its health-giving pine forests
and by its freedom from cold or sudden changes. The United States Signal
Service report shows that the average winter temperature is about
fifty-five degrees, and the average temperature last July, the hottest
month here, was eighty-two degrees. While the winter days are warm the
mornings and nights are pleasantly cool, and it never snows here. Once
during the past fourteen years they did have a flurry of snow. It
happened on a Sunday and the churches remained empty; so interested were
the inhabitants in the uncommon sight that they neglected the church and
all took to snowballing. You need no overcoats nor wraps for outdoor
wear, except, perhaps, for an evening drive, or for rainy days; but an
umbrella or parasol to protect you from the heat of the sun is
indispensable. I am speaking of needing such an article at the present
time, February 1.
THE PINEY WOODS OAK.--To those coming from the North the sight of the
trees in full leaf is as agreeable as it is strange. The pine, live-oak,
hemlock and holly all have their branches thickly covered. There is a
gorgeous live-oak on the grounds of the Piney Woods Hotel whose
spreading branches measure sixty feet across. There is still a larger
one in the town, which people travel miles to see. It spreads ninety
feet across. But beauty does not always consist in bigness. The Piney
Woods oak is both beautiful and big, but its symmetrical beauty is its
main attraction. Is it too warm on the hotel porch? Are the sun’s rays
too fierce? Cross over the road, fifty yards distant, and seek a
comfortable bench or rustic seat in the grateful shade of the pines, in
what is popularly termed “Yankee Paradise,” but known more correctly as
Paradise Park. It includes thirty acres laid out in walks and drives.
There is no ice to make your step unsteady, but the needles of the pines
render the paths rather slippery.
WHEN TO COME.--You can pick violets in the open air and pluck in the
fields a small bouquet of daisies at this writing, but to see
Thomasville at its best, I am told that you must come a little later
than this, when the grass is all green. You can then pluck wild roses to
your heart’s content. Then the pear orchards will be in full bloom, and
the dogwood blossoms are a sight to behold. I have been here only three
days and have seen no rain, but the soil is sandy and one can readily
believe what enthusiasts say, that an hour or two after a long and heavy
rain walking is again pleasant, the rain having percolated through the
ground, leaving the surface perfectly dry, if not hard. And there is
seemingly no end of lovely walks. You get out of the town in five
minutes, and if you are bent on pedestrian exercise, and have an eye for
beautiful scenes, turn your steps in any direction and you will make no
mistake.
WHAT TO BRING.--If the ladies of your party are equestriennes, by all
means let them bring their riding habits with them: everybody rides.
Driving, too, is largely indulged in, the roads being hard, smooth and
unusually wide. They extend for miles and miles through the pine woods,
and their picturesque beauty you will please imagine; it is not easy to
describe it without using more adjectives than I have at my command en
route. To sportsmen let me say, do not come without your dog and gun or
you will never forget nor forgive the error. Wild turkeys abound, there
are snipe in plenty and quail can be bagged by a novice. You see them on
the road while driving, and the crack of the rifle is heard almost
constantly. Quail on toast is a regular dish at the hotels at least once
a day.
THE NEGRO AND HIS WORKS.--Without desiring to attack political problems,
to raise dead issues or to discuss questions that have long since been
answered, one cannot resist the temptation to obtain information on the
result of the emancipation proclamation, for although it is over a
quarter of a century old the subject yet has great interest for this
country, and for other countries also, for that matter. Here is a
statement of facts and figures in condensed, nutshell form upon which
chapters and books might be written--the colored population of Georgia
pay taxes on real estate amounting to twelve millions of dollars, the
realty being estimated at about one half its actual value, and their
personal property is estimated at about six millions of dollars. There
are instances of marked faithfulness and attachment of slaves to their
former owners, some of the blacks still serving their white masters.
Among the servants of Mrs. M. A. Bower, proprietor of the Piney Woods
Hotel, are two who formerly served this same “master,” one of them being
the skilful pastry-cook of the hotel. Negroes say that the whites and
work do not agree. Possibly not; they are unaccustomed to labor hard in
this section, and on the other hand whites claim that the colored are by
nature more fitted for work in such a climate. Be that as it may, it is
certain that the colored people of the South are not over fond of work,
either: you cannot depend upon their working regularly. So soon as they
can put enough by to keep them in cracked wheat or hominy and a little
tobacco the colored laborers are likely to throw up a job, and are not
over particular if they occasionally leave an employer in the lurch. If
you are a new settler and are building a house, for instance, they will
have no compunction about leaving you some fine morning, or some wet
afternoon, before your house is roofed in. Of clothing for warmth they
need little, and the weather never being severe their log cabins or pine
huts need not be very tight: if they shed the rain that is all that is
necessary for them.
THE CHAIN GANG.--The jail at Thomasville was not near large enough until
a new plan of punishment was adopted. The colored roughs committed small
offences for the very purpose of getting into prison; in that way
obtaining food and shelter, and at the same time “doin’ nuffin.” Not so
now: the town council met and adopted the resolution that prisoners
should be made to work, and that is how the “chain gang” came into
existence. You will see gangs of colored men repairing the roads and
engaged in other public works on the highway. They wear a striped
uniform after the prevailing fashion at our State prisons. The two legs
of each man are held close enough together by iron chains to prevent the
action of running, but yet the chains afford him sufficient freedom to
move about and make himself useful with pick and shovel. It is a novel
sight for a stranger to meet one of these gangs on the road, and the
clank of the locked iron links has a strange and weird sound. To their
credit be it said, the men are ashamed of their public disgrace, and the
Thomasville prison is now large enough to hold all the applicants for
admission. Making the negro work and making him a public show have had
good effect. Such a plan is of course not feasible for cities, but it
might be adopted with a degree of success in thinly populated districts
of Northern States. Tramps give Thomasville a wide berth. If one of the
genus unwittingly wanders that way he is given his choice: he must leave
at once or join the chain gang and work for thirty days.
UPLAND PRODUCTS.--Cotton is still king in the South, and Georgia
produces its full share, but Thomas county is also noted for oats. More
oats are produced in Thomas county than in any other county in the
United States. This I have from one of the prominent citizens of the
town, whose information is as extensive as the manner of imparting his
knowledge is agreeable. If you come to Thomasville try to meet Dr.
Bower. He practices his profession no longer, being interested in many
large enterprises. He can give you more interesting information
concerning these parts than probably any other person hereabouts. But
you must allow a little for Dr. Bower’s enthusiasm. He is apt to look at
Thomasville and Thomas county through a rose-colored glass. From Dr.
Bower your correspondent learned, among other things, that the Le Conte
pear, which grows in such profusion here and in Florida, was brought to
this country from China about fifty years ago, and propagated by
Commodore Le Conte, a Georgian of French descent. It does not equal the
Bartlett in flavor, but its skin is tougher, and it bears transportation
better. You may see orchards containing thousands of trees, and the
trees average a production of twelve to fifteen bushels. Some trees are
said to yield as many as thirty-five bushels. They boast here of the
largest pear orchard in the world--two hundred and twenty-five acres.
Last year twenty-five thousand crates of pears were shipped from
Thomasville to cities in the North and West. Some found their way to the
New England summer resorts, and were received with favor. Still, from
all I can learn, while the North has its Bartlett, it need not envy the
South its Le Conte.
THE POOR KINE.--It is conceded that they raise here in abundance cotton,
oats and pears, and that pine trees, roses, magnolias, quail, figs, and
other good things grow in profusion, but, on the other hand, the live
stock is very poor indeed and meats must come all the way from New York
if people demand meat that is good and nutritious. That is where all the
meat comes from which is consumed at the hotels. It almost makes your
heart ache to see the poor, weak oxen that are forced to work, and the
thin, bony cows that must yield their milk. It may be different in
summer time, when the grass is rich, but the cattle seem to be very
poorly fed now, or not fed at all. They are allowed to roam freely about
the streets and byways of the town, and pick up, by day or night, what
they can find.
THE WINN FARM.--An exception to this rule must be made in favor of Winn
Farm, a tract of eighteen hundred acres, owned by F. J. Winn, several
hundred acres of which are under cultivation. The stock there looks
better than the animals you see in Thomasville proper, and for which you
have nothing but sympathy. They make good wine, too, at Winn Farm, and
it is offered in hospitable quantities from the hand of an attractive,
cultivated woman, the presiding genius of the place, Mrs. F. J. Winn.
The luscious, juicy oranges which are put on the tables of the Piney
Woods Hotel in such liberal measure, come from the grove on Indian
River, Florida, owned and cultivated by Dr. Bower. The grove contains
four or five thousand orange trees in bearing.