The People:
 Another thing to consider before we look further at Savannah as Southern Gothic is its particular history. Maybe because Savannah unlike its neighbor to the North was not the elites from the Caribbean plantations but the poor and middle class settlers who were to act as a military buffer for the Carolinas from the Spanish in Florida. These were people that tragedy and the injustice of society would be self evident. They are those waiting for wealth or at least a better life. They are the protagonists of Dicken’s gothic infused novels of Bleak House and Great Expectations. Yet they have great expectations that the new world offers them new chances to a better life. Their struggles are the stuff of gothic legend. Trying to succeed in a land full of the mysterious Indians and unknown land and to work essentially for the wealthy northern colonies as security guards. Later they too will create generations of wealth only to be decimated by the Civil War, boll weevil, disease, fires, and the Great Depression. This would leave a city where once was wealth sometimes faced with decay and a lost cause.
Not only would they be poorer financially they would have less education and thus be more inclined and more willing to try everything to see beyond the veil of this reality and see mysterious reasons behind unexplained events. It wouldn’t be until 1754 21 years later when Savannah becomes a royal colony that the entrepreneurs and slaves would come. And you have what might be called the first struggles between new money and old money and class becomes even more important. And the slaves would bring their own mysteries of language and culture to this already strange land. Psychologically when you feel or do not have direct control of your lives you build myths to explain the world and you create ceremonies and rituals to keep the evils and unknown form your door. You want to have ways to erect justice in a society that the systems in place does not always treat your quote kind fairly. So the beginnings of our colony offer fertile ground for stories of the Gothic nature.
But it is not only the people but the land itself. We have parks downtown which are filled with moss covered gigantic monuments of nature: oak trees. You have places where we gather to people watch and share. You have a side of town for the free blacks and Irish. You have a city surrounded by marshes that change with the tides and seasons, winding rivers, creeks with these ancient creatures of another time: alligators. The atmosphere of coastal south as do the bayous lend themselves very well to the gothic mentality.
And then all the wealth comes crashing down and those who once had great wealth are left as beggars or pretenders as fate would allot to them. This story of economic cycles fortunes and misfortunes is more pronounced in the more undeveloped South. And then the Civil War the South’s economy is decimated.
 
The advent of Flannery:
Flannery comes into this world where the demise of the South is here and the wealthy’s pretensions of wealth has been destroyed. And a community where ever block she travels has the Gothic churches reaching to the skies in the hopes and aspirations of their people who at the same time are experiencing the reverse of their fortunes once again after their rise. Flannery was born in the middle of the roaring twenties but would spend her growing up years here in Savannah and elsewhere in the depression. Old fortunes are seen in lost buildings that are abandoned and survival is hard. Her short stories and novels become some of America’s greatest literature and leads the way in the new literary genre southern Gothic. In a sense Flannery had no choice in the shadow of St. John’s Cathedral on the Irish side of town but to write in this new Southern Gothic style. The environs of Savannah did not promote romantic novels or historical fiction it was fertile ground for a young mind to write Southern Gothic tales.

Gothic literature of which Southern gothic is a subset is found in such books in Europe as Wuthering Heights, Dracula and Frankenstein. The movement crosses the Atlantic Ocean to America and is found in the House of Seven Gables and Edgar Allan Poes’ writings to name two.
Poe and Hawthorne were New Englanders so the South will share themes they explore but in the context of the South. Thus you have the exploring of madness, decay and despair, cause by the pressures of the past upon the present, particularly with the lost ideals of a dispossessed Southern aristocracy and how they are challenged by the new realities of race. The Gothic castles and cathedrals are replaced in Southern Gothic by the decay of the plantation in the post-Civil War South. Or they are told of in old slave quarters or broken downtowns. Southern elements including dialect, habits and personalities are used. The history of the South is the backdrop of the stories.
The characters are usually complex, and many of them are mentally unstable. Many of the characters are broken in spirit and struggling to find a place in society once again. The morality of characters is often questioned. There are also many characters that are seen as innocent, such as the mentally handicapped, and there is a struggle for their place in the world. Whether mentally unstable, dark or innocent, the characters try to make sense of the world around them and the New South in which they live.
The plots of Southern Gothic stories can be disturbing and some do include supernatural elements. Irony is used to throw the reader off balance. In a broken society naturally the events in the stories contain racism, violence and poverty.
Not only will we see evidence of this new Southern Gothic in other writers and artists in Savannah  in the past but in the present it is still evident. So stay tuned for the next blog entry where we will see these themes continued.

Mickve Israel Synagogue

​A while back I gave a lecture at the Flannery O’Connor home about the Gothic nature of Savannah. I will be sharing slightly revised editions of that lecture in the next few historical ruminations blog entries. I hope everyone enjoys.
 
“What is in a name” is a question asked in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Names are important but the images they bring forth are as equally important. And that is the subject I wish to address today. When one hears the name Charleston we think old south, plantation mansions, and the antebellum period. When one hears the name New Orleans you think of the mixing of cultures that has brought us Jazz,  Blues, and Zydeco music. We think of Cajun and Creole cooking. A living experiment of what can happen in multicultural society. But when I say Savannah what do we see? Hostess City, Tree City as our marketing of the city is [unclear] gone. I think not. I propose that when one thinks of Savannah they think knowingly or not about the Southern Gothic world. Certainly, both New Orleans and Savannah have a touch of antebellum in their images but I propose not like Charleston. Savannah and Charleston have a touch of multicultural fever as port cities, Gullah and Geechee cultures, early Jewish settlers but not like New Orleans. Now New Orleans and Charleston have a touch of Southern Gothic but neither is mainly identified with it and I propose Savannah is. 
Maybe because Savannah, unlike its neighbor to the North, was not founded by elite island plantation sons and daughters but the poor and middle-class settlers that you find a more Gothic nature and less antebellum emphasis. These were people who knew injustices and were more comfortable with the spirit world. They were the protagonists of the Dickens’ gothic novels of Bleak House and Great Expectations. The stories of success would be of the Horatio Alger’s rags to riches variety in Savannah. Thus, Savannah would need a few generations to have the stories of moral and economic decay. And then the ultimate demise of the Savannah wealthy in the Civil War before its truest Gothic nature might be found.
Savannah was a leader of spreading Gothic architecture in the South and the nation as a whole. So for a brief moment let us look at where and what Gothic architecture is.
Gothic architecture (beginning in @1130 A.D.) is a break from the classical period of the past. The Greek’ and Roman’s dominance of culture was gone. They were with each passing decade more like the Old South a memory of the golden days of antebellum grandeur. In fact, the term Gothic is pejorative and comes from those uneducated, uncivilized, bringers of the Dark Ages people called the Goths. [carpet baggers] The Goths who had sacked Rome. The term was from of course an Italian critic and he so convinced the Italians of its inferior heritage that Gothic Architecture did not make great headway in Italy. What were the offensive trademarks of this new Gothic architecture? Tall buildings reaching upward to the sky with flying buttresses and vaulted ceilings. Light coming from the outside into the interior of the building. With taller buildings came larger stain-glass windows. And instead of corners of darkness and dampness as found in the shorter and squatter classical buildings of the Romans and Greeks you now had beautiful buttressed vaulted ceilings with huge rose windows working as wonderful prisms to the sunlight. And there were also the adornments with even gargoyles to ward off evil. It was a totally different aesthetic. One that spoke of aspirations to reach the heavens or god or the best that humanity could be. This was important as Gothic Architecture comes at the end of the Dark Ages and right before the Enlightenment. It was expressive of Europe’s hope that was beginning to develop after a long period when European humanity had seemed to have lost its way.   
For whatever reasons Savannah was a leader, especially in the South, in bringing Gothic Architecture to their city. The Gothic Revival in the US was popular in the post-Civil War years until about the early 1900s. Which seems very déjà vu to its origin in Europe, especially for the south. The colonial/federal plantation style would be the predominant style pre-Civil War. But with the devastating ‘sacking’ of the South, the colonial/ federal especially in Savannah is replaced with an architecture of a new aspirated style of Gothic Revival. A, shall we say, “shining the light in our inner souls” to examine what went wrong and how we might somehow rise from our grotesque nature of slavery and classism and move to higher ground. Yet as in Europe there was a clinging to the long decayed Roman civilization. We call it here in the South the Lost Cause.    
 
Savannah has the first gothic structure in Georgia: St. John’s Episcopal Church. It was built even before the Civil War and the late nineteenth century Gothic revival movement. Alongside of it is the Green Meldrim house which has been called the finest example of residential Gothic Architecture in the South. It was built by John Norris. Norris was also the architect of the second Gothic church dwelling: the Unitarian Universalist Church of Savannah. Which would become noted as the “Jingle Bells Church” because James Pierpont wrote Jingle Bells while he was the organist at this church.
These two churches were precursors of what was and is the most common church style of architecture in the Historic District. There are over eight churches designed in the Gothic style with another modifying itself to become more Gothic in its nature, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension.  The list includes the Congregational Church. Beth Eden Baptist, Wesley Monumental Methodist Church, First Presbyterian Church until it burned and the congregation moved into Neo-Gothic building in Ardsley Park, and most prominent of them all St. John the Baptist Cathedral. The latter, if you catch at the right time of day, cast a literal shadow over Flannery O’Connor’s childhood home. The Cathedral is one of the most prominent buildings in Savannah. But when Flannery as a child walked through Savannah, she would have been engulfed not only by St. John’s Cathedral but also the preponderance of Gothic Architecture here. We also have the only Synagogue in the United States with Gothic Architecture.
To give you an idea of how the architecture look at the picture of the synagogue and First Presbyterian (before it burned)on Monterey Square (see below). Wesley Monumental Methodist Church is right behind the Synagogue and yet another example of Neo Gothic architecture. In the square just east of the Cathedral sits the Unitarian Universalist Church. It should be noted the first major Catholic church built in the southern part of Savannah was the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. And what style was it?  Gothic.
What we see is what we think. We know our surroundings influence our moods, attitudes, and stress levels among other things.  What we see effects our psychology and spirit. The high aspirations of Gothic Architecture would have been evident in people tired of the old and worn but looking forward to coming through the horrors of the past toward the possibilities of the future. But the darkness of our souls must have light shed on it to achieve our high aspirations. The tall vaulted roofs and large beautiful rose windows would reveal the ruptures in our own souls. It is all this and more that would be earmarks of Savannah’s Gothic rage.
Next blog we will look at the arts and how they further define Savannah as a city that defines Gothic.
 

​The Starland District is about to take off in exponential ways. It is becoming a unique and popular area with good food and the arts. But it has not always been on the cusp of being a hot new neighborhood. Since its beginnings in the early twentieth century it has had as most neighborhoods its ups and downs but today it has under gone a significant resurgence.

In 1888 two streetcar lines were built extending from downtown Savannah into what would be known as the Starland District today. At first development in the area was slow going. But in 1909 farmers from the Pooler area were frustrated with their ability to break into the downtown Savannah dairy market. In an effort, to combine their efforts they created a cooperative venture and milk processing plant. The plant covered two blocks and was called the Starland Dairy. They used a red star as their logo. Their milk was delivered by horse and milk carts into the 1950s. The milk bottles with the red star logo on their sides are now collector’s items.

The Starland Dairy became the needed anchor to start the growth of the new neighborhood. One of those businesses was David’s Supermarket in 1936. It was the first self-serviced grocery in Savannah. The grocery store would be opened for seventy-two years. Other dairies were started throughout the neighborhood. Businesses of all types started to serve the district. The neighborhood flourished until the middle of the twentieth century. One of its other distinctions was one of the areas that was used for auto races, like the International Grand Prize Automobile Race.
 
At this time as in many downtown districts throughout the United States people moved from the Starland Neighborhood into the quickly developing suburbs. This slow attrition of people from the neighborhood began to effect the businesses and leaving vacant homes throughout the district.

In the late 1980’s the Starland Dairy closed after several downsizes. The neighborhood was for all practical purposes dead or at least dying. As the twentieth century approached it remained a desolate place. The building with the RedStar once full of industry was empty and abandoned
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In 2000 the resurrection of the Starland District began. Two Savannah College of Art and Design students from the historical preservation department John Deaderick and Greg Jacobs purchased the old abandoned Starland factory on Bull Street between West 40th and West 41st Streets. The plan was to restore/create a Starland District by creating a new art and design district. The new district would center around the two blocks of the restored Starland Dairy. Their logo for the new Starland District would be the red star the dairy had used.

This would be the beginnings of a new and popular district. They started one of Savannah’s favorite places to go to lunch the Starland Café. The district is now coming of age with significant Savannah favorites. In 2001 the Back in the Day Bakery opened and quickly earned national recognition for its owners Cheryl Day and Griff Day. In 2015 it was nominated for the James Beard Award.

From these two businesses have emerged Two Tides Brewery (a recent addition),Wormhole Bar, Sulfur Studios, House of Strut a vintage clothing store, Graveface a vinyl record store, Starlandia a used art supply store, and others. Most recently and probably a critical mass opening of Starland Yard. It is self-described as ‘SAVANNAH'S 25TH SQUARE. OFFERING A VARIETY OF FOOD TRUCK OPTIONS, VITTORIA PIZZERIA BY RENOWNED CHEF KYLE JACOVINO, and a FULLY STOCKED BAR.’ It also has games for family and friends to play and is pet-friendly. Most of its space is outdoors with some inside seating.

Being developed is a “live, work, play” community, Foram Group’s $40 million Starland Village development between 37th and 39th streets. The new development will consist of two five-story apartment complexes, an office building with a rooftop restaurant, new 900-person capacity event venue inside a former church, and other features. One can only assume with this new development the neighborhood will be totally vitalized.

The dream of two SCAD students who started a plan at the beginning of the 21st Century to see an old historic district revitalized is being achieved. Only time will tell if the Starland District will maintain its identity as the quirky art district but as we know from this story a neighborhood Dairy can become a catalyst that can create and shape a district for decades.
 
 

​Tybee Island was once upon a time referred to as Savannah’s Beach. But even before Savannahians made it their personal beach and even before Gen. Oglethorpe step foot in what is now Georgia the Guales were there. The Guale were a native American tribe.
Before Oglethorpe made developed it was called the ‘Debatable Lands”. The British in Charleston, the Spanish based in St. Augustine, and the French in the West pushing eastward all laid claim to this land. The Native Americans already here were not included in this discussion.
The Spanish tried to lay claim to the land did as they did on the West Coast with missions up the western coast from Mexico. On the East Coast they established missions up from St. Augustine in Florida. They worked with the Native Americans to establish missions some say all the way to Port Royal, South Carolina. One of the missions was on Tybee Island.
In Georgia the Spanish used the tribe Guales, whose territory ranged on the coast of Georgia, helped them establish missions on several of Georgia’s coastal barrier islands (Sea Islands, St. Catherine’s, Sapelo, Ossabaw, Wassaw, and Tybee Islands). By the mid-17th century, the Spanish had established six Catholic missions in Guale territory.
The Guales who were already established here since the 1130s at least would eventually be identified with the great Mississipian Culture. The Irene Mounds which I have written about in a previous blog were the central Mississippian city in the area. The Mississippians Indians had a chiefdoms and are known as the mound builders.
The French whose main mode of expansion was through the establishing of trading posts first met the Guales in 1562. The French established a small French village on Parris Island now a training center for the Marine Corps. This land would later be ceded to the British.
The Guales would be in partnership with the Spanish through most of the !7th century until the early 18th century. But with the strong British presence in North Carolina and the expansion of the British in what is now South Carolina, it was not long before they ran headlong into the Spanish and the Guales.
The Guales had their numbers decreased due to major epidemics in the late 17th century and 18th century. The British took notice of this. The British were uncomfortable with the Spanish population so close to their lands in South Carolina which they had designs to start colonies. So they joined with one of their friendly tribes: Westos to remove the Guales from what was Georgia. With the assistance of three hundred Westo warriors they attacked the Spanish missions on he coast of Georgia. Eventually, they were able to destroy the missions and accomplish their mission by 1702.
With the missions destroyed some Guale removed to Spanish territory in Florida. Many though dismayed that the Spanish in Florida had not given them adequate military support during this time stayed in Georgia joining up with other surviving tribes of the Westos military swoop in Georgia. They would later become known as the Yamasee.
The Yamacraws with their chief legendary Tomochichi with the land now open to British Native Americans would settle in what is now Savannah. Tomochichi and the Yamacraws and Mary Musgrove who had established a trading post next to the Yamacraw Village would be on hand to greet Gen. James Oglethorpe when he came in 1733 to establish the Georgia colony.
Today the Guales are a shadowy memory. But they are part of the story of Savannah.

​Savannah is known for its first. The first golf course, first black church, the third oldest synagogue, first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, first planned city in America, first art museum in the South, first girl scout troop, and the list could go on. So it is no surprise to find Savannah has the second oldest hospital in the nation: the Candler\St. Joseph’s hospital two hospitals that joined forces.

St. Joseph’s Hospital had its beginning in 1875 when the Sisters of Mercy reached out to help ailing seaman. Candler Hospital is the second oldest continuously operating hospital in the United States. It began in the 1730s when the Methodist missionary George Whitfield brought medicines to treat sick seamen and the poor. Whitefield would also start the oldest orphanage here in Savannah: Bethesda. His efforts would lead to a charter in 1804 as a seaman’s hospital and poor house known under the name of Savannah Poor House and Hospital Society.

In 1819, the hospital moved to Gaston Street where it remained for 160 years and is currently owned and used by Savannah College of Art and Design. During the Civil War the building served as a Union Hospital.  In 1872 it was renamed the Savannah Hospital. As they became larger they started the city’s first nursing school in 1902. The Methodist Church would purchase and continue the work of Rev. Whitefield with the guidance of Bishop Warren A. Candler in 1930. Candler would also become the name of the hospital. In 1960 it would join forces with the country’s oldest women’s hospital, Mary Telfair (the hospital was started with a bequeath of money from Mary Telfair one of Savannah’s greatest philanthropist who also started the oldest art museum in the South: Telfair Academy.  In 1997 Candler Hospital would take on its current organization by entering an agreement with St. Joseph’s Hospital.
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Today, Candler/St. Joseph’s Hospital centuries removed from its beginnings continues as one of Savannah’s oldest and proudest institutions.
 

​Savannah is said to be a town of creatives. Savannah was recently voted the best place for creatives to live. This is largely due to a world renown Music Festival, Savannah College of Art and Design, Telfair Museums and other art organizations. But the fact is Savannah has been able to call themselves a home for creatives at other times too. For Example, During the early to the mid twentieth century with Telfair Academy established in 1886, the Savannah Art Club, and what I have termed Cotton Row Art Colony on Factor’s Walk the art community in Savannah was flourishing.
One of the examples of an artist who came for a period to enjoy and create here in Savannah was Andre Ruellen (April 6, 1905 – July 15, 2006). She painted in the realist style with a modernist touch. Her work would be collected by the Whitney Museum, New York, Phillips Collection, District of Columbia Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Philadelphia MOA, San Diego MOA, and Savannah’s own Telfair Museums. One of her first paintings to be bought by a museum was the Wind-Up a painting of Savannah bought by the Phillip’s Collection.
Andre Ruellen came to Savannah in 1941 with her husband painter and printer John Taylor. Taylor would teach printmaking at the Telfair Academy. When the couple first came to Savannah they went about town sketching things of interest to themselves. Observing them an over eager police officer thought the two may be spies and took them down to the police station. Alexander Brook, one of the Cotton Row painters and friend, came to their rescue and vouched for them. They were released.   Having said this the officer may not have been that far off. Ruellen who was of French descent had parents who were ardent socialists.
Ruellen who had been born in Manhattan had her first published work in the socialist magazine The Masses Ruellen found the American South of interest and would visit Georgia several times. Ruellen was a social realist painter at times. She looked at the South with an eye that would create paintings that would reflect a commentary about southern life. While in Savannah she created three paintings of Savannah scenes Savannah Landscape: City Market, The Wind-Up, and Savannah.  Two of these are in the Telfair Museums collection. John Taylor, her husband, has a print created during his printmaking classes at the Telfair that rests in the Museum’s collection.
Ruellen and her husband during her short stay could have had contact with two of Savannah’s more successful painters Christopher Murphey Jr. and Augusta Oelschig who had garnered national attention. But that year in Savannah either living or passing through would have been Edward Weston, Alexander Brook and his wife Gina Knee (a painter whose work can be found in the Phillip’s collection and Denver Art Museum to name two). Ruellen may have even had contact with two Savannah celebrities Harry Hervey who was writing screenplays for Hollywood and plays for New York was living here and maybe Johnny Mercer visited home while she was here.
Whatever the case there was an active arts community here in Savannah during her several weeks stay. Savannah has always been a city of artists and creatives. Today that tradition continues.

​Ulysses Houston pastor of Savannah’s First Bryan Baptist Church during the Reconstruction era was not just a pastor of sermons but of action too. He was born a slave in South Carolina. He was taken by his master to Savannah to serve as a house servant. After he was freed he worked in the city’s hospital. He learned to read from white sailors while working there.
As many literate and capable black leaders he was attracted to the ministry. The black churches were the most prominent entity in black life. He was licensed to preach in 1855. In 1861 Rev. Ulysses L. Houston became pastor of First Bryan between 1861 to 1889. The church grew during his time as pastor. As he served as pastor, he also served twice as president of the black Baptists in Georgia.
As an influential minister he was one of 16 black church leaders who met with Gen. Sherman and Defense Secretary Edwin M. Stanton in 1865. In this meeting the black representatives told the two representatives of Lincoln’s administrative that the primary thing former slaves and other blacks needed was land to farm. This request would lead to Sherman’s fabled forty acres and a mule But for now  land belonging to those who rose up in rebellion against the federal government had already been declared "abandoned" by an act of Congress .Sherman ordered 400,000 acres of land on the coast from Charleston to the border of Florida and Georgia St. John’s River be redistributed to the former slaves.
With this new order from Sherman, Houston rushed to take advantage of it. He led 1,000 blacks to Skidaway Island, Ga on of the barrier islands off the shore of Savannah where they established a self-governing community. Houston was declared the “black governor.” They farmed and raised crops on the island until 1866 when whites regained the land.
In 1868, during Reconstruction, Houston was elected to the Georgia State Legislature. He was one of thirty-three blacks who were elected. They are now called the ‘Original 33’. The ‘Original 33’ were all expelled or through violence or the threat of violence were forced to resign by the white community. A monument called “The Expelled Because of Their Color" sits on state Capitol property. The names of the thirty-three men are inscribed on it.
Houston Baptist Church in Port Wentworth (small town outside of Savannah) and its adjoining cemetery were organized in 1886. It was obviously named after Houston. The church is built like a plantation praise house. While the church disbanded a while back it now serves as a small museum of the history of Port Wentworth.
Houston led a life of service to his community and demonstrated the Gospel not only through his words but also through his actions.
 

​It is hard to tell where Savannah starts and Thunderbolt begins. The small town east of Savannah lies on Wilmington River Bluff. Surrounding Savannah there are many small towns whose history is not quite as grand but interesting and add to Savannah’s history. The Town of Thunderbolt owes its name to a legend of a lightning strike that created a freshwater spring on the Wilmington Bluff.  Thunderbolt came into being as a shipping point for the needs of the plantations and small farmer’s on the coast. It also became a place for building and repairing of boats for those same people. The town was incorporated in 1856 as Warsaw.
This incorporation was done amidst an economy change to a place where fish was processed. The incorporation would lead to a trolley from Savannah through Gordonston and ending in Thunderbolt being created. No longer would it be the place just beyond Savannah’s city limits to hold duels, or the place once inhabited by Native Americans. It was a new town of ‘white ‘commerce.
In 1890, Georgia State College was founded in Thunderbolt for the education of African Americans. This college is known today as Savannah State University. It was the first college in Savannah and the first historically black university in Georgia. In 1921, Warsaw's name was restored to Thunderbolt.
In1893 the casino came to town. The electric company wanted to entice people to ride the trolley to its end (Thunderbolt). The casino was one of the first establishments in the Savannah area to show movies.  The site had two bandstands for concerts and dancing. One bandstand was a circular gazebo in the center of a large round duck pond west of the casino. Wood and cast iron benches lined the bluff overlooking the river. The casino grounds included an amusement park, a thirty-acre zoo and a beer garden. A post card image of the Casino, tightrope walkers perform on a rope set up over the duck pond at almost twice the height of the Casino. It was one of the ‘most be places’ to be on a Saturday. The casino burned down in 1930 and was never replaced.
But the citizens of Thunderbolt had not stopped with being a place to be. In 1939, yacht racing became popular and saw the construction of a yacht basin. Annually, the "Blessing of the Fleet" was celebrated until recent years and shrimping evolved into the primary seafood product. The bluff of Thunderbolt had served its military purposes. During the Civil War a battery was built on the bluff to keep union troops from going up the Wilmington River. Jefferson Davis came to town to tour the battery. During World War II the yacht basin was used for rescue boats. Today, the city still serves as base for shrimpers to dock, sell and process their product. They also have a yacht repair company that works on yachts around the world. In fact, I laughed at the irony of some of my homeless men working on the yacht of Bill Gates. They have Tubby’s a seafood place with live bands and large crowds. But compared to its former self it is a sleepier town. So, the next time you cross the bridge of interstate 80 via Victory Drive slow down and see Thunderbolt.  They have no duels or casino but they do have some vintage homes, a bluff, shrimpers to purchase from, yachts, and pier.