Finding Fun in Savannah

Being born and raised in Georgia, one of my favorite historical places is Savannah. Beautiful homes, amazing seafood, and history galore – what’s not to love? Unfortunately, not much, according to our 10-year-old daughter who’s decided that “history is boring.” Ack! What’s a pair of history loving parents to do? Take her there and try to help her discover how cool history can be.

It looks like we’ll be there around July Fourth. Ironic, because that’s the same time of year my parents took my sister and me there when I was about my daughter’s age. I don’t remember the exact year, but do remember how miserably hot it was. Our parents took us to what seemed like every place open for tourists, when all my sister and I wanted was to jump in the pool to keep from melting. We told them we’d go anywhere they wanted as long as it had air conditioning.

Fortunately, the mosquitoes and overbearing heat didn’t ruin the trip or kill my love for history. But it does remind me to mix some fun stuff with what our daughter might claim is boring stuff. Here’s the current plan:

• Buy one-day tickets for touring the historic district instead of two. We’ll ride the trolley, hop on and off a few times, and hit the high points. No see-everything-on-the-map day for us.
• Wander the shops on River Street. What can I say? She’s 10 and loves to amble through stores.
• Visit Forsyth Park, where the kids can run and play or just hang out for a while. Sometimes artists or students use blocks of the sidewalks for chalk art canvases, which is fun to see.
• Show the kids the “bus stop square” from Forrest Gump. The bench from the movie isn’t there anymore, but replicas are around the park. 
• Remind our daughter that all those American Girl books she likes to read about Felicity and Elizabeth are set in the same time period as Savannah’s beginning – the mid-1700s.
• Have fun with double fireworks – Tuesday night at Tybee Island and Wednesday night in Savannah.
• Grab a snack at Leopold’s Ice Cream. Their ice cream was the inspiration behind Savannah native Johnny Mercer’s song “Tutti Frutti.”

I’m sure we’ll visit Fort Pulaski and sink our toes in the sand at Tybee Island for a while. That will probably fill up most of our visit.

So what about you? If you love history and have a child who’s not so crazy about it, how do you handle things? I’d love your suggestions!