Day 6

What no doughnuts???!!!  Nope, TODAY is HUGE BAGEL day.  Bagels and cream cheese, now that’s the way to start the day.
 
Then off to the Georgia Railroad Museum.    The museum is a beautiful National Historic Landmark located at the old Central of Georgia Railway Savannah Shops and Terminal Facilities. It has a fully operational turntable where you can explore historic railcars

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​AND experience the handcar! 

​The boiler room was the heart of the complex, pumping steam power and heat.  The workers had to continually feed the boiler with wood or coal.   Until the early 1900s when electricity took over and the boiler only provided heat for the other buildings.

​The steam powered the steam engine by turning a flywheel, which turned a line shaft.  The rotating line shaft ran into the Blacksmith Shop, the Machine Shop and other buildings.  The shaft was connected by belts and its rotation powered saws, drills, etc.

​The smokestack served several purposes.  It is connected to the Boiler Room and Blacksmith Shop by underground flues.  The system operates under the Bernoulli Principle.  The height of the stack enables wind and pressure to create a vacuum and draw smoke through the tunnels and out of the buildings.  The hot air crated by the boiler expanded and rose, contributing to this effect.  This also brought fresh air into the boiler, creating a hotter fire.  The stack contained a large water reservoir that held water needed by the shops. 

​The base of the stack housed 16 privies and changing rooms for the workers.  Below, Linda is checking out the privy.

​The highlight of this visit was the REAL LIVE steam train ride.

​You certainly DO NOT have a chance to get hungry with Rivoli Rallies!  Paula Deen is so awesome that we went to their newest addition, Creek House Restaurant Seafood & Grill, for lunch. 

​What good food and great service.  And a wonderful gift shop, imagine that.
 
Pinpoint Heritage Museum is located in the old A.S. Varn & Son Oyster and Crab Factory.  How cool is that!?  We experienced the Gullah/Geechee way of life from religion to foodways, spending the better part of the afternoon in a MOST interesting little place off the beaten path. 
 
Our tour guide was very special, Herman Haynes “Hanif,” the great great (maybe another great) grandson of one of the founders of Pinpoint, a very unique community. 

​It all started in the 1890s after a series of hurricanes devastated the Georgia coast causing an exodus to the mainland.  At the same time, the former Beaulieu Plantation was being divided into lots and sold to the wealthy who desired weekend retreats near the water.  The less desirable lots were made available to freedmen.  The Bond and Dilward families purchased the initial lots, thus the beginning of Pin Point. 
 
“Old Man Varn” kept his enterprise for nearly 60 years because of the people of Pin Point.  This white seafood entrepreneur in a rural black community thrived for most of the 20th century.  The residents of Pin Point led a secluded life, at the end of an unpaved road, where there was work and food.  What mattered to them was faith, the tides, the weather and one another. 

​Learning about the “Gullah/Geechee” heritage was moving.  Gullah/Geechee became the common language of the African slaves mixed from different tribes.  Words like “chirrin” for children.  Their culture flourished, blending their African heritage with their American experience.  They became skilled fishermen, shrimpers and crabbers, as well as harvesting oysters.   They fused their African religious practices with the Baptist missionaries who started “praise houses,” leading to the Hinder Me Not Church established by David Bond and his son, Benjamin. 
 
The people of Pin Point have nicknames.  If you ask for someone by their birthname, you will likely get a blank stare.  This is likely from their African practices where people often kept their real names secret for fear that someone could work magic against them.  One nickname is “Bacon” because he “brought home the bacon” or “Watchie” because he watched over the neighborhood children from his front porch.  Other nicknames include Snapper, Moose, Quarter Horse, Chicken, Duck, Pee Wee, Popsicle.  The list goes on. 
 
Pin Point is the hometown of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas 

​where his single mother worked in the crab/oyster factory to take care of her family the best she could.  The factory closed in 1985 due to tougher fishing and inspections.  The crab population decreased with the airdropping of a chemical to control the ants, but it also killed an entire generation of adult crabs.  Overfishing and minimum wage (widely used in the 1970s) didn’t help the situation.  Residents began to take jobs outside the community, not as a choice, but as a necessity.

​ Somehow we had time to make a quick bus stop at our local distributer of Nine Line Apparel.  They are all about giving back to our veterans and WE ARE TOO!

Because we were able to get home a bit early, we had time for a social hour and a WONDERFUL catered dinner at CreekFire Motor Ranch.  Special Sausage Cheese Dip and spinach dip with bread and low country boil (a Savannah thing).  As a special treat, we had an oyster bar!  Look at the size!  The oysters were especially good because the caterer owns the oyster bed and they were freshly picked for us.

​The evening would not be complete without the entertainment of Kay and Ron, 

​Door Prizes, and Shout Outs!  RiVoli Rallies has done it again, “ONLY THE BEST FOR ITS GUESTS.”