Savannah - Random Knowledge of a Beautiful City Quiz

Answer: St. Patrick's Day

Over 700,000 people turned out for the 2007 St. Patrick's Day parade. The city's population is only about 128,500. Savannah is known for its large number of citizens of Irish descent.

Answer: Firearms

James Oglethorpe was out to establish a Utopian society when he established Savannah. He wanted nothing to do with Catholics, as they might side with the Spanish if Florida ever rebelled. He outlawed strong spirits, although Savannah was one of the wettest cities later during prohibition, when it is rumored that you could get alcohol out of gas station pumps.

He also prohibited lawyers - which must have just been a personal issue. If you were a lawyer who arrived in Savannah, you had one day to change your occupation or face a public hanging. Also, slavery was outlawed upon initial establishment of the city.

This was later voted down.

Answer: James Oglethorpe

Oglethorpe and others landed in Savannah on February 12, 1733. England wanted to settle Georgia to add a barrier between Spanish-occupied Florida and its colony of South Carolina. Savannah, being a coastal city, was the site of the landing of the ship "Anne" and the first settlement of the colony of Georgia.

Answer: Squares

Only 21 of the squares still exist. Two were removed to make way for the expansion of the interstate and one was replaced with a parking deck. The parking deck has since been removed and the square placed under restoration orders to revive it.

Answer: Savannah Smiles

The bench from "Forrest Gump" is located in the Visitors Center museum. It was moved from Chippawa Square, where it sat for the movie, due to damage it was receiving from fans of the movie. Many of the early scenes of "Glory" were filmed in Savannah including the scenes that depicted the movement through Boston.

These were actually filmed on Savannah's famous River Street, where most of the buildings on one side of the street were only sets. Scenes for about one-third of the movie "Cape Fear" (the original, which was released in 1962) were filmed in and around Savannah.

The courthouse in the film was actually Savannah's City Hall, where the exterior shots were shot on location.

Answer: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

This non-fictional true crime book (which has been embellished a bit) focuses on the murder of a young Savannah man by respected art and antiques dealer Jim Williams -an event that resulted in four murder trials. The release of the book, followed by a movie directed by Clint Eastwood, created a huge tourist boom for Savannah in the 1990s.

The city still hosts The Book tours and Lady Chablis, a colorful character who played herself in the movie, became not only a local celebrity, but more of a household name.

Answer: Changed dates on many of the headstones

Although they might have played hide and seek, there is no real evidence to support that. However, many of the tombstones have altered dates on them which show that people lived to be 600 years old or were born after they died. These headstones can be found placed along the back wall of Colonial Cemetery today for viewing.

Answer: Yamacraw

Chief Tomochici and the Yamacraws greeted Oglethorpe and his ship as they landed. They befriended the settlers and Tomochici and Oglethorpe remained friends until their deaths.

Answer: Ray Charles, musician

Ray Charles is from Albany, Georgia.

Clarence Thomas has served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court since 1991 and will most likely be best remembered for the Anita Hill controversy rather than for his work in the judicial system.

Johnny Mercer is one of Savannah's beloved hometown boys. He was the singer and songwriter of the popular hits "Moon River", "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" and "Jeepers Creepers".

Conrad Aiken was another of Savannah's famous residents. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1930 and is buried in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah. Due to the mention of his grave in the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", people have been known to sit on the bench that marks his grave and drink martinis.

Answer: President Abraham Lincoln

After hearing of Sherman's famous march to the sea that began in Tennessee and destroyed thousands of acres of land in Georgia (including the city of Atlanta which was burned to the ground), Savannah decided to surrender rather than lose its beloved city to fire.

The mayor and Confederate troops met Sherman and his men outside of the city and offered their surrender. Sherman took the city and used it for further planning during the remainder of the Civil War.