Scarlett Minds her Mammy, chooses Savannah! Coastal Tour Concludes

Scarlett: Atlanta!
Mammy: Savannah would be better for ya. You'd just get in trouble in Atlanta.
Scarlett: What trouble are you talking about?
Mammy: You know what trouble I's talkin' 'bout. I's talking 'bout Mr. Ashley Wilkes. He'll be comin' to Atlanta when he gets his leave, and you sittin' there waitin' for him, just like a spider. He belongs to Miss Melanie...
Scarlett: You go pack my things like Mother said.

Fresh from immersion in the waters of Tara around Atlanta and Marietta, GA, I am drawn to speculate on the fate of Scarlett, Rhett, and the South in particular, had Scarlett visited Savannah rather than Atlanta, GA, as the Yankees were approaching the state. (“How did they ever get in?”)  Savannah was rather dull in comparison to Atlanta and a nice visit with Aunt Pittypat.  I believe it might have been some of poor Charles Hamilton’s family who invited Scarlett, the recent widow, to spend some grieving months in Savannah.  But when Atlanta was mentioned, Scarlett perked up, partially because that Stupid Ashley might show up there to visit his wife, Melanie.  I must pause, however, and think seriously about the Savannah invitation.  Shucks, the whole of the South might have been saved!

For one thing, and first in my immediate thoughts, is this:  if Scarlett had spent any time at all in Savannah, she might have met Juliette Gordon (a very, very distant Georgia Cousin of mine).  Just think what the Girl Scouts could have become with Scarlett’s influence!  Fiddle-de-de!  I might not have dropped out of Scouting, because with Scarlett’s influence, do you think the Girl Scouts of America would have wasted their time with baked potatoes in the ground!  Scarlett valued the earth of Tara, but with her upbringing, I doubt she would have slept or cooked in the great outdoors.  This friendship with Juliette was before the war, remember; The War changed Scarlett.  If Scarlett had befriended Juliette Gordon who went on to marry a Mr. Low, they would have been selling Girl Scout Viking Ranges, wine glasses and fine linens!  Forget the Girl Scout Cookies!

As another thought, had Scarlett spent time in Savannah, she would not have experienced the Burning of Atlanta.  She would have had time to think about dressing in her crimson frock to turn General Sherman to pulp.  As Sherman was marching to the Sea and burning Georgia, and thus the South, Scarlett would be readying herself to meet him.  With one encounter, General Sherman surely would have given Scarlett O’Hara Hamilton the Christmas Present of Savannah instead of gifting the city to Abraham Lincoln.  Since he did not burn the city due to its beauty, it would be only “fittin’” for him to give the city to Scarlett, the most charming and beautiful woman in the whole Confederacy.  Then, the South would be in the hands of a Southerner, which is absolutely “fittin’.”

The thought of Scarlett in Savannah must expand to all aspects of the city.  While there, I learned of the Waving Girl and saw a statue in bronze at the harbor, commemorating her long-suffering, vigilance and steadfastness, waiting for her love to return from the sea.  Sailors eventually lined the decks to wave to this young wife who awaited her love’s return from the sea.  Alas, he never returned.  Hmmm and “God’s Nightshirt!”  If Scarlett had been waiting for him, I’ll bet he would have returned with flags flying.

Ok, let your imagination move to this supposition:  Mammy, Pork, Prissy – maybe all of them would have eventually come to Savannah to be safe with Scarlett and could have influenced Paula Deen!  Paula Deen might not have diabetes, might not drench every dish in butter and sugar.  Picture Mammy telling Scarlett she’d better eat some supper before going to a party.   If she didn’t, Scarlett would be eating like a field-hand, like Paula Deen, instead of like a lady, like a bird.  Scarlett could be stuffing her face with some of Paula Deen’s butter and sugar laden biscuits and take on the size of Paula plus her 2 sons.  But, with the Tara staff in Savannah, Mammy would be cinching Scarlett’s waist to 16” rather than anything else.

What would Savannah be without a salute to Forrest Gump!  His whole story, told on that park bench in Savannah, might have been different, especially if Scarlett had batted her eyes at him.  Even with his forever love for Jenny, sister Sue Ellen and I know that would not have stopped Scarlett.  Forrest would have dropped his whole “box of chocolates” at her feet.

The saga can go nowhere without Rhett.  Scarlett’s avenues would still have crossed with Rhett’s.  After all, Charleston was his home, only a few miles up the road.  Since Savannah was a major port city and he became a most famous and gallant blockade runner, I must envision a fated encounter, perhaps in Lafayette Square, in Savannah.  Both he and Scarlett would ultimately have statues made in their likenesses to adorn the Squares in Savannah.  Live Oaks with hanging moss would frame likenesses of Scarlett and Rhett:   Scarlett in the Square – it just has a nice ring to it!

Given what we know about Scarlett marrying for proximity, for money, for any reason but love and fun, Rhett would still have had to catch her between husbands, as she would absolutely become Scarlett O’Hara Hamilton Oglethorpe. 

My final musings bring me to ponder the literary significance of Scarlett’s sojourn to Savannah.  Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find, John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and even Forrest Gump’s retelling of the History of the World from his bench in Savannah would have been altered had Scarlett spun her magic.  Pat Conroy (The Water is Wide, Prince of Tides) and his wife Cassandra King (Same Sweet Girls) along with Anne Rivers Siddons (Peachtree Road, Low Country, Up Island, etc) would have many more tales to tell, none of which, however, could match those spun regarding the forever fearless Scarlett O’Hara.