Midnight In The Garden Of Savannah

 

May 2 is a significant date in Savannah's modern history. On that day in 1981 Jim Williams shot and killed Danny Hansford. It was a tragic end to a gay love story and the catalyst for an enormously successful non-fiction novel and the economic and social transformation of a city. In 1977 I was employed near Savannah and seduced by the city's charm and opportunities. I had been living in the historic district only a few months before realizing it was a most unusual urban tapestry inhabited by a full range of entertaining and eccentric characters. There could have been a book in my future but I was too busy adjusting to a new job as well as being the general contractor managing the restoration of my "livable" townhouse.

The man who would write the book was John Berendt. He visited the city a few times before 1982 and noticed its interesting if not compelling characteristics. Three years later he moved to Savannah in search of broadening his writing career. The project that emerged was a travelogue built around the Williams-Hansford story. It was unlike any proposal the publishing industry had ever seen.

The book was a sensation, a best seller, and tourism exploded, also enhanced by the highly successful Savannah College of Art and Design and its historic preservation initiative. For comparison, there were 5 million tourists who spent $600 million in 1993. The numbers jumped to 12.5 million and $2.2 billion in 2013. Yes, Savannah experience change quickly. There were more restaurants to enjoy. The night life flourished. Tour options abounded, from ghost, to pirate, to transsexual. The pace changed: faster, broader, deeper, never ending, and more expensive. The historic district became a fishbowl. Soon, the preservation pioneers paid $6,000, $8,000, then $10,000 or more in city/county taxes to live in the homes they had lovingly restored. Many of them left. Had I stayed, I too would have been displaced. My wife and I could no longer have afforded to live in the home I restored. 

Today, the people go about their daily lives shadowed by those magnificent, moss draped live oaks. The wonderfully restored facades look down on them daily. The ships glide in on the incoming tides. And Bonaventure's ancient gate welcomes the living and the dead into what I believe is by far the nation's most beautiful cemetery. So much has changed in Savannah, but in the quiet hours, in the intimate gardens, and in the music of the squares as well as that of a piano a few door away, you can find the city I knew forty years ago. One thing you can't find is my book. You'll have to look to another author for the story.

John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was published in 1994. It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in non-fiction in 1995. More than 3 million copies have been sold. The book remains the  longest running title - 216 weeks - on the New York Times Best Seller list. Trust me. It's a good read.

Sources

Photos and Illustrations:

front cover art, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Random House, New York, 1994, fair use

Text:

Wikipedia.org

interview, Booknotes, interview with Brian Lamb, C-SPAN, August, 12, 1997