When I lived in Georgia a few years ago the first city I wanted to go see was Savannah. I had learned a bit about its history and was fascinated with seeing a little street near the river that to most people would seem inconsequential compared to what Savannah offers to those who visit. The little street was the Factors Walk which long ago was used by the cotton industry to showcase and sell cotton.
                                            
       Wagons full of cotton were driven down the little back street for the men that worked in the cotton exchange, called "factors", to factor how much the cotton should be sold for. They stood on the iron walkways that connected the second story to the street above and looked down at the cotton being driven below them.

       As I first glimpsed the Factors Walk on my first trip to Savannah I was in a car driving away to return home when I turned my head and there it was. I only had a few seconds to treasure the sight of the iron walkways and the red brick buildings. It was a brief glimpse into Savannah's history that had more meaning to me than anything else I had seen that day.
                                            
       Anxiously I reached for my camera but it was too late and the Factors Walk slipped out of sight. I was with a large group and there was no time to stop and go back to take any pictures, so I promised myself then that I would come back someday to explore and walk around historical Savannah to my hearts content.

      It took a couple of years but I finally got back to Georgia in 2009 and got the chance to return and visit Savannah again to continue what I had long wished to discover. On foot this time and with my camera ready I went behind all the tourist shops and restaurants that faced the river to a little dark street that most tourists visiting would probably consider a back alley. For me, though, it was a wondrous place that let me take a walk through Savannah's past.
                                              
      I could almost hear the sounds of the wagon wheels rolling over the cobblestone streets. The red brick buildings on my left towering above me gave the street a cool shadow that was a relief from the hot summer day. As I studied the old bricks and stones that created a shorter wall on my right I thought about all that those walls had been through and witnessed and what secrets they held inside. Stories and secrets they could tell about the many different people that had walked those streets.

      Looking up along the top of the wall were bushes that stretch up and out that is a common sight in Georgia. The green of the bushes and trees up on the top of the wall completed the scene perfectly. I looked around me and drank in all the beauty and history of Factors Walk that was both enchanting and mysterious.
                                              
       Too soon we had to leave the little street as storm clouds were building up and a torrent of rain started to drench us as we walked back to the tourist shops and restaurants that offered us a place to get out of the rain. But I found myself wanting to stay outside in the rain as it was warm at the same time as being very wet. I felt like a little child again as I relished the sound of the rain falling on the cobblestone street and the historical red brick buildings next to the river. As we walked back to our hotel I would get glimpses of the Factors Walk every now and again through the buildings and would feel all over again the fascination and wonder of what it would have been like to be there in the middle to late 1800s. Savannah will forever hold a mystery and a romance that I will continue to return back to and enjoy.

       In once again leaving behind me the Factors Walk of Savannah I felt the total opposite from my first trip to that beautiful city. This time I felt no regrets and felt satisfied and in awe of all that I had seen. The memories of that beloved city will continue to warm my heart and whisper to me of its history that I have only yet had little glimpses of. I had experienced a part of Savannah's rich past through a walk that I'll never forget.