My Story
Matt’s story and how he came to Savannah
Matthew’s family is nothing but nurses and pastors, related to five nurses from Nurse Practitioners to LPNs with one more cousin currently in nursing school. Matthew, however, decided to fight his family’s choice of profession for most of his twenties. He ended up working as an investigative reporter for newspapers in Georgia and the Carolinas. Eventually, he gave in and graduated from Georgia Baptist College of Nursing at Mercer University in Atlanta in 2016. He has since spent most of his career at Memorial Health University Medical Center in trauma and cardiac care.
Before moving to Savannah in 2019 Matthew took a deep dive into Savannah’s medical history, mostly because he is a nerd who likes to still use his reporter skills. That examination Savannah’s past was the genesis of this (hopefully) humorous and informative tour.
Currently, he owns a historic home and spends his free time reading and playing board games with friends. During the fall you can find him at P.S. Tavern cheering on his beloved Green Bay Packers every Sunday.
The History
Southern healing since 1733
Savannah was founded in 1773 without warfare, when General James Oglethorpe and the local Yamacraw chief, Tomochichi, pledged mutual goodwill and would be allowed to settle the Savannah Bluff. This would lead to America’s first planned city. Of the original 24 squares, you can still visit 22 today!
With the wealth brought on by cotton and free slave labor, many of the more majestic homes you see in Savannah today were built. Many of the world’s Cotton prices were set at the still standing Savannah Cotton Exchange.
Savannah has withstood invasion, fires, hurricanes and epidemics and always bounced back. On the tour, you will learn about the yellow fever outbreak of 1820, and how the third largest Jewish congregation in America overcame prejudice to save Savannah.
Loved by Many
I tried this tour out of curiosity. I am not into the medical field but love history. The tour moved along at an easy pace and our guide pointed out bits of info between stops. Thanks for giving me a different perspective of Savannah and its past. – Paul
Matthew was our guide and he was fantastic! Funny, informative, easy going and very energetic. This was definitely one of the highlights of our weekend. During our tour we stopped and had a mimosa along forsyth park. Definitely worth the 90 minute walk and we will be recommending this tour to anyone who asks. Matthew is a great storyteller and very engaging! I’d give more stars if I could! Thank you! – Maryam L
Put on your sneakers and walk a mile down medical memory lane with Matt, you won’t regret it! We are longtime residents of Savannah who love our town and are always curious to learn something new about it or check it out from a different perspective. We did this tour on Halloween morning… not that weird seeing as that medical history is bound to include a couple of ghost stories in Savannah… We were surprised by how much we didn’t know about our town! We don’t have a medical background, but he is very personable and was able to talk at the level of the medical professionals that were on the tour, while also educating us a little. – GW