Girl Scout Troop 1561 of Lilburn slept where Juliette Gordon Low slept when she spent her summers with her family at the Devant Home in Guyton in the late 1800s. The Devants were family friends of the Lows and as many Savannah residents did then, they had a summer home in Guyton to avoid the mosquitoes and malaria.
Low was the founder of the Girl Scouts of America.
The Lilburn scout troop arrived in time for an old fashioned supper of fried chicken and all the fixings and spent the night upstairs in the bed and breakfast, Claudette’s in Guyton, which is known as the Devant House.
Arising early for 10-year-olds, they enjoyed the buffet breakfast offered, packed up and got on the road for their morning appointment at the Girl Scout headquarters in Savannah. On their way out of Effingham, the troop made a stop at the Veterans Park of Effingham County and was given a short tour and information about the park. They found the Purple Heart monument interesting and were shown the memorial square for John Adam Treutlen, the first elected governor of Georgia.
One of the scouts, Anna Lee Garner, pointed to the name of her grandfather, Bill Lee, on the wall on a Korean War panel.
The scouts then headed to Savannah for a weekend of activity before heading home to Lilburn on Monday afternoon.
The visit of the scouts was coordinated through the Effingham Convention and Tourism Bureau. Chairperson Sherry Loper said this was a good opportunity for the organization to be instrumental in tourists visiting the county.
“I think that it is wonderful that our first group came for a visit to a spot that is virtually unknown to many citizens," she said. "The fact that they were young people, who were on a learning trip to the area, made it even better.
“We anticipate coordination of other group visits to our historical sites, recreational areas, the living history site, agri-tourism sites and other attractions in our county. Our goal is to promote tourism, which is the No. 2 industry in the state of Georgia, by capitalizing on Effingham's 'treasurers' in a number of different ways. Realizing this goal can maximize our potential to leverage a healthy sustainable economy for local-based and tourism-based businesses."
