As teens they rode a one-eyed horse named Cyclops along the beach on Tybee Island, authored a social column for the Savannah Morning News in the 1950s, have been members of the well known Crabettes band for more than two decades.

And now life-long friends Polly Cooper, 75, and Laura Lawton, 74, have combined their talents to write a 368-page guide book to Savannah and Georgia's coast.

The "Savannah Guidebook," published in September by Ken Boyd of Cherokee Publishing, is an updated version of Cooper's previous book, the "Visitor's Guide to Savannah," which she co-authored with the late Emmeline King Cooper.

"It needed an update. So much had changed," Cooper said of the first book.

"The history was the same, but the city had changed so much."

Lawton, a retired school teacher, didn't hesitate to help with the project, which took the duo about two years to complete.

"Polly is the kind of person who wakes up every day with a new idea," Lawton said.

"When we were young, she would call me up with new ideas, so when she said we needed to update the guidebook and make it the best guidebook ever written about Savannah, we did."

Full of illustrations and historical photos from local artists, which Cooper said gives it a bit more of a local flavor, the book features maps of downtown Savannah, tips for getting around the historic district, activities for youngsters and an alphabetized section on area museums, historic sites, monuments and other points of interest. Lawton also included a section on Georgia's barrier islands for those wanting to explore outside the Hostess City.

"We didn't realize how many tour companies there were in Savannah, and Ken would come down from Atlanta and visit the companies," Cooper said of the extra help they received from Boyd, who also grew up in Savannah.

"It's so unusual for a publisher to throw himself into a project like this. We kept telling him he needed to be on the cover. He'd spend entire days here marketing the book and walking from shop to shop."

Boyd suggested the authors include sections on shopping, dining and accommodations, which they said fared well in the end but posed a bigger challenge than digging for historical facts.

"The shopping section, that was such a headache," Cooper said.

"The commercial section we ground our way through, but we divided it up and we're glad we did it."

"It was just when all the changes were happening on Broughton Street, so we had walked from one end to the other and had all the shops down and then all of a sudden half of them closed and there would be something new there," Lawton added. It also gives those who want to explore the city on their own a step in the right direction, quite literally, by featuring step-by-step walking tours of Factor's Walk, River Street and Savannah's squares.

Special to the book is a chapter that explores the African-American Journey driving tour given by Jamal Touré of Day Clean Tours.

Cooper and Lawton were inspired to help Touré put the tour in print after joining him on his day tour, which takes visitors to dozens of historical spots, including The Beach Institute, First Bryan Baptist Church and the Haitian Monument.

"He didn't have time, so we did it for him," Cooper said.

The duo also helped create a separate 30-page book that Touré sells on his tours that explores the African-American sites in more detail and even includes a few traditional recipes.

"It's such a beautiful book," she said.

Speaking from his home in Atlanta on Wednesday, Boyd said the guidebook gives locals and visitors a better rounded view of Georgia's oldest city.

"We tried to find things that even true Savannahians had never heard of and give them the opportunity to access them if they desire," Boyd said.

"It was really a combined effort."

Cooper and Lawton aren't showing any signs of slowing down. Next on the horizon for the duo is a book detailing the lives of the seven women who founded the Historic Savannah Foundation.

"Polly wakes up early every day with a new idea," Lawton said.

ABOUT THE SAVANNAH GUIDEBOOK

The Savannah Guidebook features information on museums, annual events, historic sites, numerous tours and favorite local recipes. It can be found at Barnes and Noble, E. Shavers Booksellers and numerous historic home museums.