Savannah



Savannah is the fifth largest city in Georgia, at the northern end of the state's coast. It's famous for having one of the largest historic districts in the country.

Understand
Savannah, the historic riverside birthplace of Georgia, was settled in 1733 by British colonists led by General James Oglethorpe and Colonel William Bull. In 1864, when General William Tecumseh Sherman and his Union Army marched in, the mayor of Savannah gave Sherman's men run of the city in exchange for leaving it untorched. As a result, Savannah is one of the few major cities in the South with antebellum charm and architecture remaining intact.

Southerners joke that in Atlanta, the first thing locals ask you is your business; in Charleston, they ask your mother's maiden name; and in Savannah, they ask what you want to drink. It's partly that ethos that keeps the city tourism industry flourishing, along with a little help from what locals call "The Book": Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (also a feature film). The local art school, Savannah College of Art and Design, also keeps the city awash in accessible, affordable art.

Watch

 * Parts of Forrest Gump were shot in Chippewa Square.

By car
I-95 and I-16 are readily accessible to the city.

By plane

 * American: Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Washington Reagan.
 * Delta: Atlanta Airport, Detroit, New York LaGuardia.
 * JetBlue: Boston, New York JFK.
 * United: Chicago O'Hare, Washington Dulles, Houston George Bush Intercontinental, Newark.
 * United: Chicago O'Hare, Washington Dulles, Houston George Bush Intercontinental, Newark.

By train
Amtrak operates a passenger terminal at Savannah for the Palmetto and Silver Service trains running between New York City and Miami, Florida with three southbound and three northbound trains stopping at the station daily. The modernist is located on 2611 Seaboard Coastline Dr, almost five kilometers. Bus 29 offers limited services to the station.

By bus
Greyhound - The Greyhound station is on W. Oglethorpe Ave. inside CAT's Joe Murray Rivers, Jr. Intermodal Transit Center, about a half mile from River St.

By public transit

 * Chatham Area Transit (CAT) has bus services fanning out from an intermodal Transit Center downtown on W. Oglethorpe Ave. It also operates the free dot Shuttle (Route #5) that winds its way around the Historic District, the free Savannah Belles Ferry that runs across the Savannah River between the Historic District and Hutchinson Island where the Convention Center is, and a free streetcar along River Street on weekends.
 * ConnectOnTheDot has information about fare-free transportation in downtown Savannah, comprising an express shuttle, the Savannah Belles Ferry and the River Street Streetcar. The River Street Streetcar is a mile-long historic streetcar line in the Downtown Historic District. However, it is (as of August 2017) out of service during road construction.

By car
The major east-west street through the Historic District is Bay Street, and the major north-south street is Abercorn, which begins at Bay Street and extends south through the city. Parking in the Historic District can be challenging but there are several public parking garages including an underground 1100-space parking garage beneath Ellis Square. On-street parking in the city at metered spaces is free on the weekends, but the spaces fill quickly beginning around mid-morning. Parking spaces nearest to River Street are the fastest to be filled.

On foot

 * Savannah's Historic District is a good area to see in the daytime by walking. The Historic District is roughly one mile by one mile, bounded in the north by the Savannah River, the south by Forsyth Park, the east by East Broad St., and the west by the Visitor Center and MLK Jr. Blvd. The downtown public squares (see below) provide more than a day's worth of strolling.
 * Self-guided audio walking tours and personal tour guides provide background on the history surrounding you.

By private bus tours

 * There are several private bus tours that wind through the Historic District with running commentaries. They can be found at the Visitors' Center and numerous places throughout the Historic District.

By horse and carriage
Horse and carriage is a relaxed option (though not for the horses) for seeing the city at a more leisurely pace and is abundant throughout the historic district.

Historic public squares
Gen. Oglethorpe and Col. Bull laid out their new settlement in 1733 in a series of wards, in which commercial and residential buildings surround a public square. The original four public squares were Johnson, Ellis, Telfair, and Wright. By the mid 19th century, there were 24 public squares in Savannah. Two squares, Elbert and Liberty, both along Montgomery St., have been lost to modern construction, and a third one, Ellis, once lost, is being restored.


 * On the west side of Ellis Square, the City Market complex extends for two blocks over to Franklin Square. Ellis was the site of the Old City Market, which was demolished in the early 1950s to make way for the infamous parking garage. The loss of the Old City Market upset residents to the extent that efforts began to prevent further losses of irreplaceable buildings.
 * The Second African Baptist Church, dating to 1802, is on the west Trust Lot of the square. At this church site with Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Major-Gen. William Sherman announced the famous "Forty Acres and a Mule" to the newly freedmen. On January 12, 1865 when black ministers met with Stanton & Sherman this was reported: "John Cox, aged fifty-eight years, born in Savannah; slave until 1849, when he bought his freedom for $1,100. Pastor of the 2d African Baptist Church. In the ministry fifteen years. Congregation 1,222 persons. Church property worth $10,000, belonging to the congregation."
 * On the Southeast corner, Savannah Gray Bricks were used in the construction of 521 East York Street. A sign on the house notes that the bricks were made at the Hermitage Plantation on the Savannah River.
 * At the corner of Houston and State streets is the 1810 Cunningham House built for Henry Cunningham, the first pastor of the Second Colored Baptist Church (now Second African Baptist Church located on Greene Square). He was born a free man in McIntosh County, Georgia in 1759.
 * 502-512 East State Street were built in 1890.
 * 542 East State Street is the home built for free blacks Charlotte and William Wall (ca. 1818).
 * 124 Houston Street is a clapboard house built in 1815 by Isaiah Davenport, a builder, who came to Savannah from Rhode Island. Another Isaiah Davenport home is now a house museum on Columbia Square.
 * 117 – 119 Houston Street (ca 1810) is believed to be one of the early paired houses in the city, later used as the Savannah Female Orphan Asylum.
 * Featured as one of Savannah "tiny" houses and painted in the red color often used on 18th Century wood homes in Savannah, 536 East State Street was built for John Dorsett in 1845. It had originally been located on Hull Street but was moved to this location to save it.
 * 513 East York Street is a little two-story cottage built in 1853 for the estate of Catherine DeVeaux, a descendant of Jane DeVeauxes. Jane Deveauxes who was sent to the North for an education, but returned to establish a secret school from her home at St. Julian and Price streets from 1847 until after the Civil War. Along with another teacher of African students, Mary Beasley, Jane DeVeauxes was a member of Second African Baptist Church on Greene Square. Jane Deveaux’s school is generally regarded as having been the longest lived, approaching 30 years, and was in existence when General Sherman arrived in late 1864.
 * At 548 East President Street is Green Palm Inn, built as a seaman's cottage, now one of Savannah's top-rated historic breakfast inns.
 * On the Southeast corner, Savannah Gray Bricks were used in the construction of 521 East York Street. A sign on the house notes that the bricks were made at the Hermitage Plantation on the Savannah River.
 * At the corner of Houston and State streets is the 1810 Cunningham House built for Henry Cunningham, the first pastor of the Second Colored Baptist Church (now Second African Baptist Church located on Greene Square). He was born a free man in McIntosh County, Georgia in 1759.
 * 502-512 East State Street were built in 1890.
 * 542 East State Street is the home built for free blacks Charlotte and William Wall (ca. 1818).
 * 124 Houston Street is a clapboard house built in 1815 by Isaiah Davenport, a builder, who came to Savannah from Rhode Island. Another Isaiah Davenport home is now a house museum on Columbia Square.
 * 117 – 119 Houston Street (ca 1810) is believed to be one of the early paired houses in the city, later used as the Savannah Female Orphan Asylum.
 * Featured as one of Savannah "tiny" houses and painted in the red color often used on 18th Century wood homes in Savannah, 536 East State Street was built for John Dorsett in 1845. It had originally been located on Hull Street but was moved to this location to save it.
 * 513 East York Street is a little two-story cottage built in 1853 for the estate of Catherine DeVeaux, a descendant of Jane DeVeauxes. Jane Deveauxes who was sent to the North for an education, but returned to establish a secret school from her home at St. Julian and Price streets from 1847 until after the Civil War. Along with another teacher of African students, Mary Beasley, Jane DeVeauxes was a member of Second African Baptist Church on Greene Square. Jane Deveaux’s school is generally regarded as having been the longest lived, approaching 30 years, and was in existence when General Sherman arrived in late 1864.
 * At 548 East President Street is Green Palm Inn, built as a seaman's cottage, now one of Savannah's top-rated historic breakfast inns.




 * The Hamilton Turner House is also on this square as is the Flannery O'Connor Childhood Home. This home, now operated as a public museum, is where the renowned Georgia author lived as a child.
 * On the north side of the square is the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (built in 1873) and its school buildings.
 * This was the site of the Oglethorpe Barracks, c. 1834, the site of early military parades.
 * The center of Madison Square is the Sgt. Jasper Monument.
 * Temple Mickve Israel is here with its museum which is open to the public.
 * On the southwest corner, at 3 W. Gordon, is the Noble Hardee House, completed in 1869 as a double house but later converted into a single dwelling. Also on this square is the Mercer-Williams House and the 1857 Oglethorpe Club building.
 * The Pulaski Monument is in the center of Monterey Square.
 * Named "Upper New Square" when laid out in 1742, the square was renamed in honor of Georgia founder James Edward Oglethorpe.
 * On the east side of this square was the modest home of Georgia's first Royal Governor, John Reynolds. The spot was overlooking the square on the southeast Trust Lot -- now a parking lot of the Presidents' Quarters Inn). Reynolds arrived in Savannah October 29, 1754.
 * On the northeast Trust Lot, the site of today's Telfair's Owens-Thomas House, was the residences of the Royal Surveyors of Georgia and South Carolina. The Owens-Thomas House is widely considered the finest example of Regency architecture in the United States. Upon his visit to Savannah, General Marquis de Lafayette lodged in the mansion and spoke to the citizens of Savannah from the balcony overlooking President Street (formerly known as "King Street" prior to the American Revolutionary War).
 * The square contains a pedestal honoring Moravian missionaries who arrived at the same time as John Wesley and settled in Savannah from 1735 to 1740, before resettling in Pennsylvania.
 * Formerly the Unitarian Church (Jingle Bells Church), sat on the east side of the square; however, it was moved to Troup Square in 1997.
 * On the southwest corner is the Savannah College of Art and Design administration building. It was built in 1907 as the Marine Hospital, and then became the Urban Health Center.
 * The house with the massive columns on the east side of the square was built in 1844 for Aaron Champion. It is known as the Harper-Fowlkes House which is owned by the Society of Cincinnati in the state of Georgia. Across the square is the Civic Center, completed in 1970.
 * The red brick Jewish Education Alliance building on the East side of the square is now a dormitory for the Savannah College of Art and Design. The house on the northwest corner of Barnard and Harris is new housing, completed in 1993. The house across from it is the 1839 house of Francis Bartow, a Confederate hero. It is now several apartments.
 * On the Northeast trust lot, the Filature House was located. This center of the silkworm effort was the first large building in the colony and used as a meeting center before it burned down in the mid-1800s. The Corps of Engineers building is now on that site.
 * The Pink House is one of the few houses to survive the Great Fire of 1796. Across St. Juilian Street from it, also on the West side of the square is the Oliver Sturgiss House. He was a partner with William Scarbrough in the Steamship Savannah venture. The southwest trust lot on this square was the site of the parsonage in the earliest colonial days. The Christ Church Parish House is on the Northeast corner.
 * The square also houses the John Wesley Monument.
 * The Telfair family home, now the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of the oldest art museums in the South. The Trinity Methodist Church and the Federal Buildings which were completed in the 1980s are on this square.
 * On the west side of the square there are the high stoop McDonough Row Houses, built in 1882 that were the object of one of the first historic restoration efforts in the 1960s when federal funds became available for historic preservation activities.
 * Kennedy Row, low stoop brick houses on the west side of the square, were built in 1872 and also rehabilitated in the Troup Square Renewal Project.
 * Also on the west side of the square, there is a dog fountain that was reinstalled in the 1980s.
 * The Armillary Sphere in the center of the square was created in the 1970s and represents an ancient astronomical device. It used to have gold continents inside and 12 Zodiacs on the rim; but they were removed to prevent theft or further vandalism.
 * The Spencer House, built in 1791, on the west side of the square, underwent a total restoration in the 1980s. A private philanthropist has completely redone the double house on the Northwest corner of Habersham Street in 1993.
 * On St. Julian Street between this square and Washington Square there are some of the oldest houses in the historic district.
 * The Seaman's House, operated by the Port Society to serve the needs of visiting seaman, is on the Southwest side of the square.
 * The Mulberry Inn, also on this square, was a cotton warehouse, built in the 1860s. It became a Coca-Cola bottling plant before being converted to an inn.
 * On the north side of the square are two very tall, modern buildings: the Red Cross and the Rose of Sharon apartments. Also on this square is the First Congregational Church.
 * It was commonly called "Court House Square," as from its earliest days to the present, it has held a courthouse on the site. The present yellow brick courthouse, on the east side, was designed by William Gibbons Preston and was renovated in 1992 for continued use by County offices.
 * Next to the Court House, also on the east side of the square, on a Trust Lot, is the Lutheran Church of the Ascension, built in 1844. Also on the square is the United States Post Office, built in 1899 of Georgia Marble. Around the top of the building there are panels of all different types of marble quarried in Georgia.
 * On this square, Tomochichi was buried in an elaborate funeral service in 1739. His monument remained as done by the early colonists until it was demolished in the early 1880s to make way for a monument to William Washington Gordon. The members of the Colonial Dames in Georgia were responsible for placing a huge boulder of Georgia granite in the Southeast side of the square in memory of Tomochichi.
 * Also on the west side of the square, there is a dog fountain that was reinstalled in the 1980s.
 * The Armillary Sphere in the center of the square was created in the 1970s and represents an ancient astronomical device. It used to have gold continents inside and 12 Zodiacs on the rim; but they were removed to prevent theft or further vandalism.
 * The Spencer House, built in 1791, on the west side of the square, underwent a total restoration in the 1980s. A private philanthropist has completely redone the double house on the Northwest corner of Habersham Street in 1993.
 * On St. Julian Street between this square and Washington Square there are some of the oldest houses in the historic district.
 * The Seaman's House, operated by the Port Society to serve the needs of visiting seaman, is on the Southwest side of the square.
 * The Mulberry Inn, also on this square, was a cotton warehouse, built in the 1860s. It became a Coca-Cola bottling plant before being converted to an inn.
 * On the north side of the square are two very tall, modern buildings: the Red Cross and the Rose of Sharon apartments. Also on this square is the First Congregational Church.
 * It was commonly called "Court House Square," as from its earliest days to the present, it has held a courthouse on the site. The present yellow brick courthouse, on the east side, was designed by William Gibbons Preston and was renovated in 1992 for continued use by County offices.
 * Next to the Court House, also on the east side of the square, on a Trust Lot, is the Lutheran Church of the Ascension, built in 1844. Also on the square is the United States Post Office, built in 1899 of Georgia Marble. Around the top of the building there are panels of all different types of marble quarried in Georgia.
 * On this square, Tomochichi was buried in an elaborate funeral service in 1739. His monument remained as done by the early colonists until it was demolished in the early 1880s to make way for a monument to William Washington Gordon. The members of the Colonial Dames in Georgia were responsible for placing a huge boulder of Georgia granite in the Southeast side of the square in memory of Tomochichi.
 * It was commonly called "Court House Square," as from its earliest days to the present, it has held a courthouse on the site. The present yellow brick courthouse, on the east side, was designed by William Gibbons Preston and was renovated in 1992 for continued use by County offices.
 * Next to the Court House, also on the east side of the square, on a Trust Lot, is the Lutheran Church of the Ascension, built in 1844. Also on the square is the United States Post Office, built in 1899 of Georgia Marble. Around the top of the building there are panels of all different types of marble quarried in Georgia.
 * On this square, Tomochichi was buried in an elaborate funeral service in 1739. His monument remained as done by the early colonists until it was demolished in the early 1880s to make way for a monument to William Washington Gordon. The members of the Colonial Dames in Georgia were responsible for placing a huge boulder of Georgia granite in the Southeast side of the square in memory of Tomochichi.
 * On this square, Tomochichi was buried in an elaborate funeral service in 1739. His monument remained as done by the early colonists until it was demolished in the early 1880s to make way for a monument to William Washington Gordon. The members of the Colonial Dames in Georgia were responsible for placing a huge boulder of Georgia granite in the Southeast side of the square in memory of Tomochichi.

Do

 * Take a Riverboat Cruise on the Savannah River Queen or the Georgia Queen.
 * Visit the Savannah Visitors Center and the Savannah History Museum.
 * Ride the free Savannah Belles Ferry across the Savannah river to Hutchinson Island.
 * Watch the show at Club One Jefferson (home of the Lady Chablis-Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil)
 * Walk the Bull Street corridor from City Hall (at Bay St.) to the fountain in Forsyth Park.
 * Take a picture with a statue in one of the historic squares.
 * Walk down River Street, see the Waving Girl, and shop in one of the local candy shops.
 * Shop at City Market. Check out the local art galleries, where you can often pick up great student art for prices easy on the wallet.
 * Visit the Telfair Museum of Art and the Jepson Center for the Arts.
 * Stay at a Savannah B&B historic mansion inn for high drama and beautiful scenery.
 * Children will enjoy following the "Savannah Safari," a coloring book of Savannah's wildlife typically depicted in dolphin rain downspouts and lion water fountains.
 * Visit Bethesda Home for Boys (the oldest orphanage in the USA) 9 miles south of Savannah.
 * Buy cookies at the Byrd Cookie Company.
 * Take a trolley tour or one of the many ghost tours.
 * Visit the Juliette Gordon Low birthplace and the beginning of the Girl Scouts.
 * Tour the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
 * Picnic in Forsyth Park.
 * Attempt to find Forrest Gump's bench at Chippewa Square (it's not there).
 * Visit Flannery O'Connor's childhood home. She played in the square and kept chickens here, and for Southern literary buffs, the small house is a must.
 * See a Savannah Bananas Game (also known as the Sand Gnats).
 * Visit Old Fort Jackson, just outside Savannah's city limits.

Drink
Savannah is called the "Hostess City of the South" and as such, there are no shortages of watering holes; from hole-in-the wall joints to upscale bars. In downtown Savannah, it is legal to consume alcohol in public. Ask the bartender or doorman for a "go cup" (a "traveller" if you're a local) to pour your libation in.



Stay safe
Savannah's Historic District is safe for exploring the area during the day, with at least one other person - a normal safety precaution. Outside the historic district crime is prevalent. While exploring the Historic District, remember this is a tourist area and there are those who prey on tourists - be cautious, especially at night. Savannah-Chatham County Police patrol the downtown area frequently on horseback and in patrol cruisers. The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is prominent throughout the downtown area. SCAD's Security frequently patrol areas near their buildings on bicycles and vehicles.

River Street area is good for drinking and fun but watch your back on a busy weekend. Anything and everything goes.

Go next

 * Tybee Island -  east of Savannah, Tybee has a long sand beach, and various beachfront bars, restaurants, and hotels. Finding a hotel or parking can be difficult in the high summer season.
 * Hilton Head - A lush seaside paradise across the Savannah river in South Carolina.
 * Charleston - north of Savannah, Charleston is a historic port city with 17th century homes and numerous beaches.