Courtesy of Visit Savannah
Savannah has undergone dramatic transformation in the 30 years since John Berendt thrust the city into the national spotlight with Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, the non-fiction novel that spent an unprecedented 216 weeks on the bestseller list. In the past decade alone, entirely new city blocks have been added to the scenic waterfront, and the “Hostess City” has attracted James Beard Award–winning restaurants, a burgeoning arts district, and elite hotel brands (including a Ritz-Carlton, scheduled to open in 2026).
And yet, just steps from the day-and-night riverfront party, you can still sit in solitude under moss-draped oaks in a historic square or stroll past centuries-old homes on brick sidewalks lined with jasmine and azaleas.
“Savannah could lay claim to enough real history that it had no need of false honors,” Berendt wrote. So, to get to know today’s Savannah, start with its past. Walk or bike around the celebrated 22 squares. Spot a colorful, turn-of-the-century masterpiece in the Victorian District, then smile for the requisite photo in the spray of the 166-year-old Forsyth Park fountain. Encounter Gullah/Geechee culture along the lyrical shores of the Moon River, and relax into the Lowcountry way of life on the Tybee Island coastline.
Midnight has come and gone in Savannah, but the city retains the allure of the old and promises the verve of the new. And visitors continue to flock to the storied locale.
The Historic District
Begin with a visit to the waterfront, one of the largest urban preservation districts in the United States. Crowded though it may be, River Street is ground zero for the city’s Colonial history, and the ballast-stone back lanes, jagged staircases, and iron walkways along Factors Walk are must-sees.
Courtesy of Visit Savannah
Statues lining the river chronicle the city’s march through time, from its long-standing significance as a port (Waving Girl greeting ships), to its major role importing enslaved Africans (African American Monument), to its residents’ fight for civil rights (Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park and Monument). Seeing this stretch from the water will give you a whole new perspective. Options include charter outfits like Outside Savannah and Kessler Charters with its handsome, mahogany Hinckley picnic boat. To the right, take in dolphins and nature; to the left, the fourth-largest cargo port in the country.
Back on land, turn to resident experts like civil rights historian Vaughnette Goode-Walker, who guides walking tours under the banner Footprints of Savannah. Her stops include major points of interest such as First African Baptist Church, the country’s oldest Black Baptist congregation, which served as a station on the Underground Railroad.
Courtesy of Visit Savannah
For more history, head to the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum, in what feels like a secret garden off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The historic home served as a school for Black Savannahians freed from enslavement, remaining open into the 1960s. Today, it’s full of exceptional ship models and artifacts—from scrimshaw to the hatch doors from some of the “Liberty ships” that launched from Savannah during World War II.
You can also still walk the original 18th-century City Market, now lined with galleries and souvenir shops. Pop in for free samples at Byrd Cookie Company, which turns 100 this year. (Scotch Oatmeal and Benne Wafer are the classics.)
A few blocks south of City Market, Savannah presents its most charming side. British General James Oglethorpe founded Savannah in 1733 after Yamacraw leader Tomochichi welcomed his party and gifted him the land. The general devised his urban plan around a grid of green spaces—a design so original that, in 1966, the two-square-mile district became a National Historic Landmark. Today, 22 “Oglethorpe Plan” squares remain, and the most bucolic are south of Broughton, ringed by grand homes like the tourable Mercer Williams House of Midnight in the Garden fame. There’s also the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters, with the city’s oldest known original “haint blue” ceiling, a Gullah tradition.
Courtesy of Visit Savannah
Steps from the historic squares, shopping options abound. Browse independent bookstores like E. Shaver or the Book Lady. Check out the trendy boutiques along Liberty Street. And don’t miss Whitaker Street’s burgeoning design corridor. Asher + Rye stocks irresistible minimalist homewares (think delicate rocks glasses; rustic scrub brushes; a sculptural, cast-aluminum countertop citrus juicer). The lovely Paris Laundry specializes in locally formulated, plant-based beauty products so beloved, owner Kelsey Bucci recently expanded to offer facials.
After a long day of walking, snag a first-come, first-serve table for two by the window at old-school Italian spot Bella Napoli. Order a glass of wine from its thoughtfully curated list of vintners, and people-watch along East State Street. On the stroll home, peek into the dark, cluttered windows at five-generations-deep, family-owned locksmith Bradley Lock & Key, where the magician Harry Houdini used to shop.
For knockout views of the city and a hip blend of visitors and locals, try rooftop Bar Julian at the Thompson Savannah. Have a festive cocktail—or a mocktail, like the Lyre’s Spritz, with cane spirit, lime, and coconut orgeat—and marvel at the massive ships as they slide past.
Courtesy of Visit Savannah
The Victorian District & Starland
The heart of Savannah is Forsyth Park, with its ornate, 1858 centerpiece fountain surrounded by 30 acres of green put to good use by runners, picnickers, buskers, and rec-sports teams. Along the park’s western side is the Victorian District—19th-century Savannah’s original suburb. Quieter than parts north and mostly residential, this stately 50-block neighborhood offers one architectural gem after another, like the ornate Steamboat Gothic–style Gingerbread House.
The most distinctive Victorian in the neighborhood is the red brick and terracotta mansion on the park, recently reopened as Hotel Bardo. Its 1888 facade belies the chic, Amalfi-meets-Miami design, guests-only pool, and Saltgrass Spa you’ll find inside. On Saturday mornings, stroll the Forsyth Farmers Market and bring a few extra bucks for a Ziploc of spiced pecans from popular vendor “Farmer Joe.”
Courtesy of Hotel Bardo
South of the Victorian District, things get a bit newer—and a bit grittier. This is Starland, so named for its Depression-era staple business, Starland Dairy. By the 1990s, some 50 percent of the houses and commercial buildings here were degraded or derelict. Now, Savannah artists (who, in the early 20th century, would have resided in the emptied cotton warehouse along Factors Walk) have made things colorful, reviving and reinventing the district block by block. At an eye-popping pace, gaps continue to fill with shops, restaurants, condominiums, even a craft brewery, Two Tides. One of the first businesses to centralize and galvanize this arts community was Starlandia Art Supply; it’s now opening an expansion after much success selling already-opened tubes of paint and remnant granite slabs (many traded in by students at Savannah College of Art and Design).
Courtesy of Two Tides
Chef Brandon Carter (of Farm Bluffton in South Carolina) has opened three restaurants in this neighborhood in the past three years, at what he describes as “the intersection of ‘still somewhat affordable,’ and ‘a lot of energy.’” His newest spot, Flora and Fauna, lives two lives: by day, a bakery, and by night, a romantic supper club with a three-course pre-fixe dinner featuring options like beets and stone fruit, wreckfish with sweet corn, and île flottante. Carter says his Starland go-tos include Vittoria for Neapolitan-style pizza, Starland Yard‘s Uncle June’s for a burger, and Brochu’s for fried chicken.
Wine bar Sobremesa promises delightful light bites and a bustling locals’ scene on Wednesdays at their “cheers for charity” happy hours. Later, check out Over Yonder for PBRs and live bands or Lone Wolf Lounge for tiki cocktails. Either way, the retro vibe is as strong as the drinks.
The Moon River District
Chart a course to the soft, verdant edges of the Moon River District, southeast of the city proper, where the land is broken into a mesh of forests, marshes, creeks, and rivers. The name is a relatively recent invention—it began popping up a few years ago—but the charm is age-old.
The Pin Point Heritage Museum is an outsiders’ touchpoint for a long-isolated Gullah/Geechee community. Pin Point was settled in 1896 when landowning Black families built post-abolition businesses around the harvesting and processing of crabs, shrimp, and oysters. (The expert docents at the museum are all Pin Point residents.) Back when the crab-picking houses and oyster canneries still operated, people sang while they worked, and their hymns and songs were said to have so inspired one local white kid, Johnny Mercer, that he learned to speak the Geechee language. Years later, Mercer cowrote the perennial favorite “Moon River,” made famous in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The song channeled the area’s beauty and mystique into the great American songbook and imprinted its name onto the common consciousness of American culture.
Seven minutes south of Pin Point, Wormsloe State Historic Site is a Colonial estate whose iconic entry lane is lined by towering live oaks, boughs cloaked in resurrection fern and branches dripping with Spanish moss, all arced together in a single, primordial canopy. Last winter, Wormsloe unveiled a new visitor’s center that offers trolley rides down Live Oak Avenue, thereby protecting this delicate ecosystem from auto congestion (and making it more photogenic). It also offers bike rentals for those who want to pedal to the site’s tabby ruin, the oldest structure in Georgia.
Courtesy of Visit Savannah
Wormsloe is right next door to the Sandfly neighborhood, full of mom-and-pop restaurants such as Auspicious Baking Co., known for its specialty croissants (including “Everything”-seasoned and vegan varieties) and classic maple buns. Or dine right on the water at nearby Wyld Dock Bar, one of the first restaurants to offer farm-raised Tybee Island Oysters. For those with an appetite for antiques, the 16,000-square-foot Sandfly Market Place satisfies with midcentury furniture, 18th-century chinoiserie, and turn-of-the-century silver sets.
Courtesy of Visit Savannah
Thunderbolt to Tybee Island
Anyone visiting Savannah will likely be tempted to spend a beach day on Tybee Island. The farther east you go, the swampier, then sandier, then sharkier things get. But first: Bonaventure Cemetery.
A 12-minute drive from downtown, Bonaventure is alone in the northern reaches of the fishing and shrimping community of Thunderbolt. After the cemetery’s enchanting Bird Girl sculpture graced the cover of Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden, the site became a destination beloved by millions. With breezes and bird songs wafting from the Wilmington River, vivid bursts of azaleas in red, purple, coral, and magenta, and lichen-flecked headstones, this is a place of respite and reflection for the living as well as a hallowed resting place for generations of Old Savannahians.
Farther south, lunch spots give visitors a small but diverse set of options: from boisterous Tubby’s Tank House, with outdoor TVs for taking in a Georgia Bulldogs game, to Finches Sandwiches and Sundries, an Instagrammable idyll. Desposito’s across the bridge is a modern reimagining of a former fish shack, where you can try the original owner’s legendary stuffed-crab recipe.
For a family-friendly wildlife excursion, stop at Oatland Island Wildlife Center, with easy marsh and maritime-forest walking trails and an aviary, or continue on to the Tybee Island Marine Science Center,
Courtesy of Visit Savannah
which showcases the Lowcountry’s vibrant marine ecosystem, including the endangered sea turtle species that nest right along these beaches.
You’ll know you’ve reached Tybee when you cross the Lazaretto Creek. Decades ago, as longtime Savannah seafood purveyors will tell you, shrimp boats would dock four deep along the creek bed. Today, Georgia’s shrimping industry has dwindled—you might occasionally catch a glimpse of a single trawler—but there’s still a working fishery here, and if your timing is fortuitous, you can pull right up to commercial docks (try Thunderbolt Fisherman’s Seafood or Nelson’s) and buy small, rich, sweet shrimp to boil yourself.
If you prefer a sit-down restaurant, it’s not always obvious where to find fresh-caught fare. Family-owned Bubba Gumbo’s is a good bet. Sidle up to the bar with a local crowd at lunch, and if you’ve been out fishing, ask if they’ll cook your catch. Outside on the dock, look for otters and manatees. You might also see Tybee artist Kaylee Hettenbaugh cleaning a red drum or a speckled trout. She “prints” fish onto paper using an ancient Japanese ink-pressing technique, and she recently opened a studio and storefront, Mirror Image Fish Printing, on Tybee’s main stretch.
Courtesy of Bubba Gumbo’s
Be sure to stay for sunset, when the sky is painted frosty pink and the tides scoop up the afternoon’s sandcastles. For all the change Savannah has experienced these last 30 years, some things remain the same: breathtaking Atlantic views on Tybee Island; soft, slow afternoons in the shade of heavy oaks; and life lived to its fullest along the rollicking riverfront.
Take Me to the River
Savannah’s riverfront Historic District is growing fast. In the past three years, two new developments have turned languishing industrial sites into vibrant destinations for dining, shopping, and music.
Plant Riverside
Savannah-born developer Richard Kessler spared no expense in his revival of the city’s old power plant, which for years sat in ruins at River Street’s western extreme. In 2021, it became the three-building, 419-room JW Marriott Plant Riverside, which includes 14 restaurants, two rooftop bars, and a Gretsch guitar museum-meets-concert venue that hosts country, rock, and comedy acts. For families, there are multiple waterfront splash-pad fountains, plus the main lobby’s veritable museum of giant, glittery crystal specimens, not to mention an eye-catching replica of a 35-foot maraapunisaurus skeleton coated in chrome.
Courtesy of JW Marriott
Eastern Wharf
Also in 2021, Savannah expanded eastward with the cool, calm, and collected Thompson Savannah. The area now includes several new condominium buildings, shops, a spa, and a public green that hosts free riverfront concerts. Try a house-baked slice of rosemary-salt focaccia and an espresso at Stevedore (a nod to dockworkers), enjoy the works of Miami Basel–caliber contemporary artists at Laney Contemporary, and make reservations for Fleeting’s ragingly popular, bimonthly guest-chef pop-ups.
This article appears in the Fall 2024 issue of Southbound.
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