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Historic Savannah

Historic Savannah Hotel

Savannah's founder ,  General James Edward Oglethorpe , landed  with 120 travelers abord the "Anne" on a bluff high along the Savannah River in February 1733 .  He named the Thirteenth and final American colony  " Georgia, "  after England’s King George II and Savannah became its first city. Oglethorpe laid the city out in a series of grids that allowed for wide open streets intertwined with shady public squares and parks. Today, the Historic District is a 2.5 mile walking district full of bistros, quaint shops, green squares and grand architecture.

Here are a few locations close to our historic Savannah hotel which display the southern heritage and historic significance of Savannah Georgia.

The 24th Infantry Division / Fort Stewart Museum

The Fort Stewart Museum has the largest collection of captured Iraqi weapons and equipment in the nation along with exhibits of division and post war-related roles. Wilson Avenue and Utility Street, in Building 814, at Fort Stewart. (912) 767-7885

Andrew Low House

Built for Andrew Low around 1848, guests have included Gen. Robert E. Lee. It was here in 1912 that Juliette Gordon Low organized America’s first Girl Scout troop. The house stayed in the family until her death in 1927, and was then acquired by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America as a Georgia headquarters. 329 Abercorn Street. (912) 233-6854

Fort McAllister State Historic Park

4th of July Celebration

On the great Ogeechee River’s south bank, this park acreage of live oaks and salt marsh is home of the best preserved earthwork fortification of the Confederacy. The fort’s sand and mud earthworks were attacked seven times by Union ironclads, but held until captured in 1864 during Sherman’s March to the Sea. A Civil War Museum has a historical movie and the park provides for picnics, hiking, fishing, and camping. Nine miles east of Richmond Hill. (912) 727-2339

Fort Pulaski National Monument

General Robert E. Lee was an engineer on construction of this coastal fort. In 1862, defense strategy changed worldwide when Union rifled canons first overcame a masonry fortification. Although the success of this experiment surprised military strategists, accuracy and range of the rifled cannon rendered brick fortifications obsolete. After capturing the fort, Union Maj. Gen. David Hunter ordered release of area slaves. Many were recruited into the Union Army’s First South Carolina Colored Regiment. The park, where moss drapes from trees and vegetation includes cabbage palms and various wetland grasses, has a visitor center, book store, exhibits, programs, picnic area and trails. Highway 80 East heading for Tybee Island. (912) 786-5787

Historic and Victorian Districts

The Historic District, a feast of Spanish moss-draped trees, cobblestone streets and flower bedecked entranceways, encompasses the original city, now a city within a city about 20 blocks long and a dozen more wide. It is laid out in a grid of separately named squares with 21 of Oglethorpe’s original 24 still going strong. The Victorian District, Savannah’s first suburb, is just south, with wood frame houses dating from the 1870s and 1880s in a mix of Victorian styles and architecture and the Victorian Telfair Hospital on Park Avenue. Historic District, bounded by Savannah River, East/West Broad and Jones streets. Victorian District, bounded by Gwinnett Street, Anderson Street and lines just beyond Montgomery Street and Price Street.

Mighty 8th Air Force Heritage Museum

This 90,000 square foot facility honors the more than one million men and women serving in the 8th Air Force, established in Savannah in 1942. Features include a 100,000 volume capacity library, archives, memorial gardens, an art gallery, meeting and study rooms, a gift shop and snack bar. Intersection of Interstate 95 and U.S. 80 (Exit 102).

Old Fort Jackson

Part of the chain of nine forts built along the Savannah River, Old Fort Jackson was constructed in 1808 and occupied during the War of 1812 and again by the Confederates during the Civil War. It has a maritime museum and often provides “blast sound” demos from a 32-pound cannon, the largest black powder cannon still fired in America. One Jackson Road. (912) 232-3945

Owens-Thomas House and Museum

Designed by 24-year-old architect William Jay and completed in 1819 for cotton merchant Richard Richardson and his wife Francis Bolton (Jay’s sister-in-law), the Richardsons soon lost the home in the 1820 depression. After a stint as an elegant boarding house – Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette delivered his two Savannah addresses from the home’s southside cast iron balcony -- George Welchman Owens bought the home for $10,000 in 1830. It remained the Owens family until his granddaughter Margaret Thomas bequeathed it to what is now the Telfair Museum of Art, which has a gift shop.
124 Abercorn Street. (912) 233-9743