newcomer in Savanah
 

Hi everybody!
I've just had an informal offer for coming and work at the Savanah college of arts, georgia university. Can anybody give me any info about the city, how is it like living there, the wether, the university?
Thank you

I have never lived there, but visited many times and I looove this city. It is very quaint. Check www.digitalcity.com in the relocation section. Good luck with your decision.

I would go and visit before making a decision. The touristy area of Savannah is very nice, but the area surrounding it is not.

We loved living there--enough so we are seriously considering it for retirement.

SCAD is a very well respected school, and an active participant in the community. They've played a significant hand in some of the restoration in the historic district and the students are a welcome (and at times "highly visible") part of the downtown community. They help keep the town young, in an era where skyrocketing housing costs in the historic district make that area affordable only for the fairly well to do. The school has no central campus. Instead its various buildings are spread out throughout the historic district.

There is an active arts scene, theater and symphony, with the Savannah symphony ranked the best in the state, even over Atlanta.

Summers are very hot and humid--not as bad as Florida, but bad enough. Winters are short and relatively mild. There are a couple of frosts and a very very occasional snow flurry, but generally the winters are beautiful.

It has a beach 20 minutes from downtown, Tybee Island, with the hardpacked brown sand typical of the southern SC and GA coast. Tybee is improving, but sort of a ragtag beach town still.

The negatives: one would think the "War of Northern Aggression" as it is referred to, was fought only a couple of years ago. I was astounded to see letters to the editor still about aspects of the war. And with that attitude came the battle to retain the "Stars and Bars", the confederate battle flag, as a portion of the GA flag--a battle which fortunately was eventually lost, but the attitude that wanted it there lingers on, and can be bothersome to non-southerners.

There continues to be a crime problem with the historic district bounded by very low income neighborhoods on three sides. We did not walk at night unless we were in very heavily trafficked areas. Not that there were gangs roaming the streets, but there were incidents, and enough that it was more comfortable driving at night and not having to worry about that.

And because of the mild weather and the lovely squares, there is also a fairly significant homeless population...disconcerting for some, but we never had any trouble with them. They are almost to a man, friendly and non-aggressive, no harrassing of passers-by etc.

The positives of the city far outweighed the negatives. It's beautiful and the people are friendly and readily accepting of newcomers. You should take a look at it this time of year before deciding on a move. July and August are as uncomfortable as it gets--if you can handle this weather, you'll love the rest of it!

I recently moved to Savannah from Atlanta and it's a bit of a culture shock (and I'm from the South). SCAD (a private school - not associated with UGA) is a well respected school and is almost out of place in Savannah. It's a newer college and the students are more "free thinking" than the regular Savannah residents. Yes, the crime is a huge problem all over the city but downtown and the "Victorian District" is the worst. I do not feel safe in the here.

Weather - hot as hell. The summers are very hot/humid and winters are mild. A lot of people have problems with allergies down here.

I have found the people who live in Savannah very odd. It's very segragated by both color and economics. Also is a large retired and military presence here. The work force is largely blue collar. Cultural events are non-existent. And the civil war is NOT over in the south.


Positives - great seafood and it's a great place to visit. Also if you are wanting to teach, SCAD would look really good on your resume. You could endure it for a couple of years.

Hot summers and smallish Southern town dynamics aside, you could pick way worse places to live.

The coastal areas are lovely, very cool ecology. Savannah and the surrounding area have been economically depressed for most of the previous century, so not a cultural hotspot and no big sports teams, etc. but that's also kept it from being gutted like Atlanta was.

Housing prices are likely kept reasonable except for the historic areas downtown (I don't know this for sure---you can look on-line).

Savannah has its own airport, very convenient, and excellent interstate access, two things that people tend to overlook when judging a location.

"Savannah" is the preferred spelling.

Marian,
I'm from the west coast but lived in Savannah for a few years. My son attends SCAD currently. I'm not sure where you're moving from but to be honest; be prepared for a few culture shocks. First of all you are walking back in time and attitude. There is still a lot of prejudice attitudes there. The summers are very humid and hot, with gnats that will eat you alive (no seeums). There are a lot of historical sites and Savannah is a great town to explore as long as you do it in the daytime. From what I'm hearing and what I saw when I recently went back to visit, many of the areas downtown have become very dangerous at night. My son has seen shootings, muggings and a stabbing in the area by the school. SCAD is a great school and doesn't fall into the typical attitude of some of the people there. For me, SCAD was a breath of fresh air and very interesting. The areas around it though can be very dangerous no matter what they tell you.
Don't get me wrong...it's a wonderful place to visit and as long as you can come in with your eyes open and not mind the heat, Savannah can be an okay place to live. I would suggest looking on the islands for housing and driving into the downtown area, live closer possibly to southside. Stay away from living downtown or close to the squares downtown.
As one of the other writers said..many people think the war isn't over yet and treat people differently if you're not from the south. There is a definite "good ol boy club" and they don't like people stirring up there feathers by trying to change anything. I worked at one of the colleges and my co-worker was a professor from Berkeley, she was black and received numerous death threats due to her bringing up social issues and discussing them in class. I would agree that the people are very friendly for the most part, but many of them definitely have their ideas about what is right and wrong depending on your color and where you're from.
I would suggest that you check out the area and talk with people. By the way, what will you be teaching?

I hope original poster will get lots of info about Savannah - both here and elsewhere. First, SCAD has no affiliation with "georgia university" - whatever that is.

I know this is an old thread. Just curious if people still have the same general opinions as posted here. Trying to decide if I want to apply for a job in this city. Any thoughts?