Savannah History and tourism
 

I have just moved to Georgia from Pennsylvania and friends have started to come to visit. We have been to River Street and Bull Street. Some friends are asking about seeing plantation homes when they come. Please pardon my ignorance but are there Historic Plantation Homes in the area? I know there are many in Charleston SC. We have seen the beautiful homes in the City of Savannah but I am really new and don't know the surrounding area? Any suggestions on what to take our friends to see? We have really enjoyed River Street and want to return, however, we are also looking for new ideas. Any suggestions on the best way to see Savannah? Which tours? Thanks in advance for any tips that can help.

Sherman burnt all the plantations from
Atlanta to Savannah when he made his March To The Sea during the Civil War.

There are some old plantation type homes that date from that time on The Isle of Hope, but they are not open to the public, nor are there signs that would tell you what they are. Wormsloe, is an exception. You can tour the grounds and the musuem, but the family home is secluded.

The plantation owners, to a large extent, lived in their mansions in the city and left the running of the plantations to the overseers and managers. Those fields are now residential areas, industrial areas and things like that. Cities grow, you know.

Take your friends on one of the Trolley Tours. Go first to the Visitor's Center on Martin Luther King Blvd and park. All of the tours cover about the same area, how good they are depends a lot on the guide.

Take them out to see Fort Pulaski on the Tybee Road. Also, be sure to check out the Cathedral of St John the Baptist and the Colonial Cemetery. They also might enjoy a trip through Bonaventure cemetery.

I hope your friends will enjoy their visit. And a welcome to Georgia to you!

Thank you so much. This was very helpfull. I am sad to relate that I thought they were burned, not due to Historical research but rather what I saw on one of my favorite movies "Gone with the Wind". Although I have learned not to rely soley on movies for the facts. I really need to brush up on my American History!! I really love it hear in Georgia. I have found all the residents to be most friendly and helpful. I have already learned quite bit and hope to keep being enriched by the many fine residents of Georgia.

Sherman's scorch and burn policy was very effective - both in the short term and the long term. He destroyed everything he could in Georgia during his March to the Sea (after burning Atlanta), and then proudly presented Savannah as a Christmas present.

If you want to see a gorgeous antebellum town, make a trip to Madison, GA sometime. The legend has it that Sherman's roommate from West Point was from Madison and he left instructions not to burn the town. They call it the town "too pretty to burn".

They have wonderful spring and Christmas tours of home. Check it out sometime. It's about an hour east of Atlanta on I 20.

Check out this site;

http://www.melonbluff.com/index.htm

It's Palmyra Plantation at Melon Bluff. It was a rice plantation.It's a short ride south of Savannah. It was a rice plantation. Which reminds me, there is an area just north of the Savannah River on the old HWY 17 that is now a wild life preserve. It was also a rice plantation. In a lot of the Savannah area, rice did better than cotton.

When Sherman destroyed the homes, the rice plantations reverted to swampy lowlands and the cotton plantations went back to forests. Even though Savannah was not burnt, a lot of the income for the people became non-existant.

Thanks for that link. I drove past this former rice plantation a while back and told myself to stay there - and then promptly forgot. I think I'll make it my base for a trip in the near future and then report back. Thanks again!

I thank you for your tips. I will look into all that you have mentioned.

Drive down Abercorn from Historic District - there are some beautiful older homes - certainly not plantation homes, but the architecture is still nice. Some of the side streets also have some interesting detail.

Do this trip during daylight hours - there are a few blocks (around Anderson and Henry Street area) that are not the best - but fine during the day.

Take a ride out to Tybee Island and walk out on the pier - drive thru some of the surrounding area.

There is one a bit further south, between Brunswick and Darien--Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation. The home is by no means Tara, but it is probably more representative of the typical plantation home. It's off the coastal route 17 and open as a museum.

I always enjoyed the tabby ruins at Wormsloe too, if you haven't done that yet. You can peek through shrubs and get a bit of a look at the actual plantation house, which is beautiful...as someone said, it is occupied. The original burial grounds is still out by the tabby ruins and the marsh views there...sigh...just gorgeous!!

The area with its forts is just full of history...some of it still being dredged up by the Savannah River. Before Hutchison Island (where you now see the Convention Center and Westin) was developed, there was almost nothing there...a tugboat facility, prior to that a sewing machine factory and/or pottery factory, one wall of which stood until just shortly after the summer Olympics. They painted it for the Olympics. :(

Anyway, my DH and I ventured over there one day, pre-development, when we had nothing to do. The river was at low tide <i>and</i> they had recently dredged upstream. We were enjoying the view looking back at the city, walking along the edge of the river and I was picking up all sorts of old pottery shards, then my husband bent over, picked something out of the muck, and said, &quot;Look at this&quot;. At first glance it appeared he'd found a cannonball, and indeed that's what it is, I knew instantly when he put it in my hand. Furthermore, it's a small one, from the bore size of a Revolutionary War cannon (see the cannon that sits in the little park on Bay St...it would have come from that size bore.) It was just lying there in the muck for the pickings. We've got it now sitting on a little stand on our mantle...rusted as all get out and getting worse by the year, but his pride and joy none-the-less. :)