| Gothic Savannah Savannah, Georgia Savannah, Georgia, has experienced phenomenal popularity ever since the 1994 publication of John Berendt's best-selling book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The Gothic Savannah weekend tour will give you a chance to survey Savannah's history and get a glimpse of what makes this city so distinctive. The tour centers on Savannah's Historic District, an area bordered by the Savannah River on the north, West Gaston Street on the south, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and Broad Street on the west and east respectively. The city planners laid Savannah out in a rigid grid of bolt-straight streets broken only by scenic squares. The layout makes finding things easy, but negotiating squares by car can be pretty challenging. Use our route planner to find hotels for your next trip. | BEST OF THE ROAD:
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| Savannah History Museum and Visitor Center 301-303 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd Savannah, GA 31401 Call (912) 651-6825  |  | You may wish to start your visit to Savannah with a stop at the Visitor's Center at 301 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard for maps and tourist information. (912-944-0455) If you want to relax and take a bus tour instead of driving, tours depart regularly from the Visitor's Center and from area hotels. The Savannah History Museum is the best place to start your historical tour. Housed in a converted railway station, it's under the Visitor's Center and serves as a great introduction to Savannah's rich legacy. A mural in the lobby will clue you in to some seminal Savannah events. Further in, you'll find exhibits and artifacts that include information on the region's settlement by the English in 1733 and the 1779 Siege of Savannah, during which colonial forces tried to retake the city from the British. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am-5pm and 9am-5pm weekends. You can stop in for lunch in one of the converted dining cars on the premises. | | |||||||
| Green-Meldrim House 1 W Macon St Savannah, GA 31401 Call (912) 233-3845 |  | General William Tecumseh Sherman stayed at the Green-Meldrim House while his Union forces occupied Savannah during the army's "March to the Sea." Sherman's stay in Savannah was a turning point for the city, which escaped the burning given to other Southern cities during the Union siege because the General considered Savannah too pretty to destroy. Instead, he sent a letter to Abraham Lincoln giving the city to the President as a Christmas gift in 1864. Built in the early 1850s for a cotton magnate, the Green-Meldrim House is a beautiful example of antebellum architecture. Tours of the house (located in the Historic District on the west side of Madison Square) are offered Tuesday, then Thursday through Saturday. It's closed on holidays and for the two weeks before Easter. For good food nearby, there are a couple of recommended places just a few blocks away. The Crystal Beer Parlor is located at 301 West Jones Street (intersection of West Jones and Jefferson) and serves burgers, steaks, seafood and other hearty fare. One of Savannah's most famous eateries is Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room, 107 W. Jones, which is open Monday-Friday for lunch only (credit cards not accepted). | | |||||||
| Colonial Park Cemetery 201 Abercorn St Savannah, GA 31401 Call (912) 944-0455 | | Following the city's settlement in 1733, Colonial Park Cemetery was established as colonial Savannah's second cemetery. It became the burial place for eminent Georgians from about 1750 to 1853. The Parks and Tree Commission began to beautify the cemetery in 1896, and today tree-lined and shaded paths lead through the picturesque grounds. The most famous plot is that of Declaration of Independence signer Button Gwinnett who was killed in a duel on nearby St. Catherine's Island in 1777. Rain and wind have worn down many of the tombstone inscriptions, but informative plaques are set up so that you can read about those buried here. The cemetery is bounded by Oglethorpe, Habersham, Liberty, and Abercorn streets and is open 7 days a week, 8am-8pm. | | |||||||
| Bonaventure Cemetery 330 Bonaventure Rd Savannah, GA 31404 Call (912) 651-6843 | | The one-time site of a plantation house, destroyed by fire in 1771, this gorgeous, haunting cemetery is the resting place of soldiers, statesmen, and favored sons and daughters. To find it, take Wheaton Street east out of Savannah's downtown area. This will lead you to Bonaventure Road. Leave plenty of time for your visit since the cemetery closes at 5pm. However, don't expect to find the tombstone figure of a girl holding two bowls that graced the cover of John Berendt's novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. After multitudes of tourists trampled adjacent graves in their quest for the bowl-holding girl, the statue was moved to the Telfair Museum of Art. Open daily 8am-5pm. | ||||||||
| Wormsloe State Historic Site 7601 Skidaway Rd Savannah, GA 31406 Call (912) 353-3023 | | Wormsloe Historic Site lies on the Isle of Hope, along the Skidaway River, on land that originally belonged to Noble Jones, an early colonist who carved an impressive plantation out of the Georgia soil in the 1730s. The site consists of a 1.5-mile, oak-lined avenue. The ruins of the house, which remained in the Jones family for 250 years, still stand. Like many houses along the Georgia and South Carolina coast, this one was built using a cement that is a mixture of sand, water, lime, wood ash, and oyster shells, typical coastal materials. This special cement makes Wormsloe a "tabby" house. Visitors can view artifacts excavated at Wormsloe and participate in special programs throughout the year. The site is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9am-5pm, and Sunday, 2 to 5:30 PM. Wormsloe State Historic Site is located 10 miles southeast of Savannah along Skidaway Road. If you don't want to drive, contact the Savannah Visitor's Center for information about bus tours to the site. | ||||||||
| Laurel Grove Cemetery 802 W Anderson St Savannah, GA 31415 Call (912) 651-6772 | | The Laurel Grove Cemetery may by the oldest continuously used black cemetery in the U.S. It was dedicated in 1852 as a burial site for "free persons of color" but served as a burial place long before that. The pioneer Baptist preacher Andrew Bryan is buried here, as are many of Georgia's leading African-American citizens. Laurel Grove is open daily from 8am-5pm. The fastest way to get to Laurel Grove Cemetery is to drive south on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, and take a right on Anderson Street. The prominent cemetery is located along Anderson Street. | ||||||||
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Gothic Savannah