I absolutely loved visiting Savannah during my Smoky Mountain/Charleston/Savannah roadtrip! It was utterly charming. I definitely think it gets overshadowed in the love department in favor of Charleston. I love visiting places that feel unique and special so I am sharing my list of favorite things that make Savannah unique.
1. The Squares
How cute are the squares in Savannah?? There is a theory that during the Civil War, the Union spared Savannah, choosing not to burn it down because it was so beautiful. That’s easy to believe when you walk through these squares. There are 24 and they all have their own historic twist, from ghost stories where people were hanged to filming the movie Forrest Gump. They are all gorgeous with charming features like fountains and statues and are all named in honor or in memory of a person which you can read about on the plaques in each square. Its just so nice to walk through the city and pass through so many gorgeous mini parks! Especially since its legal to walk around the city drinking alcohol.
2. Forsyth Park/The Trees
Forsyth Park is a 30 acre park located in Savannah and is well known for the trees and the fountain. I had such a crush on the beautiful live oak trees with draping Spanish moss found all over Savannah, but a high concentration of them are at the park. It’s so awesome to have a big beautiful green space in the middle of a city. The fountain in Savannah is an especially big deal on St Patrick’s Day, when the fountain is dyed green and hundreds come to Savannah to celebrate. They have a lot of events and festivals at the park and so many dogs and friendly owners who were happy to chat and make recommendations of places they liked a lot in their city.
3. The Food
So obviously the food in Savannah is amazing. When traveling new places, I like to try a bunch of local foods and I put together a list of places where food tours go as well as places that give free samples everywhere. I didn’t have time to do that, but I will put that list up when I post my Southern Road-Trip itinerary. But I did go to a bunch of restaurants and other recommended places:
Mrs Wilkes
So Mrs Wilkes is super famous in Savannah. Probably moreso for tourists, but I did catch a lot of locals there as well. The restaurant is open from 11AM-2PM during the week and people start lining up a lot earlier than that to get in. We got in line at about 10:20 and were maybe the 12th people in line at that point. Everyone is really friendly though, so the time goes by pretty fast. The way they do it is they have about 10 tables and sit 10 people to a table. The remaining people in line have to wait for the next seating and yes, there are more than 200 people in line by that point. So once a table of 10 is all finished their meal, they completely clear the table and re-set it for the next group of 10 and so-forth. Is it worth it? Absolutely. 22 dishes of things like fried chicken, meatloaf, sausage, beef stew, mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, okra, yams, collard greens, banana pudding, peach pie, etc. Its like Thanksgiving! So definitely worth the wait
The Olde Pink House
The Olde Pink House restaurant is a very popular restaurant in Savannah and its easy to see why. First, the restaurant is located in an actual historic house. It looks small from the outside but inside, it was two levels for dining and a really fun tavern located in the basement, where the bathroom is said to be haunted. It is called the Old Pink House because the original owner covered the brick with white plaster and the red from the brick kept bleeding through, making the outside look pink. So he would paint the house white, but it would still eventually turn pink. The walls inside are covered in hand-painted murals of southern landscapes. The wallpaper was hand-painted and then placed on the walls. If you put all of the pieces together, they make one big scene. And they have a singer that will go to tables celebrating a birthday and sing for them. So not only does Olde Pink House have an interesting history, ghosts, tavern, and singers, it has great food too. The BLT salad was sooo good.
The Crystal Beer Parlor
Speaking of ghosts, the Crystal Parlor also has nice ghost story to think about during dinner. There is apparently the ghost of a little girl who likes to hang out in the middle stall of the bathroom (what is it with girls haunting bathrooms, right?). Actually when I went in there, the knob on the flusher changed directions in between the two times I looked at it. So its totally haunted. The food was really great too! Being from Maryland, I am sooo picky about crab. Whenever I get it other places, I am very disappointed. But I was told I had to try the crab soup and it was soooo good. They are also well-known for their peach cobbler, which was definitely awesome.
Leopold’s Ice Cream
Leopold’s Ice Cream is pretty famous in Savannah. They also have a line apparently all of the time. The shop was founded in 1919 by Greek brothers and since I’m Greek, I like eating places that were founded by my people. The ice cream is homemade and so good. I got the banana split, which was recommended, and the strawberry ice cream is probably the best strawberry ice cream I have ever had. The chocolate ice cream was good too and so was peanut butter. They had pink whipped cream too.
Savannah Candy Kitchen
Man, I love pralines! They really need to make pralines a “thing” in other places besides the south. I need pralines as apart of my regular snacking routine. So they have a few locations of Savannah Candy Kitchen in the city. I got my pralines on River Street. River Street is very touristy, but still kind of cute. There are a lot of shops there with tons of free samples like the Peanut Shop. River Street is worth a look, but I wouldn’t spend a ton of time there. We were really craving soup and decided to go to Joe’s Crab Shack to get some since it was right there. I normally wouldn’t go to a chain on a trip like this, but it was right on the water and the soup was unlimited. But yes, pralines! They make them right in front of you, too, and they are so fresh!
4. Bonaventure Cemetery
Bonaventure Cemetery is located just outside of Savannah and wow is it gorgeous. I imagine it would be very eerie to be there at night. But it is very beautiful, with the Spanish moss trees sprawling down and the statues everywhere. Apparently John Muir camped among the graves for 6 days and described the cemetery as ”one of the most impressive assemblages of animal and plant creatures [he] ever met.”It is wayyyy bigger than I expected. I wanted to find the famous “Gracie” grave and that took awhile because I had not anticipated the size of the cemetery. The little girl, Gracie, died of an pneumonia and her parents made a life-size statue that is said to look like Gracie. There have been reports that Gracie haunts parts of Savannah, as people have said they have noticed a little girl who looks just like Gracie who vanishes into thin air. Her parents left Savannah after Gracie died, so she is buried all alone.
5. Wormsloe Plantation
Wormsloe Plantation is like a dream! It is located right outside of historic Savannah and has the prettiest Spanish moss trees with sweeping branches that make 1.5 miles of arches. There are other things to explore on site, but I just wanted to see the trees. This site was on the movie “The Last Song,” where Miley’s character is driving up to Liam’s character’s house for the first time. So pretty!
6. Tybee Island
Speaking of “The Last Song,” Tybee Island is where that movie was filmed. It’s a cute little beach located not far from historic Savannah and has a really cute lighthouse that is one of seven surviving colonial era lighthouses. It has beautiful views of the island from the top of the lighthouse, although when I was there it was too windy to go outside at the top of the lighthouse. They also have the home of the former lightkeeper than you can tour and other structures.
7. Historic Houses
There are also a lot of historic houses in Savannah to see. I picked the Davenport House Museum and the Owens-Thomas House to visit.
Loveddd Savannah. We stayed at the B. Historic Hotel, which was really cute, reasonably priced, and walking distance to everything in the historic district. I will definitely be back!
