* Note – We were in this area in early June 2018 and are not currently in danger from Hurricane Florence. We hope all of our Savannah and Charleston, SC friends stay safe.
After 52 days in Florida it was finally time to head north to explore a new state. Crossing a border is exciting but as we had been in Florida for an especially long time it made it even that more exciting to see the Welcome to Georgia sign. Our campground for the next few days was outside of Savannah but as the drive from St. Augustine to Savannah isn’t terribly long we wanted to explore the extreme southeast part of Georgia before getting to Savannah. Besides Cumberland Island, which is car free, our only other option was to check out Jekyll Island.
Jekyll Island has a unique history for Georgia being that it has been under Spanish, French then English rule. From the late 1700’s through late 1800’s it was used for a number of plantations and was the location of where one of the last slave ships docked in America. From the late 1800’s up until World War II it was privately owned and used as a winter club for wealthy northerners. They created the Jekyll Island Club, which opened for each winter season starting in 1888 through the start of the war. At this point the island was evacuated due to security fears and after the war the island was purchased by the state of Georgia. Today the island is still state owned however there are private residences along with hotels, shops and a few restaurants.
With the drive from St. Augustine to Jekyll island only around 2 hours we arrived at lunchtime on the island. We drove around a bit and discovered that the island had bike paths everywhere. As this was the case we parked Bubbles and started to explore by bike. The bike path we chose was next to the beach winding in and out of sand dunes and by restaurants and hotels. It was a great ride with some nice beach views. From here we packed up the bikes and drove over to the historic Jekyll Island Club. The properties have been meticulously maintained and the entire area of the island is now a resort called the Jekyll Island Club Resort. The main clubhouse is still used as it was originally built as the restaurant, pool, tennis courts, hotel rooms and other amenities are all located there. All the cottages (or mini-mansions) that used to be club members homes are now shops. We explored this area for a while walking around the club house and in and out of a few shops before hopping back into Bubbles and heading to our campground on the outskirts of Savannah.
The next morning we woke up ready for a city day. Today we would be heading to Savannah. As it is an older city we were not sure what kind of parking it had to offer for an almost 10’ high van we opted to Uber into the city. It took about half an hour to get to the downtown core from the campground. Once we arrived though it was as if we had stepped back in time. Unlike St. Augustine, which was Spanish influenced, Savannah was unequivocally English.
Driving into the city we noticed park after little park. Doing a little research before we were dropped off we found out that Savannah is the oldest city in the state of Georgia, founded in 1733. It had at one point been the capitol and the main city of the state. Almost the entire downtown core is designated as a National Historic Landmark District with its 22 small parks being part of that. The city founder, James Oglethorpe had designed the city with the park like squares in mind and for the most part the downtown looks just as it had in the original 1733 drawings. This was pretty awesome!
We were dropped off near the waterfront at Bay Street, adjacent to the Savannah River. Walking around for a bit we found that it was a super touristy area (good for buying post cards and cheap knick knacks but not much else). We made our way down to the river taking a few pictures before making our way back towards the center of town. We stopped into a few stores having a coffee and lunch that we had brought. Mid afternoon we had arranged for a tour through Viator. If you haven’t heard of Viator its an awesome tour website. It’s where we book almost 100% of our tours through. We love tours through Viator because the guides are almost always locals and we normally meet other people on vacation or traveling and looking for a good time just like us. The tour we booked was the Happy Hour Historical Pub Crawl. As it turned out we were the only ones booked on the tour so we got our tour guide Neal all to ourselves. Normally we found out that when you book a tour and you are the only ones booked it goes one of two ways. The tour is either cancelled or you can change up the tour as you want and the tour guide is usually super accommodating. As the tour was not cancelled Neil sat us down and bluntly asked “As you two are the only ones on the tour today, what do you really want to see or know about”? We told him history of the city, why is it the way it is, a few beers and throw in some ghost stories along the way. Neil gave us more than we asked for.
We learned through Neil that yes, Savannah is the oldest city in Georgia. It was a major fighting point in the Revolutionary war. Because of this there were many haunted buildings and ghostly sightings in the city every year. We walked through the oldest cemetery in the city where we saw the graves of city pioneers and important figures in Savannah history. We also learned that the 22 square like parks played a role in how the city defended itself. Each park had houses around it. These houses were mini neighborhoods within the city with neighbors looking out for neighbors. It was a way to deter crime as well as to defend against the British (Savannah had been taken over by the British and was retaken by French/American/Haitian forces) during the Revolutionary War. Aside from the long history in Savannah we did learn about their drinking habits. Savannah is the only city in the state of Georgia where it is legal to buy a beer in a bar, then leave. Drinking on the streets is 100% legal. Because of this we were able to stop in a pub, buy a drink then continue on our tour, beverage in hand. We also learned that oddly enough Savannah has the largest St. Patrick’s Day festival in the country. It might have something to do with the lax alcohol laws, but still interesting that the largest Irish festival is in Georgia.
One of the most interesting things that happened on the tour wasn’t supposed to happen at all. As we entered one of the squares we noticed people that were dressed up holding martini glasses and other fancy drinks walking as fast as they could out of a nice looking restaurant. The longer we watched more and more people came out. We asked what was going on and were told that it was a gas leak and they were told to get up and get out. At that point we could hear the hissing from the natural gas and the sirens from the fire trucks speeding our way. We decided this probably wasn’t the best place to be and we walked on. Shortly after we ended our tour with Neil and was also invited to his St. Patrick’s Day party if we were in town in the future. Neil was one of the best tour guides that we have had on the trip. We wandered the town a bit longer stopping at a great little Thai restaurant called the Flying Monk Noodle Bar before calling an Uber and riding back to the campground for the night.
The next day we woke up ready to go again. Today was going to be a beach day at Tybee Island outside of Savannah. The first stop however was going to be for tacos. A good friend of ours, Byron, travels between the northeast and Florida frequently and had always spoken about a small taco chain in the Savannah area called Flaco’s Tacos. We drove to Flaco’s getting tacos to go before driving out to Tybee. Once we got to the beach we spread out our Mexican meal and ate. They were delicious! If you are ever in the Savannah Area do yourself a favor and stop by one of the Flaco’s locations.
We then hit the beach. As the weather wasn’t the best we walked the beach stopping for a bit on the Tybee Pier watching the fishermen reel in their catches. We then walked through the small town hopping into a few shops. As it was starting to rain we hopped back in Bubbles and drove back to the campground to rest and start to plan our next few days.
Next up…..We drive the coastline of South Carolina!
