An Introduction to Savannah, Georgia

Savannah is a small city. In fact, with a population of less than 150,000, it’s only the 5th largest city in the state of Georgia behind Atlanta, Columbus, Augusta, and Macon. The Savannah airport is also quite small, with erratic, often inconvenient flight schedules. It’s not the easiest place to get to. Based on that information alone, you could hardly be blamed if you didn’t expect Savannah to be much to write home about… but there’s a lot more to the story.

Founded in 1733, Savannah is the oldest-planned city in America. Apparently the plans for this city were drawn up back in England, before the settlers made the crossing to the “New World.” It was an important economic center and strategically significant port city in both the American Revolution and Civil Wars. It was originally a British colony, and was in fact held and occupied by the British for most of the Revolutionary War. After the Revolution, Savannah was known to have been one of the wealthiest and most beautiful cities in the country. The economy thrived on cotton, shipping, and of course, slaves. It’s got a lot of history, but also a lot of baggage, because in addition to being a major center of the slave trade, it also suffered through some legendary disasters. For example, there were catastrophic fires in 1796 and 1820, as well as an outbreak of Yellow Fever that killed 10% of the population, which was also in 1820. So… if you ever get your hands on a time machine, make a mental note NOT to go to Savannah in 1820. That was a rough year for Savannah. But these events have created lots of interesting lore and ghost stories that are still a big part of the city’s identity today.

Savannah always had a reputation for being gorgeous, and that reputation is as true today as it ever was! Savannah is easily one of the top 5 most beautiful cities in the U.S. And the funny thing is, ALL of the American South used to look something like this. But it all got burned down at the end of the Civil War. The only cities that survived were Savannah, Charleston, and New Orleans, each for different reasons. For Savannah, the story goes that the Union Army entered in mid-December 1864 after burning Atlanta (and most of the rest of Georgia) to the ground. Upon entering the city, General Sherman was apparently so impressed by Savannah’s beauty that he could not bring himself to destroy it. Instead, on December 22, 1864, he sent a famous telegram to President Abraham Lincoln, offering the city as a Christmas present.

History has more than demonstrated that good triumphed over evil in the American Civil War, blah blah blah… but I really wish all these cities wouldn’t have been burned down. Because Savannah and Charleston are absolutely enchanting. I can barely even imagine a world where every city in the American South looks like this. I almost went to the College of Charleston, so I visited twice at the end of high school. It was a hard place to say no to. I’ll be back there later this year, so you can expect an article soon enough. But Savannah… I drove through once with my family as a kid. We only stopped to have lunch and take a quick walk, but in that short span of time, I was transfixed by it. I had been looking for an excuse to come back for ages. Here’s a map for some context:

Walking Around Savannah 📸😍

Stepping out the door of our Airbnb, just a couple blocks away from Forsyth Park, the air was thick with humidity. It was so humid that my camera lens was quickly covered in a dense fog that took a few blocks to wear off. Savannah is a beautiful city, but that doesn’t mean it’s always clean. The grit of this city varies property to property, with some homes looking like shots out of Southern Living Magazine, while others look like something out of recovered footage from some sort of 1960s Civil Rights documentary. The one unifying thread through all of these properties is the foliage. Every nook and cranny seems to be overgrown with all sorts of tropical-ish foliage distinct to the coastal Georgia region, topped off with swaying locks of Spanish Moss hanging from every overhanging branch or beam. The Spanish Moss is iconic to Savannah and really brings the aura of this place to the next level.

When talking about a city as historic and scenic as Savannah, it’s easy to forget that it’s more than just a destination. People also call this place home, and to them, the landscape of Savannah looks a bit different. For one, there’s Savannah College of Art and Design (aka SCAD), which introduces a strong elements of academia and art into the city. And aside from that, there are lots of local coffee shops, restaurants, bakeries, dry-cleaners, bars—you name it! Savannah is a place that really seems to value the “local-ness” of its businesses, which I really love. One specific recommendation I’ll give you is Back In The Day Bakery. I was told about it by Ellen of Sweet 16th bakery back in Nashville, who was actually born and raised in Savannah. Sweet 16th is one of my favorite establishments of any variety in Nashville, so a recommendation from Ellen carries a lot of weight to me. And Back In The Day did not let me down! I’d definitely recommend it.

My roommate happens to be from Savannah, so I feel like most of what I know about this place is through him. It’s because of him that I have a sense of what the society of Savannah is like on a social level. Roots run deep here. Everybody knows everybody. Sure there are lots of visitors that pass through, but in every living room of every house on every quiet Savannah street, there is a thriving community of families living here that are constantly going to school together, growing up together, marrying into one another, and so on. And as I walked around the city, I couldn’t help but imagine what that must look like. I was doing some window-shopping on Zillow as I walked around. Houses here are actually pretty affordable!

Anyway, I could go on, but I think this is a place that you just need to see. So here are some of my favorite shots from my walking around the city. We did experience some rain that weekend… followed by a hurricane (I’ll tell you that story in the next article), but we also had some clear blue skies as well. Check this place out…

Honestly, it blows my mind that all of the South used to look like this. Good that they lost the Civil War… but it’s a real shame that all these gorgeous historic areas were destroyed. This kind of southern colonial architecture is so charming. Despite Savannah’s intensely southern aura, it also reminds me of other heavily colonial cities to the north like Boston or D.C.

I have to give a big shout out to my roomie, Michael. As I mentioned above, he’s a Savannah native, and the week before we came to visit, it was a slow day at work apparently, so he typed up a massive list of things for us to do and see in Savannah and emailed it to us. And honestly, this sort of off-the-cuff list from a local is exactly what you should want to get before you go anywhere. I figured I’d share it with the world. So you can thank Michael for the inside scoop here:

Savannah according to Michael

Up next we’re going to jump into some of Savannah’s more specific points of interest, including Wormsloe Plantation, and the cemetery made famous by the cover of the novel “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” And then, we’re going to wake up in the middle of the goddamn night to haul ass out of town before a hurricane hit the city.