Hey Guys!
This post continues our time in Charleston & Savannah.
This morning, we checked out of our hotel and headed to Savannah where we would be spending the next 3 nights.
On our way to Savannah, we had a couple of places on our list to stop at along the way.
Tip: From Charleston to Savannah is a 2 hour drive
One of those places was the Angel Oak Tree.
Tip: Before heading to Angel Oak Tree, make the Old Sheldon Church Ruins your first stop…sadly, we missed this stop and I’m still upset about it! 🙁 Read reviews here
Unfortunately, the site was closed when we arrived because it was New Years Day and they are closed on holidays.
As many as 400,000 people visit this old oak tree every year. The tree is free to visitors but donations are accepted.
The Angel Oak tree is considered to be the largest Live Oak Tree east of the Mississippi estimating to be 300 to 400 years old!
The tree is 65 feet high with a circumference of 25.5 feet, shading an area of 17,000 square feet.
Pictures can never do this tree any justice….it’s enormous!
Read reviews here
Tip: The tree is located down a very bumpy, pot hole filled road!
After leaving the tree, we continued our drive to our next stop called Wormhole State Historic Site.
This is a very popular site because of its tree covered path.
Once we arrived, we made a quick stop at the original entrance to this historic site.
From here. you can take pictures of the tree covered avenue if you don’t want to pay to go inside.
After taking a few pictures, we headed to the main entrance to purchase our tickets.
Tip: Tickets are $12 for adults, $9 for seniors, $5.75 for youth ages 6-17 and $3.25 for children under 6. The site is open Mon – Sun from 9 am – 4:45 pm.
Inside the visitor’s center you will find a few gift items as well.
A map of the small park
They had a small model of what the plantation used to look like.
After purchasing our tickets, we headed outside and began our walk to the tree covered avenue.
The breathtaking avenue sheltered by live oaks and Spanish moss leads to the tabby ruins of Wormsloe, the colonial estate of Noble Jones (1702–1775).
Tip: It’s a long walk to the ruins so if you don’t want to walk, they have small trams that you can ride.
Jones was a carpenter who arrived in Georgia in 1733 with James Oglethorpe and the first group of settlers from England. Wormsloe’s tabby ruin is the oldest standing structure in Savannah.
Jones went on to serve the colony as a doctor, constable, Indian agent, Royal Councilor and surveyor, laying out the towns of Augusta and New Ebenezer.
He also commanded a company of marines charged with defending the Georgia coast from the Spanish.
Jones died at the beginning of the American Revolution, but his descendants sustained Wormsloe until the state of Georgia acquired most of the property in 1973.
We decided not to walk to the ruins but the $12 was definitely worth seeing these beautiful, moss covered trees!
I think I took 786 pictures of the trees! 😉
Read reviews here
After leaving here, we continued our drive.
Our next stop was the very popular, Bonaventure Cemetery.
The cemetery is located in Savannah.
Tip: For $36 pp, you can do a tour of the cemetery
Arriving to the entrance gate
The cemetery is located on the former site of Bonaventure Plantation, originally owned by Colonel John Mullryne.
In 1846, Commodore Josiah Tattnall III sold the 600-acre plantation and its private cemetery to Peter Wiltberger. The first burials took place in 1850, and three years later, Peter Wiltberger himself was entombed in a family vault
In 1867, John Muir began his Thousand Mile Walk to Florida and the Gulf. In October, he stayed in this cemetery for six days and nights, sleeping upon graves.
He found the cemetery breathtakingly beautiful and inspiring and wrote a lengthy chapter upon it, “Camping in the Tombs”.
The cover photograph for the best-selling book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, taken by Jack Leigh, featured a sculpture of a young girl, the so-called Bird Girl, that had been in this cemetery. It has since been moved to a museum.
The cemetery is 160 acres so it is huge!
You can either park and walk around or you can drive through the cemetery.
We parked and walked around for about an hour! We didn’t plan on staying this long but there were so many unique headstones and statues ….some dating back to the early 1800’s!
The cemetery is adorned with centuries old Live Oak trees dripping with Spanish Moss and hundreds of Azaleas!
Tip: Click here & here to see notable figures that are buried in this cemetery
The cemetery’s prominence grew when it was featured in the 1994 novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, and in the subsequent movie, directed by Clint Eastwood, based on the book.
Some of the headstones we saw
As we were leaving, we saw this grave that was enclosed in a wrought iron fence.
After researching it, I’ve discovered that it’s the grave of Noble Jones who was the owner of the Wormssloe Plantation. He died in 1775 at the age of 73.
There are three burial sites associated with Wormsloe Plantation founder Noble Jones(1702-1775). Bonaventure Cemetery is his third—and final—resting place.
Jones was originally buried at Wormsloe Plantation in 1775 with his wife, Sarah. At some point, their graves were moved into Savannah’s Colonial Park Cemetery.
With rumors that Colonial Park was going to close, Jones’ was moved a third time to Bonaventure Cemetery.
Read reviews for the cemetery here
After leaving here, we headed to Fort Pulaski National Monument but sadly, it too was closed due to the holiday.
Read reviews here
So, we headed to our next stop, the Tybee Island Lighthouse. 
Well, guess what? It was closed too!
However, we were still able to take pictures and walk around and read the informational plaques.
The lighthouse on Tybee was one of the first public structures in Georgia. It was completed in 1736.
However, the first and second lighthouses were destroyed by storms. This lighthouse was rebuilt in 1773.
The lighthouse stands 145 ft tall and is the oldest and tallest lighthouse in Georgia. In fact, it’s one of the most intact historic lighthouses remaining in America to this day.
You can visit the lighthouse and museum for $14 pp for adults and includes admission to the complete Tybee Island Light Station and the Tybee Museum in Battery Garland.
Tip: The lighthouse and museum is closed on Tuesdays
Click here for 10 reasons you should visit this beautiful lighthouse & read reviews here
Next to the lighthouse is Battery Garland and Museum.
Fort Screven’s Battery Garland served as the gun battery and magazine for a 12-inch long-range gun.
The room that formally stored over six hundred-pound projectiles and two hundred-pound bags of gun powder, now serves as the Tybee Island Museum.
In 1950, the Tybee Island Museum opened its doors and now exhibits more than 400 years of Tybee Island history.
Fort Screven played an important part in the history of our country, including the Spanish American War of 1898, World War I and World War II.
There were lots of informative plaques scattered around the outside of the fort.
Read reviews here & Click here for things to do in Tybee Island
After leaving here, we drove down a very narrow road to take a picture of another lighthouse called Cockspur Lighthouse. 
The lighthouse was built in 1855 after the first lighthouse was destroyed by a hurricane.
It is no longer open to visitors but you can kayak out to it.
After getting our pictures, we headed into the town of Tybee Island but stopped for a quick picture in front of the town’s sign!
After our picture, we headed to the Tybee Pier & Pavilion. 
The pier is huge and had lots of picnic tables, snack bars, vendors & restrooms.
Click here for a great restaurant near the pier
We walked to the end of the pier …
We saw lots of people fishing off the pier. It is free to fish from the pier but you must first purchase a fishing license. 
After walking the pier, we decided to head down to the beach.
Read reviews here
The water here looked more like lake water and there were no waves!
I would not swim here either lol…the water and sand were nasty looking!
After walking the beach for a while, we headed into Savannah to have dinner.
Read reviews here
My hubby had a place on the list called the Dockside Seafood Bar & Grill.
The restaurant is located on the iconic River Street.
After being seated, we took a few minutes to look over the menu.
I settled on the shrimp po boy and the hubby ordered his usual burger.
The food was delish!
Read reviews here
After dinner, we walked down River Street. 
Along this historic street you will find lots of neat shops and an old cobblestone road that dates back 200 years!
River Street was created in 1834 as trade increased, and it was cobbled with ballast stones discarded by ships.
There’s a lot of history that surrounds this waterfront.
From here, you can also see the beautiful Talmadge Memorial Bridge ..
The bridge was built in 1991 and replaced the original bridge that was built in 1953.
This is also where you would board the beautiful Georgia Queen Riverboat.
Click here for a riverboat & trolley tour package & here for a 1.5 hr sightseeing cruise
Read reviews for the riverboat here
As we were walking along the river front, we spotted the Savannah Candy Kitchen and decided to go check it out.
I was in chocolate heaven!
They had everything you could imagine and I wanted one of each! 😉
They even had free tastings of their famous pralines…so good!
After spending several mins trying to decide what to order, we finally made our picks!
I always get anything with chocolate and caramel!
Read reviews here
Next, we walked in the Coastal Christmas Store.
They had all kinds of beautiful Christmas trees and cool Christmas ornaments!
After this store, we continued our walk.
I spotted a map of Savannah along with the stops that the trolleys make.
We stopped inside a souvenir shop to find a tshirt…
My hubby found the perfect shirt 😉
After walking the full length of the riverwalk, we headed to our hotel.
Unbeknownst to us, it was connected to these stores on River Street so we just had to drive around to the front of the building!
We decided to stay at the Olde Harbour Inn because it was one of the few hotels in Savannah that offered free parking!
The hotel is housed in a converted 1892 warehouse that still has many of its original architectural features intact, such as exposed brick and beam ceilings.
After getting checked in, we checked out the gathering room.
Here you will find complimentary coffee, water, sodas and nightly wine and hors d’oeuvres.
We then headed to our room.
I had booked room 408….it was a 2 bedroom suite with a balcony.
It was huge and beautiful!
It had 970 sq ft with a wet bar that included a microwave, mini fridge and coffee pot along with complimentary coffee and water, a king size bedroom, living room and an upstairs that had a queen bed with another television.
They even stocked your refrigerator with free ice cream!
We had a huge closet that included extra pillows and two bath robes!
The bathroom was also huge and included tons of towels, tissues, bath amenities and more!
We then headed to the balcony where we had incredible views of the river!
Our balcony was right above River Street.
As we were sitting on our balcony, a huge cargo ship came floating by…it was so cool!
A little while later, we tried out some of our chocolate from Savannah’s Candy Kitchen.
It was so good!
Later, we called it a night!
Read reviews for the hotel here
Thanks for reading!
Read Days 1 & 2 here, Day 3 here, Day 4 here & Day 5 here
Click here to see links to all of my blog posts
