Low Down and Beautiful

“Savannah or Charleston?” When readers ask me that, my answer has typically been “New Orleans,” as I’ve always loved the Crescent City and its stew of culture, cuisine, and ethnicity more than just about anyplace else in the South. Hurricane Katrina has rendered that answer irrelevant, at least temporarily, so I set out to come up with a more useful one.

Savannah and Charleston are akin to the ends of a barbell connected by South Carolina’s Lowcountry, the moniker a consequence of the area’s elevation. People often visit the three areas on three separate vacations, as they are distinct, different experiences, though all are portions of a larger whole. Their consistent themes are great food, wonderful history, evocative ambience, and perhaps America’s most pleasant springtime climate. Some differences: Savannah’s reputation is as more of a living, breathing city than Charleston, and it has not always been as preservation-oriented. It is less of a period piece and has become, intriguingly, a haven for young artists, ensuring that it will continue to thrive as a small metropolis. The Lowcountry is, in places, frightfully overdeveloped, and you must search for its Southern authenticity, but those willing to make a modicum of effort will find it in abundance.

My visit earlier this year encompassed just Savannah and its Lowcountry environs—here’s a primer on how to make the most of a long weekend or leisurely week.

SAVANNAH
At Savannah’s heart is its amazingly well-preserved grid of eighteenth-century pedestrian-oriented streets, knit together by twenty leafy park-like squares, each fronted by well-preserved period homes, churches, and civic buildings. James Edward Oglethorpe, the English general who founded Savannah in 1733, created the city’s plan, and it survives largely intact today. Savannah is as graceful and bucolic a small city as exists in the United States.

Savannah’s port brought it prominence initially and attracted a multi-ethnic populace, atypical of much of the South. The cotton economy boomed in the 1800s, creating much of the wealth on display in the city’s historic houses. Savannah surrendered to General Sherman in 1864 to save itself, but the decline of the cotton economy did what the Union did not, and turned it into a backwater—by WWII it was dilapidated and in jeopardy.

A 1955 fight to save a historic mansion birthed the Historic Savannah Foundation, and today, fifty years later, more than 1,000 buildings have been restored in the two-plus-square-mile Historic District. Though there are dozens of period homes to tour, a modest museum, and the restored port, the best days can be had strolling the historic areas, stopping where it suits you, drinking in the warm breezes, and feeling the rhythms of the place.

My favorite places are Oglethorpe’s many squares, each with a unique feel, most containing the so-called “live oak” trees, typically dripping Spanish moss. Don’t miss meandering from Johnson Square in the heart of the city’s business district, filled with downtown workers gabbing on cell phones, to Madison Square, surrounded by stylish shops and students of the city’s College of Art and Design, to Monterey Square, ringed by some of the city’s most historic structures, to modest Whitfield Square, bracketed by Victorian homes, with a gazebo in its center. Four of the city’s squares were destroyed in the name of urban progress when the city didn’t know any better, but the others are secure.
SAVANNAH’S LOWCOUNTRY
Although Charleston is only a leisurely two hours away, the Lowcountry environs around Savannah could occupy you for a week. The two primary experiences are the historic town of Beaufort (The Big Chill was filmed here) and the massive resort island of Hilton Head.

Beaufort is the historic heart of the Lowcountry and was rediscovered for its place in Southern history. Its extraordinary period homes—more than fifty of historic significance, built on cotton profits—have been lovingly preserved.

Hilton Head is not without its attractive attributes. Though the island is heavily developed, it has been done sensitively, sans the tacky Florida feel. It offers pleasant beaches (often dotted with charming sand dollars), condo rentals, large resort hotels, and superb golf. But Hilton Head is a place apart from what you came for. It is neither historic nor authentic and will provoke some regrets for those looking for anything but a beach/golf weekend.

Beaufort is replete with historic inns, but if you’re looking for a resorty experience, I suggest you stay at perhaps the most outstanding small resort to open in the United States in the last two years—the Inn at Palmetto Bluff near Bluffton. Operated by Auberge Resorts (Auberge du Soleil, Esperanza) as a tiny piece of what will become an expansive residential community, the guest lodgings are in fifty gorgeously decorated and luxuriously outfitted small cottages and a smattering of rental homes. The grounds overlook the sleepy May River and include a dedicated resort pool, 9,500-square-foot spa, and a restaurant. A growing town center offers water sports, a café, and a wedding chapel (and eventually modest retail amenities). The River House restaurant offers a tasty, albeit formal, take on Lowcountry fare. Service is superb, the location central, the experience sublime and relaxing. Pat, IPB’s concierge, knows all and can arrange anything.

Beaufort or Hilton Head are an easy thirty-minute drive from Savannah. The country lanes along the way evoke the region’s post-Reconstruction history: Their names—Mammy Grant Rd., Tom’s Lane—were often those of the sharecroppers who lived on them. 

Don’t Miss List Beaufort—Give yourself at least a day to explore this leafy, historic town. Its foundation offers numerous special events and home tours, including the annual Fall Festival of Houses. Consider staying a night at one of its historic inns. Beaufort National Cemetery—This dignified Civil War–era cemetery, just outside Beaufort’s Historic District, contains the graves of Confederate and Union soldiers (laid in separate large plots). The fresh graves of Iraq war dead are haunting. 1601 Boundary St. Shrimp Shack—About twenty minutes outside of Beaufort on St. Helena Island sits this shack of a fast-food joint, where shrimp and seafood come from the waters just behind it. Authenticity freaks will freak. 1929 Sea Island Pkwy., 843-838-2962 Pepper’s Porch—This casual Lowcountry roadhouse near the Inn at Palmetto Bluff is good for pork shoulder, deviled crab, fried okra, and other local staples. 1255 May River Rd., Bluffton, 843-757-2295 11th Street Dockside—Overlooking the shrimp docks, it’s the place to go for shrimp, fried green tomatoes, and superb lump meat crab cakes. 1699 W. 11th St., Port Royal, 843-524-7433 Red Piano Too Art Gallery—Stocks the work of local artists and craftspeople and is one of the only places to find the naive works of the dwindling ranks of the local Gullah peoples. 870 Sea Island Pkwy., 843-838-2241 Learning More My favorite guide to the region is Lonely Planet’s Savannah, Charleston, & the Carolina Coast, which digs a little deeper than the others. The Savannah Visitor’s Bureau can help plan a visit. 877-728-2662. Beaufort Tourism advice is available from the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce. 800-638-3525