Charleston in South Carolina and Savannah in Georgia are the two best-preserved historic cities in the American South, and they sit about 110 miles apart. Both escaped destruction in the Civil War, which is why their eighteenth and nineteenth-century centres are still standing. Visiting both takes four days and the contrast is the point.
Savannah
Laid out in 1733 around a grid of twenty-two garden squares, each planted with live oaks hung with Spanish moss. The plan is the attraction — you walk from square to square rather than between sights. Forsyth Park anchors the south end, the riverfront the north. The city is famously relaxed about open containers in the historic district, which shapes its evenings.
Charleston
Tighter, wealthier and more formal. The peninsula holds rows of pastel single houses turned side-on to the street with long porches catching the sea breeze. Rainbow Row, the Battery, and the churches that give it the name Holy City. Charleston has become one of the strongest restaurant cities in the country — book ahead.
What the plantations require of you
Both cities were built on slavery, and the tourism around them has historically obscured that. Several sites now address it directly: the McLeod Plantation outside Charleston is told from the perspective of the enslaved, as is the Old Slave Mart Museum in the city and the Owens-Thomas House in Savannah, which preserves its slave quarters. Choosing these over the wedding-venue plantations makes for a far more honest visit.
The coast between them
- Beaufort, South Carolina — smaller and quieter than either city, halfway between them.
- Hilton Head — resort island with beaches and golf.
- The Sea Islands — home of the Gullah Geechee, descendants of enslaved West Africans who kept a distinct language and culture; Sapelo and St Helena are the places to learn about it.
- Tybee Island — Savannah's beach, twenty minutes from downtown.
When to go
Spring, March into early May, when the azaleas and wisteria are out and the humidity has not arrived. Autumn from late September is the second window. Summer is very hot and very humid, and hurricane season runs through to November. Both cities are walkable and parking is difficult — stay in the historic district and leave the car.