SAVANNAH GA THINGS TO DO

Located in Historic Downtown Savannah, Webb Military Museum features military artifacts from the American Civil War to Desert Storm. Original uniforms, headgear and equipment are displayed in a walk-through setting. The museum honors our servicemen from all wars and branches. Many of the displays contain named groupings of servicemen highlighting their stories of service. A visit to Webb Military Museum will certainly bring back one’s love of history and the realization of how much we owe to our men and women in uniform.

• Number of Featured allowed is determined by pass duration purchased more info
• Reservations are typically required for Featured Attractions.
• You can make reservations  in advance of arriving which are easily made from within the Mobile Pass you’ll receive after purchase.
• View tour availability before purchasing TourPass

• No reservation is required, just show up and present your Mobile Pass for entry.
• Visit as many as you wish 1x.

The Telfair Academy is just short walk away from the Jepson Center, but that short distance covers nearly 200 years of history. The stately two-story mansion, designed by William Jay in the Neoclassical Regency style and built in 1819, is just three historic squares away from Jay’s other masterpiece, the Owens-Thomas House. The Telfair Academy contains three nineteenth-century period rooms and houses nineteenth- and twentieth-century American and European art from the museum’s permanent collection including paintings, works on paper, sculpture, and decorative arts.

• Number of Featured allowed is determined by pass duration purchased more info
• Reservations are typically required for Featured Attractions.
• You can make reservations  in advance of arriving which are easily made from within the Mobile Pass you’ll receive after purchase.
• View tour availability before purchasing TourPass

• No reservation is required, just show up and present your Mobile Pass for entry.
• Visit as many as you wish 1x.

The Museum is arranged for self-guided tours. Please expect to spend at least one hour on site to explore the galleries and gardens. For groups of 10 or more Ships of the Sea can provide a guided tour of the Museum with a reservation in advance. The Museum also offers many educational opportunities for visitors of all ages. All student programs include educational tours. The Museum offers classes on the art of scrimshaw, sailor’s valentines, and women pirates. 

The Scarbrough House is the elegant setting for the Museum’s collection of ship models, paintings, and maritime antiques. It was built in 1819 for one of the principal owners of the Savannah, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Scarbrough’s architect, William Jay from Bath, England, created one of the earliest examples of domestic Greek Revival architecture in the South. Used as a public school from the 1870s – 1960s, the mansion was then abandoned for a brief period but later restored by Historic Savannah Foundation in the 1970s. After another period of vacancy, Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum restored the house again in 1996-97, building a new roof based on a documented William Jay design, adding a new rear portico and enlarging the garden.

What to Expect: 

• Self-guided tour.
• gift shop. 
• May be closed for private events with short notice provided.

• Number of Featured allowed is determined by pass duration purchased more info
• Reservations are typically required for Featured Attractions.
• You can make reservations  in advance of arriving which are easily made from within the Mobile Pass you’ll receive after purchase.
• View tour availability before purchasing TourPass

• No reservation is required, just show up and present your Mobile Pass for entry.
• Visit as many as you wish 1x.

Treat yourself to a gourmet popsicle from this fun and one-of-a-kind shop. Featured by Duff Goldman (Food Network Chef, Ace of Cakes) as one of his favorite sweet treats in the nation!

Each of their pops are named after the one of the 22 historic Savannah squares. Some fan favorites are Calhoun Square (Blackberry Lemonade), Franklin Square (Strawberry Balsamic) and Pulaski Square (Salted Caramel, dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in pretzel pieces). Their philosophy on ingredients is to use the best and the least. The Key Lime Pie Pop has the most ingredients, with fresh squeezed lime juice, fresh heavy cream, buttermilk, milk, graham crackers, raw cane sugar, and Sea Salt. Extra care is given to several of their pops to make them as beautiful as they are delicious. The Telfair Square Pop, for example, features a whole Oreo embedded in the side, and the Wright Square pop showcases a perfect slice of kiwi. This isn’t easy to do, but it’s part of that extra mile They go to make the product special.

• Number of Featured allowed is determined by pass duration purchased more info
• Reservations are typically required for Featured Attractions.
• You can make reservations  in advance of arriving which are easily made from within the Mobile Pass you’ll receive after purchase.
• View tour availability before purchasing TourPass

• No reservation is required, just show up and present your Mobile Pass for entry.
• Visit as many as you wish 1x.

Savannah History Museum is located in the former historic Central of Georgia Railroad’s passenger station. The museum walks guests through the city’s history from 1733, spanning the American Revolution and Civil War, all the way to modern day Savannah. Many exhibits highlight Savannah’s musical, cultural and artistic contributions including the famous bench from the movie Forrest Gump. Located just across the street is Battlefield Memorial Park, which presents visitors with a free memorial to those who fought in the 1779 Battle of Savannah, second bloodiest battle of the American Revolution. This park marks the exact location where approximately 800 troops died or were wounded.

• Number of Featured allowed is determined by pass duration purchased more info
• Reservations are typically required for Featured Attractions.
• You can make reservations  in advance of arriving which are easily made from within the Mobile Pass you’ll receive after purchase.
• View tour availability before purchasing TourPass

• No reservation is required, just show up and present your Mobile Pass for entry.
• Visit as many as you wish 1x.

Pin Point Heritage Museum is located in the former A.S. Varn & Son Oyster and Crab Factory. The community was founded in 1896 by freed slaves after the Civil War. The former factory has been transformed into an educational center for visitors to authentically learn about the Gullah/Geechee culture directly from residents who grew up in the small, close-knit community. Guests can discover these unique lifeways, from daily life to religion, language and food.

• Number of Featured allowed is determined by pass duration purchased more info
• Reservations are typically required for Featured Attractions.
• You can make reservations  in advance of arriving which are easily made from within the Mobile Pass you’ll receive after purchase.
• View tour availability before purchasing TourPass

• No reservation is required, just show up and present your Mobile Pass for entry.
• Visit as many as you wish 1x.

Built as a beautiful Regency style mansion in 1819, the Owens-Thomas House, along with its adjacent gardens, carriage house, and slave quarters, allows visitors to explore the complicated relationships between the most and least powerful people in the city of Savannah in the early 19th century.

History of the Richardson-Owens-Thomas House

In November 1816, work began on the new home of banker, shipping merchant, and slave trader Richard Richardson and his wife, Frances. The home was designed by English architect (and relative to Richardson by marriage) William Jay, but was constructed by builder John Retan and the team of free and enslaved men in his charge. The site also included a two-sided privy and a building located on the east end of the lot, which was divided into a carriage house and slave quarters.

The Richardsons moved into the home with their six children and nine enslaved men, women, and children in January 1819. Unfortunately for the Richardsons, the next three years saw steady decreases in their prosperity, including the financial Panic of 1819, a yellow fever epidemic, a fire that destroyed half the city, and the death of Frances and two of the children. By 1822, Richardson decided to sell the house and move to Louisiana, where he had family and business interests. He had been shipping enslaved people, mostly children, from Savannah to New Orleans for years.

By 1824, the Bank of the United States owned the house, which they leased to Mary Maxwell as a boarding house. The Marquis de Lafayette was a guest of Mrs. Maxwell when he visited Savannah in March 1825 as part of his whirlwind tour of the United States for the 50th anniversary of the American Revolution.

In 1830, George Welshman Owens, then mayor of Savannah, purchased the property at auction for $10,000. Owens, who was also a lawyer, planter, and politician, moved in with his wife, Sarah, and their six children in 1833. Over the years, Owens kept nine to 15 enslaved people on the property and held almost 400 men, women, and children in bondage on his plantations.

The last Owens descendant to live in the home was George Owens’ granddaughter, Margaret Gray Thomas. When Thomas passed away in 1951 with no direct heirs, she willed the house to the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences to be run as a house museum in honor of her grandfather, George Owens, and her father, Dr. James Gray Thomas. The site opened to the public in 1954.

Carriage House

Orientation Gallery

The south half of this building originally housed horses and carriages on the first floor with a hay loft on the floor above. Beginning in;November 2018, the first level of this building will house our Orientation Gallery. Exhibits in this space help put the story of the site into the larger context of local, regional, and national history. The site of the original hay loft now houses The Loft, a workspace for Telfair’s historical interpreters to study primary documents, examine archaeological artifacts, and research our sites’ history.

Slave Quarters

The north half of the building contains the original slave quarters for the site. This two-story structure was composed of three rooms on each level. Nine to 15 enslaved people, about half of whom were children, lived and worked on the site at any given time between 1819 and the end of the Civil War. Once the war ended, the space became servants’ quarters, housing many of the same people.

Now these these wonderfully preserved spaces offer new interactive exhibits to help visitors understand the day-to-day lives of the enslaved people who lived and worked in the space, as well as the most unique architectural feature of the house, the indoor plumbing.

• Number of Featured allowed is determined by pass duration purchased more info
• Reservations are typically required for Featured Attractions.
• You can make reservations  in advance of arriving which are easily made from within the Mobile Pass you’ll receive after purchase.
• View tour availability before purchasing TourPass

• No reservation is required, just show up and present your Mobile Pass for entry.
• Visit as many as you wish 1x.

Old Fort Jackson is a must-see National Historic Landmark offering daily cannon firings and exciting interactive programs for adults, kids and families! Only minutes away from historic downtown Savannah, you can experience unique views of Savannah’s riverfront and walk on the grounds of one of the oldest brick fortifications on the East Coast.

History

This fortification is located on the Savannah River, just 3 miles east of the city. It was constructed in 1808 as part of President Thomas Jefferson’s Second System coastal defense initiative and named after Revolutionary War patriot James Jackson. This brick fort was constructed over an old earthen battery from the Revolutionary War which had been called “Mud Fort.” Soldiers were stationed at Fort James Jackson to guard Savannah during the War of 1812. Following the War of 1812, two periods of construction continued expansion of the fort from the 1840s-1850s, prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War.

Local Confederate militia units occupied the fort at the start of the Civil War in 1861. In 1862, it became the headquarters for Savannah’s river defenses after the fall of Fort Pulaski. In 1864 the Confederate troops quickly evacuated Fort Jackson just prior to the arrival of federal troops under the leadership of General William Tecumesh Sherman after his infamous “March to the Sea,” leaving Fort Jackson under control of federal troops. The last American soldiers to be stationed at Fort Jackson were members of the 55th Massachusetts, an African- American unit of the Federal Army.

The War Department abandoned the fort in 1905 and the state of Georgia reopened it in 1965 as a maritime museum. After the state decided to close the museum in 1975, the newly formed nonprofit Coastal Heritage Society approached the State in 1976 asking permission to re-open and operate the site, which was granted. The historic site was now referred to as Old Fort Jackson. In 1978, Fort Jackson and CHS came under the leadership of Scott W. Smith. Operation continued to grow with modest success as did development of educational programming for regular guests and student field trips.

Currently, Old Fort Jackson has a successful model of independent operation and a solid reputation of delivering high-quality, engaging educational programming for booked groups. This program offering has been expanded to regular operation for daily museum guests and includes cannon, musket firings and other interactive & hands-on activities.

• Number of Featured allowed is determined by pass duration purchased more info
• Reservations are typically required for Featured Attractions.
• You can make reservations  in advance of arriving which are easily made from within the Mobile Pass you’ll receive after purchase.
• View tour availability before purchasing TourPass

• No reservation is required, just show up and present your Mobile Pass for entry.
• Visit as many as you wish 1x.