Treat Your Kids to the Beach and Ice Cream at the Sugar Shack

The Sugar Shack at Tybee Island

If you plan on vacationing in Savannah this summer, make sure you visit Tybee Island, about 20 minutes by car from the downtown Historic District.

It’s a wonderful beach, and a great day trip.

Unlike its neighbors to the North And South, Tybee Island isn’t over-commercialized. It’s also free, and open to the public. There are a few paid parking lots, as well as street parking. But make sure you bring plenty of quarters, because the meter maids are vigilant.

After spending a day at the beach, we recommend that you treat your kids to the “The Sugar Shack”, a Tybee ice cream parlor that opened in 1960.  (Although it looks like some of the furnishings still date from that period, the ice cream is very good).

Bruce Grosse owns the place with his parents.  He and his brothers started out selling boiled peanuts (a Savannah delicacy) up and down the beach.  They saved up $2,000 and ended up buying “The Sugar Shack” at a silent auction.

You can’t miss the place.  It’s on the left just before you go around a big curve on Butler Avenue.

And by the way, we were raised on the Sugar Shack, and our kids are getting their fair share of soft serve ice cream and banana splits, too.