Savannah has plenty of wonderful restaurants. It also has some wonderful ice-cream, too. Here are our two favorites:

Historic District, Savannah:

Leopold’s – By far, this is our favorite ice-cream stop. The chocolate milk shakes are incredible (I would walk an extra hour each day, just so I could afford the calories). And the restaurant has unequaled charm.

Stratton Leopold, who produced the movies Sum of All Fears, Paycheck, Mission Impossible III and many others, is a Savannah native. He grew up in Savannah, and decided to continue the family’s ice cream legacy (in between movie shoots). The first Leopold’s was located on Gwinnett and Habersham, and opened in 1919. Stratton opened his ice-cream/restaurant on 212 E. Broughton Street in 2004, and it’s a favorite of both locals and tourists.

Even if you don’t like ice cream, it’s a must-see for both historical and movie reasons. The store is adorned with posters from Stratton’s movies, as well some movie equipment. What a treat!

Tybee Beach

Tradewinds Ice Cream & Coffee – While the decor isn’t much of a treat, the ice cream is homemade and fresh. It’s the perfect way to cap off a day at Tybee Beach.  Located on Tybee’s main shopping drag (during the summer),  it features homemade ice cream, shaved ice, real fruit smoothies, frozen lemonade, and frozen coffee. Our favorite is the Mango Sherbet.  Tradewinds also has a location on Whitmarsh Island

Visiting Savannah? Check out Heritage House, an historic district vacation rental that’s walking distance to Leopold’s ice cream (among all the other great restaurants, historic sites and landmarks in Savannah).

Celtic Cross in Emmet Park

Tour guides pay a lot of attention to historic River Street, paved with ballast cobblestones, and now full of art galleries, restaurants and shops. But there are a lot of historical landmarks and monuments located near the street that was a major conduit for slaves, cotton and other goods.

Here is a list of some landmarks – very close to River Street – that are definitely worth seeing.

• Emmet Park is a beautiful, tree-shaded park located on the bluff next to Bay Street. It was once known as the “Strand” and later as “Irish Green” because of its proximity to the Irish residents of Savannah’s Old Fort neighborhood. This park was renamed in 1902 for the Irish patriot Robert Emmet (1778-1803) to commemorate the centennial of his death.
• Factors Walk is literally a stone’s throw from River Street. In 1817, it was the original site for the Cotton Exchange. The first two floors of Factors Walk were for the cotton coming into port. It was named this because the men who worked with the cotton exchange were called factors. They factored how much cotton was brought in to be sold. Thus, they were given this name. Factors Walk was the center for most commercial activities. A network of iron and concrete walkways connected the buildings to the bluff.
• The Liberty Monument is dedicated to the armed schooner, “Liberty” the first American Naval vessel. She sailed from the Savannah port in 1775.
• The Salzburger Monument of Reconciliation is a stone monument cut from the Austrian mountains and presented by the City of Salzburg to honor the Salzburgers who landed in Savannah in 1734.
• The Vietnam Memorial is dedicated to the men and women of Savannah and Chatham County who served in the Vietnam War.
• The Washington Guns is the famous Chatham Artillery Washington Guns which were captured at Yorktown and given to Savannah in 1791 by George Washington.
• The U.S. Custom House, completed in 1848, is the site where Georgia founder, James Oglethorpe lived for a time, and in 1736, where John Wesley preached his first sermon in Savannah.

All of these monuments are walking distance from Heritage House, a Historic District Savannah vacation rental.

Cobblestones on River Street

Savannah’s River Street is one of the most popular visitor attractions.  Besides its rich history, galleries, restaurants and shops, River Street is also a great place to watch ships from all over the world sail into one of the busiest ports in the United States.

It initially started as a dirt road. Then, English ballast stoned were laid to give schooners added stability for their trips for Europe. The discarded stones were then used in rivers and walkways.  To this day,  River Street and the walkways to  Factors Walk and Bay Street are still paved with these cobblestones.

Here are a few of the most notable historical landmarks located on River Street:

• A plaque on River Street marks the spot where General Oglethorpe arrived from England and established Savannah on Feb 12, 1733
• The River Street Inn opened as a cotton exchange in 1817. (In 1876, the Savannah Cotton Exchange was established and made its permanent home on Bay Street in 1883 (just one block from River Street). The exchange was established to provide cotton factors, brokers serving planters’ interest in the market, a place to congregate and set the market value of cotton exported to larger markets such as New York or London.
• The Waving Girl Statue, located at the eastern end of River Street, depicts Florence Martus (1868 – 1943) with her loyal collie. The daughter of a sergeant stationed at Fort Pulaski, Florence welcomed each passing ship with a wave of her handkerchief. Sailors began returning her greeting by waving back or with a blast of the ship’s horn. Florence Martus continued her waving tradition for 44 years and it is estimated that she welcomed more than 50,000 ships during her lifetime.
• The African American Monument, erected on River Street in 2002, depicts a family in chains. While slavery was initially forbidden, Savannah ultimately played an integral role in the slave trade over the course of forty-eight years.

Heritage House, a Historic District vacation rental, is less than a mile walk from River Street.

#letsfaceit. The oil spill is depressing. North Korea is frightening and Justin Bieber is not very exciting for anyone over 15.  But don’t let your Twitter feed bring you down.

Drive the family to Savannah, and enjoy one of the nation’s most beautiful and historical cities, created long before #followfriday started trending.

The city is 100% walkable, adorned with breath-taking Spanish moss, and full of #OMGfacts:

-       James Olgethorpe founded Savannah in 1733. His intention was to establish a haven for debtors. #Jamesrocks

-       Under Savannah’s original charter, people were able to worship as they pleased, but rum and lawyers were forbidden.  #Yeahnolawyers.

-       The city is so beautiful, that General Sherman spared her the torch during his March to the Sea. Instead, he presented the city to President Abraham Lincoln as a Christmas gift.  #Whatachristmasgift

Right now, a family of four can stay in Savannah for a lot less than touring with #501destination. Just stay in a vacation rental, like http://staysavannahvacationrentals.com/heritagehouse.html.

You can cook all your meals at home, and save even more.  Four nights is just $797.72, including tax and cleaning fees.The house can accommodate 6 (perfect for families, or couples traveling together). #OMGfacts.

And, if you really want to stay plugged in to the #lakers, or #satc2 (Sex and the City 2), you can. Just remember, that the oil spill is growing every day, and #BPCares.

Learn more about Heritage House, one of Savannah’s most charming vacation rentals.

Bring out the pirate hats,  Mardi-Gras beads and your old cut-off shorts. The Tybee Island Pirate Festival kicks off this weekend, with all the hokey fun and pirate antics you can stomach.

The fifth-annual event features an array of activities for kids and adults, including:

Friday Oct. 9, South Beach Parking Lot

-  A Thieves Market from 5-11 p.m. Lots of trinkets, loot and other pirate treasures to buy.

- Fireworks  starting at 7:30 p.m

- Local bands

-  Little Matey’s Cove activities for kids, including a magic show, balloon making and more.

Saturday, Oct. 10, South Beach Parking Lot

- Thieves Market from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

- Bunch of kids activities, including face painting a puppet show, petting zoo and more.

- More Bands

But what we’ve always found truly enjoyable is the Pirate’s Victory Parade (scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday on Bulter). If you ever wanted to vicariously experience the thrill of being a pirate welcomed home by adoring fans, than this is the parade to attend.

Just grab your sword, and watch area residents donning pirate garb (or even their cut-off shorts) drive down Butler in Pirate Boat floats that range from ramshackle to reasonably clever.

It’s campy. It’s short (lasting about a half hour). And it’s a bit of a cliche. But it’s a wonderful family activity,  and only 20 minutes by car from your downtown Savannah vacation rental.

For more information, visit Tybee Island Pirate Fest.

If you walk by 1511 Price St.  in Savannah’s Historic District, you’re probably not going to think much. The dilapidated, boarded up home gives no hint of its historic significance.

But it was the home of Mother Matilda Beasley, Georgia’s first black nun and founder of the St. Francis Home for Colored Orphans.

Near the end of her life, she sewed everything she could and gave the proceeds from her work to poor blacks.

Chatham county (where Savannah is located) is now restoring the home to its 20th century condition and using it as an education center, per the Savannah Morning News.

It will also relocate the home to the East Broad Street dog park that bears Beasley’s name.  (The park is a block away from the Gaston Street Getaway, a 3-bedroom, 3 bath vacation rental).

While it’s not clear whether the home will be a tourist attraction, hopefully it will create greater awareness for the contributions of this fine woman. Restoration is scheduled for completion in November, 2009.

If  you ever want to see the breadth and depth of Savannah’s residents, go to Picnic in the Park, held in Savannah’s beautiful Forsyth Park.

This annual fall event showcases some of the most eccentric, adorable, spooky, odd and inviting picnic displays in the Southeast. But more revealing is the people behind these displays.

You’ll find folks dressed up in evening gowns, Halloween costumes, cross-dressers, and a lot more. You’ll find CEO’s, bank tellers and all ranges of employees behind  eye-catching picnic displays that took days,  if not weeks, to create.

And, you’ll see elaborate picnic spreads, including 5-course meals with caviar, fine delicacies and rare red wines.

In fact, you’ll be hard pressed to find picnickers with peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches and a few chips.

This year’s event was no exception. Check out the photos in the Savannah Morning News for Picnic in the Park. And next year, head to Savannah for this very Savannah-event.

(Need a kid-friendly vacation rental while you’re there, check out Gaston Street Getaway).

Savannah Kid Friendly Restaurants

Il Pasticio, The Lady & Sons, Savannah Bistro, Vic’s on the River…all are wonderful restaurants. But I wouldn’t risk taking junior there, especially if he were in the throws of terrible twos.

Savannah visitors with young children may want to try a few of these more kid-friendly restaurants. Not only will they have a high-chair handy, but if your tike sucumbs to a crying fit, no one will turn up their nose. They are also reasonably priced.

- Juarez, 420 E.  Broughton Street – It’s a wonderful, inexpensive Mexican restaurant that serves Chicken Fingers and French Fries (pollitos y papas). It’s a nice sized place, and no one seems to mind when your kid throws a little rice on the floor. If you need a distraction, there’s some colorful murals on the wall that are a great way to point out primary colors (they are also masterful pieces of artwork, painted by SCAD students)

- Clary’s, 4430 Habersham Street - A nice feature of this breakfast/lunch restaurant is a little play area for kids. Coloring books, toys, miniature table with tea and coffee pots sit in the front of the restaurant. So, you can enjoy an incredibly delightful short stack of blueberry pancakes while the kids entertain themselves. (Clary’s on Habersham is a few miles from the famous Clary’s on Abercorn Street. To get there, you need to head out of the Historic District toward the Southside of town).

- Screamin’ Mimis, 513 E Oglethorpe Ave - A bunch of NJ folks opened this great pizza place a few years ago, and they have a lot of tolerance for kids. There’s a blackboard or two where the kids can write on, and it’s so informal, just about anything goes. Screamin’ Mimis also delivers.

- Mellow Mushroom, 11 W Liberty St - This pizza chain is pretty kid-friendly too, and a staple for SCAD students.  The pizza is good, albeit quite different than the NJ/NY-influenced  Screamin Mimis.

Coming to Savannah, GA for July 4th weekend? Here are a few free and paid events in and around Savannah that you may want to consider:

Savannah

Fourth of July on the River
July 4
Phone: 912.234.0295
Admission: Free and open to the public
Location: Historic River Street

Festivities begin at 5 p.m. on the plaza with live entertainment, ice cream eating contests and more. Bring your radios tuned into KIX 96.5 as the fabulous fireworks will be choreographed to music simulcast on KIX. Fireworks will begin around 9:20 p.m.

July 4th Fireworks Cruise
July 4
8:30pm to 10:30pm
Location: 9 East River Street
Visit the website or call 912.232.6404

Savannah Swings! at the Lucas Theatre
July 4 – 4
Phone: 912.525.5050
Admission: 25 – adults, $10 – children
Location: Lucas Theatre, 32 Abercorn Street

The Lucas Theatre continues this great annual tradition with patriotic, swingin’ music, a New Orleans-style procession and reserved seats on River Street.

First, enjoy a big-bang concert in the air-conditioned Lucas Theatre with “Jeremy Davis and the Fabulous Equinox Jazz Orchestra” with singers Clay Johnson, Adam Jones, Trae Gurley and Huxsie Scott and Special Guest Kim Polote.

Then, follow the band, New Orleans-procession style from the front of the Lucas down the Abercorn ramp down to River Street. There, you will find reserved seats for fireworks viewing right on the river.

First Saturday on the River
July 4 – 4
Phone: 912.234.0295
Admission: Free and open to the public
Location: Historic River Street

Arts and crafts, entertainment and fun for the entire family on Historic River Street.

FourthFest at Battlefield Memorial Park, the Roundhouse Railroad Museum and Savannah History Museum in downtown Savannah
10 AM-6 PM Sat. July 4

Battlefield marches, musket and cannon firing demos, archaeology games, train rides, blacksmithing demos,  children’s activities and a chance to drive a hand car.
$13 adults, $4 children 6 and younger. (this includes admission to all the museums above)
912.651.6823
Email jxamis@chsgeorgia.org

Tybee Island

Event: Fireworks at The Pier
Date: July 3rd
Location:  Tybee’s pier and pavilion
More information: http://tybeevisit.com/

Event: Celebrating America at Fort Pulaski
Date: July 4 – July 5
Time: 10am to 4pm
Location:  Fort Pulaski
More information: www.nps.gov/fopu/

Richmond Hill

Event: July 4 Celebration at Ft. McAllister
Date: July 4
Time: 10am to 4pm
Location: Fort McAllister Road
More information: Visit website

Statesboro

Event: Independence Day T.E.A. Party
Date: July 4
Time: 4pm to 6pm
Location: Mill Creek Elementary (Across from Mill Creek Park)
More information: www.bullochtea.com

Rincon

Event: 4th of July Parade and Festival
Date: July 4
Time: 10am to 2pm
Location: Rincon
More information: www.cityofrincon.com

Hilton Head Island

Event: 24th Annual Hilton Head Firecracker 5000
Date: July 4
Time: 8am to 9am
Location:  Mall at Shelter Cove
More information: http://www.bearfootsports.com

Event: HarbourFest 2009 July 4th Celebration
Date: July 4
Time: 6pm to 10pm
Location: Shelter Cove Harbour
More information: http://www.palmettodunes.com

Bluffton

Event: Annual 4th of July parade
Date: July 4

Beaufort

Event: Beaufort’s Tea Party
Date: July 4
Time: 12pm to 2pm
Location: Bay Street at Bladen Street, downtown Beaufort
More information: www.beaufortteaparty.webs.com

And, for a little trivia about July Fourth from FarmersAlmanac.com:

Old Glory
Did you know, that there have been 28 versions of the U.S flag to date, and that the most recent one, designed after Alaska and Hawaii joined the union, was the result of a school project

Robert Heft was 17 when he came up with the flag design in 1958. He originally got a B- on the project, but when his pattern won the national competition to become the next flag, his teacher raised his grade to an A.

Need a place to stay? Heritage House and Gaston Street Getaway offer special rates in July.

In August, 2008, we reluctantly moved to Atlanta from our lovely Gaston Street house (now known as Gaston Street Getaway).   My husband had gotten a great job in the Kennesaw area and we needed the extra income, now that we have a third child.

I was able to convince my husband to let us come back to Savannah for a vacation this month, while he toiled away in Atlanta, eating fast food and lamenting the fact that he’s a “terrible bachelor.”

So for the past two weeks, the baby, two older kids, the nanny and I have stayed at our Gaston Street vacation home,  enjoyed every minute of  downtown Savannah living. However, as a tourist, versus resident, I’m looking at things a bit differently.

For starters, I was always puzzled when I saw people traveling down the wrong way on one of Savannah’s many one-way streets. It seemed so intuitive. But now, I realize how easy it is to head in the wrong direction.

I was driving from Bay Street the other day, and I inadvertently went the wrong way down Taylor Street (which I mistakenly thought was Gordon Street). The folks on the corner laughed at me, but I was horrified. I could have caused a serious accident.

I also realized that the Kroger on Gwinnett Street is not a great place to shop late at night. While there’s security in and around the store, it’s a bit scary when it’s dark. (For some reason, I overlooked that fact when I was a resident).

On the plus side, the playground at  Matilda Beasley Park is far more cleaner than it was a year ago. No more glass, wrappers and litter dot the play area. It also seems to attract a better, family-oriented crowd (in the past, it had attracted some stragglers and seedy folks).  So, that was a very pleasant surprise, and a treat for the older kids.

Finally, I took a good look at our Gaston Street Getaway as a “temporary renter” versus resident. While it’s absolutely lovely, there were a few things that were missing. The living room television didn’t work optimally. So I replaced it.  We didn’t have a handheld dust-buster/vacuum to clean up spills, so I bought one. And, we had mistakenly locked some additional folding chairs in one of the closets. So, I pulled those out and made them accessible.

But one thing I didn’t fully appreciate: the home’s fantastic location and neighborhood. The Gaston Street Getaway is located in a truly wonderful part of the Historic District – it’s so accessible to everything and yet very quiet.  It also has some lovely neighbors, who are friendly and willing to lend a hand.  So, from both a tourist and resident’s perspective, I think it’s a wonderful place to stay.