Savannah Historic District

The Savannah Historic District in Savannah, Georgia, is one of the largest and best-preserved urban historic districts in the United States, encompassing approximately 2.5 square miles of the city's original planned street grid. The district was laid out beginning in 1733 under General James Oglethorpe, the founder of the Georgia colony, according to a ward system of repeating blocks each centered on a public square. Twenty-two of the original 24 planned squares survive today, each flanked by trust lots occupied by civic and religious buildings and by residential and commercial properties.

Walking the district means moving through a continuous sequence of these squares, each with its own character, monuments, fountains, and canopy of Spanish moss-draped live oak trees. Forsyth Park at the district's southern edge is the largest green space. Notable squares include Johnson Square (the oldest), Monterey Square with the Mercer House featured in John Berendt's book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and Chippewa Square where the fictional bench scenes of Forrest Gump were filmed (the original bench is now in the Savannah History Museum).

The district's architectural character is dominated by antebellum townhouses, Federal and Regency-style commercial buildings, and significant church architecture, including the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and First African Baptist Church, the oldest continuously operating Black church in the United States. River Street along the Savannah River, a former cotton warehouse row now hosting restaurants and bars, forms the northern edge.

The district is a living neighborhood with no single admission cost. Organized walking tours, horse-drawn carriage tours, and ghost tours depart from multiple points. Individual museums, historic houses, and churches charge separately. A focused walk through the squares and River Street takes three to four hours; a full day allows visits to individual sites.