The Voice and Roots of Our America Today

The root: America's most haunted port city, where moss-draped squares and pirate-era streets carry 290 years of Southern memory.

Eat: The Olde Pink House — Southern fine dining in an 18th-century mansion. Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room — family-style comfort food at shared tables. Leopold's Ice Cream — century-old parlor, a local landmark.

Skip — don't: The overpriced chain-style seafood joints on River Street with hawkers pulling tourists off the cobblestones.

Specialty: Southern hospitality served under Spanish moss — shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, and a ghost tour on every corner.

Shops & crafts: River Street warehouses — local art galleries and sweetgrass-free souvenirs done right. The Paris Market — antiques and curiosities. Savannah Bee Company — local honey and mead tastings.

See: Bonaventure Cemetery — moss, marble, and midnight stories. Forsyth Park and the cobblestone squares — the city's green heart. River Street — warehouses turned shops along the Savannah River.

Main Street: Broughton Street — brick storefronts and old oak shade, the polite downtown promenade between the squares.

After dark: A ghost tour through the old cemeteries and mansions — nobody does haunted like Savannah. Then live blues on River Street.