Side Trips

Strolling Around Isle of Hope -- About 10 miles south of downtown Savannah is the charming community of Isle of Hope. First settled in the 1840s as a summer resort for the wealthy, it's now a showcase of rural antebellum life. To reach Parkersburg (as it was called in those days), citizens traveled by steamer down the Wilmington River or by a network of suburban trains. Today you can reach Isle of Hope by driving east from Savannah along Victory Drive to Skidaway Road. At Skidaway, go right and follow it to LaRoche Avenue. Take a left and follow LaRoche until it dead-ends on Bluff Drive. This is the perfect place for a lazy afternoon stroll. The short path is home to authentically restored cottages and beautiful homes, most enshrouded with Spanish moss cascading from the majestic oaks lining the bluff. A favorite of many local landscape artists and Hollywood directors, Bluff Drive affords the best views of the Wilmington River.

As you head back toward Savannah, drive down Skidaway Road. On your left is Wormsloe Plantation, 7601 Skidaway Rd. (tel. 912/353-3023; www.wormsloe.org). Wormsloe, the home of Noble Jones, isn't much more than a ruin. After you enter the gates, you proceed down an unpaved oak-lined drive, and the ruins lie less than half a mile off the road. Dr. Jones was one of Georgia's leading colonial citizens and a representative to the Continental Congress. Wormsloe has also been home to forts and garrisons during the Civil and Spanish-American wars. It's open Tuesday to Sunday 9am to 5pm. Admission is $5 for adults, $4.50 seniors, $3.50 for students 6 to 18; children 5 and under are admitted free.