Day Trips
Visit some of the beautiful, fun and historic sites in the surrounding area while in Savannah.
SAPELO ISLAND
The Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society, Inc., (SICARS) welcomes visitors to the Hogg Hummuck Historic District, the last intact Gullah Geechee community in the Georgia Sea Islands. Spend a day on Sapelo and soak in the spirit of the African Americans, past and, who have lived on this remote island since 1802. Geechee lodging is available for longer stays. This island can only be reached by boat. The Meridian-Sapelo ferry runs round-trip three times daily.
BEAUFORT COUNTY, SC
BEAUFORT COUNTY, SC – Just across the Savannah River, a rich African-American history awaits visitors in Bluffton, Beaufort and St Helena Island. The Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce publishes Beaufort County Guide to Gullah Geechee Heritage that points out many cultural and historic places of interest on your way to St. Helena Island. The 50 acre Penn Center Historic District on St. Helena Island is located, about a 1 and ½ hour drive north of Savannah. This district, the site of one of the first schools for freed slaves, includes the York W. Bailey Museum, formerly the school’s Cope Industrial Shop and a a multli-building Conference Center which houses up to 86 people. During the 1960’s, the Penn Center was the only site available in South Carolina used as a meeting place for interracial groups, including the SCLC led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Established as The Penn School in 1862, this is the only African American historic district in the U.S., designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974
GEECHEE KUNDA and DORCHESTER ACADEMY
Located in Riceboro, GA, about an hour south of Savannah, Geechee Kunda, a Geechee/Gullah Community compound with an art gallery, performance space, museum, sugar cane press is also the home of Jim and Pat Bacote. The Bacotes returned "home" after living many years in the Northeast, with the vision of establishing a home for their vast collection of African-American artifacts, where Gullah/Geechee culture and history could thrive.
About 20 minutes north of Geechee Kunda off of Route 17, stop by Dorchester Academy Museum of African American History in Midway, GA, a former school for freed slaves, founded in 1869 by the American Missionary Association (now the United Church of Christ). Dorchester became a fully accredited high shool for Black people until the 1940s. In the 1960s, Dorchester became the site Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) organizing meetings, including Rev. Martin Luther King, Rev. Fred Shuttelsworth and Rev. Ralph Abernathy, among others.