What you see from the Savannah River

The bluff and the river

Savannah was established in 1733 on the Savannah River, and General James Oglethorpe and the first settlers landed at Yamacraw Bluff. The river is tidal at the city, and Savannah lies approximately 20 miles upriver from the Atlantic Ocean. The first thing a boat shows you is the bluff: the city sits on high ground above the water, and River Street runs along the foot of it. Everything else on this list hangs off that one change in height.

The Talmadge Memorial Bridge

The bridge crosses the river between downtown Savannah and Hutchinson Island. The present cable-stayed span was completed in 1991. It gives 185 feet of vertical navigational clearance for oceangoing vessels, which matters because oceangoing ships sail up the river to the Port of Savannah.

Hutchinson Island and the port

Across the water lies Hutchinson Island, which formed where the Back River breaks off from the Savannah River. It was named after Archibald Hutchinson, an acquaintance of Oglethorpe, and its land use has been primarily industrial, much of it supporting the Port of Savannah. The port's facilities line both sides of the river. Large tankers and container ships heading to and from the port sometimes pass within yards of the River Street promenade.

What the tide and the estuary do

The Savannah River is tidal at the city. Downstream from Savannah the river broadens into an estuary before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, and the area where the estuary meets the ocean is known as Tybee Roads. The tide changes how the water looks and how the boat sits against the dock, and it is one reason the route and the order of sights are never fixed. The captain and the crew decide the route on the night, and the port's facilities line both sides of the river.

River Street and Factors Walk

The south bank is the old cotton waterfront. Terraces of former King Cotton warehouses rise from River Street, the industrial rear portions of the Bay Street frontages, and Factors Row was the bluffside row of red-brick buildings where cotton brokers bargained. Above them runs Factors Walk, with a ballast-stone retaining wall of about 0.75 miles that averages 19 feet in height. Today East River Street consists largely of restaurants, cafés and craft shops.

Read next: Cotton and the Savannah riverfront

City Hall's dome

Savannah City Hall is a Renaissance Revival building of limestone and granite with a copper dome, and the dome has been covered in gold leaf. River Street runs below City Hall and Yamacraw Bluff, so the gold dome is a useful landmark to look up for from the waterfront.

The Waving Girl

Florence Martus took it upon herself to greet ships entering and leaving the Port of Savannah. She waved a handkerchief by day and a lantern by night from her brother's cottage beside the river. A statue of her stands on Savannah's historic riverfront. Legend says not a ship was missed in her years on watch.

Riverboats at the dock

Riverboats, including the PS Georgia Queen and the PS Savannah River Queen, berth beside River Street, and the free Belles Ferry crosses the river from there. A dinner cruise leaves from the same dock area as the paddlewheelers, so the boats you see tied up on the waterfront are part of the view before you step aboard. Paddle wheels are still used on some excursion boats and floating restaurants.

Read next: Paddlewheelers on the Savannah River