Erik S. Lesser for The New York TimesMy parents, who are in their 70s, are coming to visit Savannah this summer. They are from New York, and Savannah is on their list of possible places to retire to. Do you have any sights you’d recommend?
Marcia Neblett, Savannah, Ga.
With its storied mansions, live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, historic squares and cobblestone boulevards — not to mention some of the finest seafood in the South — Savannah is a Southern gem. Two great ways of seeing the city are by horse-drawn carriage (carriagetoursofsavannah.com) or by riverboat cruise aboard the Savannah River Queen (savannahriverboat.com).
On foot, your parents can explore one of the nation’s largest landmark historic districts, made up of 21 squares (laid out in 1733 by Gen. James Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia), where many of the city’s restaurants, shops and antebellum buildings (75 percent restored to their original grandeur) are located. The Savannah History Museum (chsgeorgia.org) offers exhibitions on the city’s history. The nearby Telfair Museum of Art (telfair.org) is one of the oldest art museums in the South, consisting of Telfair Academy, the Owens-Thomas House and the contemporary Jepson Center, designed by Moshe Safdie and opened in 2006. They might also visit the Victorian District, just south of the Historic District, to see some of the finest examples of post-Civil War architecture in the Deep South. Another site is the stately Bonaventure Cemetery (above)), featured in “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” by John Berendt, and where Conrad Aiken, Johnny Mercer and other notable residents are buried. If your parents are fans, they can visit the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home at 207 East Charlton Street (flanneryoconnorhome.org).
As for Savannah as a place to retire to, I asked Jay Atkinson, who wrote “Gettin’ a Glow On in Mercer’s Savannah” in the Travel section (Jan. 29, 2010) about Johnny Mercer, what he thought. In an e-mail message, Mr. Atkinson responded, “I would retire there!” The reasons, he said, include mild weather, golf courses, museums, art and music programs and inexpensive restaurants.