|
 |
|
| Daily Itinerary: |
|
| Day 1 | Travel south into Georgia for our overnight with lunch and rest stops along the way. |
|
| Day 2 | This morning we continue to Savannah, where we will spend the day touring the Savannah Historic District. Free time on River Street for lunch and browsing on your own. Enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of River Street, a historic cobblestone lined waterfront with unique shops, candy stores, galleries, and fabulous restaurants. Travel to Tybee Island, our home for two nights on the Atlantic Ocean. Dinner at a local favorite. |
|
| Day 3 | Today, we will explore Tybee Island. A barrier island offering a laid back lifestyle within the unspoiled habitat of beaches and salt marshes. Our first stop will be Tybee Island Light Station and Museum, guiding mariners safe entrance into the Savannah River for over 270 years. One of America’s most intact light stations where you can climb the 173 steps to the top for a spectacular view. Next, we will explore the grounds of Fort Pulaski, which took 18 years to build and was finished in 1829. You can see Hilton Head Island from the top of the Fort. It’s like a castle with a huge moat complete with alligators, a portcullis, and a drawbridge. The afternoon will be spent enjoying a Low Country Eco Boat Cruise traversing the tidal creeks, rivers, and salt marshes. Along this narrated cruise, enjoy and learn about the marshland and tidal river ecology. This cruise also looks for dolphins and is filled with the scenery and wildlife found in the low country marshes. After a day of exploring, we will enjoy a relaxing dinner. |
|
| Day 4 | Depart for Bluffton, South Carolina to tour Rose Hill Mansion. Known as the most beautiful plantation house in the Low Country, it has long held a treasured place in Southern history. Originally built in the late 1850s by planter and physician, Dr. John Kirk and his wife Caroline, the plantation was a wedding present from Caroline's father, James Kirk. Work was halted by the Civil War, and while occupied through the years, the interior was not completed until 1946, when new owners John and Betsy Gould Sturgeon finished it in grand style. In 1980, the Welton family purchased the land and the house was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1987, a fire devastated the house and it sat in a state of ruin until purchased and restored by The Middleton White Foundation. Enjoy lunch before we travel onto Charleston, South Carolina, our home for two nights. Dinner and a restful evening on the water. |
|
| Day 5 | An overview tour of historic Charleston will include a visit to the Citadel, whose picturesque campus was moved in 1922 to the banks of the Ashley River. It is home to 24 major buildings and over 3,400 men and women enrolled in over 20 full and part-time graduate programs. This afternoon you have a choice of Fort Sumter Cruise or Calhoun Mansion. (You must pre-select your tour option at time of reservation.) Fort Sumter Cruise - Takes you to Fort Sumter National Monument, one of America’s most historic landmarks. It is the site of the opening shots of the Civil War. Enjoy a relaxing and informative cruise through the Charleston Harbor on your way to the island fort. • The Calhoun Mansion - Called the “handsomest and most complete private residence in the South” when it was built in 1876. A baronial Italianate manor house, widely acclaimed as one of the great post Civil War homes on the Eastern Seaboard. It is Charleston’s Gilded Age Mansion. Recently featured on A & E’s American Castles, the mansion also includes truly astounding decorative painting and lighting designed and installed by Louis Comfort Tiffany at the end of the 19th century. After a full day, we will enjoy our last southern dinner. |
|
| Day 6 | Spend the morning at Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum. Home of the USS Yorktown Aircraft carrier, USS Laffey Destroyer, USS Clamagore Submarine, Medal of Honor Museum, and 28 historic aircraft. After lunch, we will depart for Asheville, North Carolina. |
|
| Day 7 | All good things must come to an end as we arrive home this evening with lunch and rest stops along the way. |
|