Tybee Island

Twenty minutes east of Savannah’s shaded squares, the road opens onto marsh and then, suddenly, onto Tybee Island — all salt air and beach cruiser bikes and a scruffy, unpretentious energy that feels worlds from the genteel city behind it. Lia and I came out on a whim after a morning of Savannah’s historic homes, craving open sky, and Tybee delivered it immediately: wide dune beach, a working shrimp dock, and a lighthouse striped black and white that has marked the mouth of the Savannah River since 1736.

The lighthouse and Fort Screven

We climbed the 178 steps of the Tybee Island Light Station, one of America’s oldest and tallest lighthouses still in continuous use, its keeper’s cottages preserved as a small museum below. Just north, the grounds of old Fort Screven still hold coastal artillery batteries built to guard the river approach through two world wars, now half-swallowed by sea grass and beach houses. Lia climbed onto one of the old gun emplacements for a photo while a heron picked through the tide pool at its base, war and wildlife sharing the same patch of sand without much fuss.

The pier and low-country seafood

South of the lighthouse, Tybee’s town center is a short strip of surf shops, ice cream counters, and the long municipal pier and pavilion, where fishermen work the rail and the sunset draws a genuine crowd every clear evening. We ate low-country boil at a picnic table steps from the sand — shrimp, sausage, corn, and potatoes dumped straight onto brown paper — then walked the beach as the tide turned, ghost crabs skittering into their holes ahead of our footsteps. It is not a polished place, and that is exactly its charm.

Getting There

Tybee Island is a straightforward 20-minute drive from downtown Savannah via US-80, making it an easy day trip for anyone visiting the city. Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is the closest major airport, about 30 minutes away, and once on the island a car is only needed to arrive — bikes and flip-flops handle the rest.