Georgia’s most photographed road leads to ruins older than America itself

It’s on Savannah’s Isle of Hope

Eight miles southeast of downtown Savannah, a dirt road disappears under a canopy of live oaks and Spanish moss.

Wormsloe State Historic Site sits on 822 acres of maritime forest, salt marsh, and colonial history that goes back to 1733.

You can walk trails through the woods, stand over tabby ruins from the 1740s, and watch a blacksmith work a forge the way they did when Georgia was still a British colony.

The oak-lined entrance alone draws photographers from all over the country, but the deeper you go, the more the place opens up.

400 live oaks form a tunnel of Spanish moss

More than 400 live oaks line both sides of a 1.5-mile dirt avenue, their branches reaching across to form a natural tunnel draped in Spanish moss.

A stone arch from 1913 frames the view right at the entrance.

The trees went in during the 1890s, when Wymberley Jones De Renne, a descendant of the original landowner, planted them to mark his son’s birth.

It ranks as one of the most photographed spots in Georgia, and you see why the moment you step through that arch.

A carpenter from England built Georgia’s first defense

Noble Jones sailed from England in 1733 with James Oglethorpe and the first wave of English settlers to reach Georgia. By 1736, he held a 500-acre lease on the Isle of Hope from the Georgia Trustees.

He built a fortified tabby house overlooking the Skidaway Narrows, starting around 1739 and finishing by 1745. Jones wore many hats in the young colony, from constable and physician to surveyor and Indian agent.

The site takes its name from Wormslow Hundred in Herefordshire, where his family came from.

The tabby walls are made from ancient oyster shells

The ruins of Jones’s fortified home count among the oldest standing structures near Savannah. Tabby, the material that holds them together, is a mix of oyster shells, lime, sand, and water.

Much of that shell came from middens left by Native Americans who lived on the Isle of Hope for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. The walls once stood about eight feet tall, built to hold off Spanish raids.

Today, only foundation-level remains survive, worn down by centuries of salt air and coastal weather.

A brand-new visitor center replaced the old drive-in experience

A 6,000-square-foot visitor center opened in January 2024, partly funded by the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program.

You walk into a building with a big patio, a fireplace, a gift shop, and introductory exhibits about the site.

Construction crews worked repurposed materials into the design, including slate roofing from a historic dock and an iron gate from the 1930s formal gardens.

A trolley now carries you down the oak avenue instead of private cars, which helps protect the tree roots. Shuttles leave every 30 minutes with a ranger on board.

Watch a film about Georgia’s founding inside the museum

The on-site museum sits near the heart of the property, and you can reach it by shuttle or on foot after the oak avenue ride.

Inside, you find artifacts pulled from excavations across Wormsloe, along with a film about the founding of Georgia. Exhibits trace Noble Jones’s life and the generations of his family who stayed on this land.

It gives you a clearer picture of what daily survival looked like in a colony that was still figuring out how to feed itself.

Step inside a one-room colonial house with a sleeping loft

The Colonial Life Area has a working blacksmith forge and a full-scale replica of a wattle-and-daub house.

The structure has one room, a sleeping loft, and a chimney, built to match the quarters used by Jones’s marines, indentured servants, and enslaved people.

During special events, costumed interpreters demonstrate the tools and techniques of colonial Georgia.

If you visit during a field trip program, you can try colonial-era games like graces, nine-pins, and double ball alongside the kids.

Flat trails wind through forest and salt marsh

More than three miles of nature trails cut through maritime forest and run along the salt marsh. The interpretive trail takes you past the tabby ruins and out to views of the Skidaway Narrows.

The paths are mostly flat and well-marked, so you don’t need to be in trail-runner shape to enjoy them. One thing to check before you go: a segment near the bridge and observation deck has been closed due to damage.

Call ahead or check the site’s status, because that could change by the time you visit.

Deer, egrets, and oyster beds line the tidal creeks

Deer move through the property regularly, and you have a good chance of spotting them on a quiet morning. Wading birds like egrets, herons, and ibis work the marsh and tidal creeks throughout the day.

If you stay still long enough, raccoons, opossums, and lizards show up too.

Small bridges cross the tidal creeks, and at low tide, you can look down and see oyster shells packed into the muddy marsh floor. Migratory songbirds pass through in season, so bring binoculars if you have them.

A Civil War fort sits at the end of a three-mile loop

The Battery Trail runs three miles through the forest to the southern tip of the Isle of Hope.

About 1.8 miles in, you reach Battery Wymberley, a Confederate earthwork built during the Civil War to overlook what was then the Back River, now known as Moon River.

The fort saw little actual fighting, but the Georgia State Parks system calls it one of the most intact Confederate-era fortifications in the area.

Ranger-led hikes to the battery happen during special event weekends.

A colonial faire takes over every February

The Colonial Faire and Muster rolls in each February, put together with the Georgia Historical Society. You get cooking, dancing, craft, and military demonstrations straight out of 18th-century Georgia.

Over Labor Day weekend, “Tools and Skills That Built a Colony” brings back the hands-on programs. Memorial Day weekend covers the War of Jenkins’ Ear, and Colonial Christmas rounds out December.

Some of these events come with free admission days, so check the schedule before you plan your trip.

Noble Jones’s descendants still live on the property

Noble Jones died in 1775, right at the start of the American Revolution, but his family held onto the land for generations after. Georgia acquired most of the property in 1973 and opened it to the public in 1979.

Here’s what makes it unusual: descendants of Jones still live in a private residence on the grounds, keeping the family’s connection to Wormsloe close to 300 years old.

The University of Georgia also runs a research center on site, supporting work in ecology, history, archaeology, and the arts.

Bring walking shoes and bug spray for the long trails

Leashed pets can join you on the trails, but they can’t go inside any buildings.

The site sits about eight miles southeast of Savannah’s Historic District, off Skidaway Road, and it stays open daily except on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

Comfortable walking shoes make a difference, especially on the three-mile Battery Trail.

Insect repellent is worth packing too, because the marsh and forest trails bring you right into mosquito territory during warmer months.

Explore Wormsloe State Historic Site in Georgia

You can find Wormsloe at 7601 Skidaway Road in Savannah, about a 15-minute drive from downtown. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources manages the site.

Check the official website before you go for current hours, shuttle schedules, and any trail closures.

If you want to make a full day of it, Skidaway Island State Park and Bonaventure Cemetery are both close by and worth the extra stop.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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