6-Nights Charms of the Southeast USA

6 nights from: $3,325

Charms Of The Southeast Usa
Travel through the American Southeast to immerse yourself in its history, art, food and wildlife. You’ll unlock the past at Fort Sumter National Monument and Jekyll Island’s Wanderer Memory Trail and Mosaic Museum. Taste the flavors of Charleston at its City Market and dine with a celebrity food writer and TV host in Savannah. From a behind-the-scenes experience at Georgia Sea Turtle Center and learning about Gullah Geechee culture on Jekyll Island to the beauty of Georgia’s lighthouses and coastlines, this is the Southeast at its most charming.


Dining Summary

• 2 Dinner (D)
• 6 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Lunch (L)

• Savannah: Meet your host, a local food celebrity in the culinary hotspot of Savannah, Georgia. This Be My Guest experience at a restaurant will find you sampling some of the city’s finest flavors while the host shares their stories with you.

• Visit the Mosaic Museum for an in-depth look into Black history on Jekyll Island
• Jekyll Island: Visit the Mosaic Museum for an in-depth look into Black history on Jekyll Island through the lens of music. You’ll learn about Gullah ring shouts, a call and response dance passed down through the descendants of the enslaved people of the low country. Enjoy cake walk performances by the Black employees of the Jekyll Island Club. Lastly, explore ragtime and the Club era, and Maurice Ruddick and the Dolphin Club - where legendary performers such as BB King, Percy Sledge and Otis Redding entertained guests like you.

• Charleston: Charleston brings new sights, sounds and experiences around every turn. Join an experienced Local Specialist for a coach tour through historic Charleston. You’ll have the chance to smell fragrant jasmine, peer through wrought iron gates and see names from the past etched in stone as you stroll past historic sites. Unlock the best of the city from those who know it best. Your host invests back into the properties you tour, ensuring that Charleston’s most historically significant landmarks, structures, sites and stories endure for generations to come.
• Charleston: Explore local and national history at the grounds and visitor center of Fort Sumter National Monument. Take in the scenery cruising to the Fort on an island off the coast. Arriving at Fort Sumter National Historical Park, you will stand where America’s deadliest war began at the mouth of Charleston Harbor. You’ll learn about the events leading to the Civil War from knowledgeable National Park Rangers and explore well-preserved fort ruins.
• Charleston: Discover America’s Lowcountry history at McLeod Plantation. Established in 1851, McLeod Plantation Historic Site is a 37-acre Gullah/Geechee heritage site preserved in recognition of its cultural and historical significance. You’ll learn about the cultivation of sea island cotton and follow the emergence of Gullah Culture in the Low Country. Get a feel for the past strolling the grounds including a riverside outdoor pavilion, a sweeping oak allée and the McLeod Oak which is thought to be more than 600 years old. Treasure this opportunity to learn about the people who shaped Charleston’s complex past and the nation’s future.
• Savannah: Embark on an orientation tour with your Tour Director beginning at Forsyth Park, one of Savannah's most picturesque spots. You’ll admire the famous Forsyth Fountain and the greenery before driving down Jones Street, often referred to as one of the most beautiful streets in America, with historic homes, tree-lined sidewalks and a charming atmosphere. Explore the Savannah Historic District, passing landmarks such as the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, the Mercer-Williams House and the Owens-Thomas House. Finish along River Street, Savannah's bustling waterfront area.
• Tybee Island: Visit the must-see Tybee Island Lighthouse, the oldest and tallest lighthouse in Georgia. Unlock its history dating back to 1732, and you’ll learn how it’s one of the most intact, historic lighthouses remaining in America. The lighthouse has been rebuilt several times. It was first constructed with stone and wood, and in 1773, with bricks and wooden stairs. View the 1916 historic marker and climb 178 stairs to snap a photo overlooking Tybee Island.
• St. Simons Island: Discover the local secrets of St. Simons Island, the largest barrier island in Georgia’s Golden Isles. Stroll along the historic St. Simons Pier and watch the local fishermen and fisherwomen. Another must-see awaits at charming Pier Village where you can browse boutique shops, art galleries, and explore the local seafood restaurants.
• Jekyll Island: Unlock the history of Jekyll Island on the interpretive Wanderer Memory Trail. You’ll learn the history of the Wanderer, a slave ship that arrived on the Jekyll River 160 years ago. Through individual exhibits, you’ll hear the stories of the 500 enslaved Africans including Umwalla, a young African boy brought to America on the ship. You’ll also explore Driftwood Beach, a former maritime forest that has been eroded to sculpture-like piles of sun-bleached driftwood.
• Jekyll Island: Get ready for a one-of-a-kind experience on your Landmarks Tram Tour of Jekyll Island. You’ll learn how the Island was the exclusive site of the renowned Jekyll Island Club - the winter retreat for some of America's wealthiest families including the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Morgans. Unlock the elegance and opulence of the early 20th century at Indian Mount Cottage, the Rockefeller’s winter home, where you’ll step inside to see how the family, nannies and servants lived.

• Visit Georgia Sea Turtle Center
• Jekyll Island: Support local wildlife on your private behind-the-scenes tour of the rehabilitation center of the Georgia Sea Turtle
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Jekyll Island Travel Packages

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Sea Island Travel Packages

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St. Simons Island Travel Packages

Categories: St. Simons Island

This group of islands off the southern Georgia coast was once the playground of some of the wealthiest families in the world. Today, it continues to draw well-heeled travelers, but those of more modest means can also enjoy the semitropical beach resorts and nature preserves. The city of Brunswick serves as the gateway for the islands, some of which are accessible by car and others only by boat.Golden Isles Travel
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St. Simons Island is the largest and busiest of the Golden Isles, reached via the Brunswick-St. Simons Causeway. It offers swimming, golf, fishing, live theater and plantation tours. Fort Frederica National Monument was an important colonial outpost established by Gen. James Oglethorpe (the founder of Savannah). In 1742, the battle of Bloody Marsh was fought near the fort, and the British victory over the Spanish secured Georgia as an English colony. The ruins of the fort can be viewed, as can the Bloody Marsh Memorial Site, 5 mi/8 km south. Other points of interest include Christ Church, built in 1885, and the Museum of Coastal History. St. Simons hosts a home and garden tour in March.

Sea Island lies just east of St. Simons Island, and the two are connected by a causeway. It has verdant greenery, magnificent homes and a world-renowned resort, The Cloister.

Jekyll Island, just south of St. Simons, was the turn-of-the-century hangout of such upper-crust families as the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Morgans and Goulds. Their visits began in the 1880s, when several millionaires banded together to buy the island, establishing the Jekyll Island Club. The island was sold to the state of Georgia in the 1940s and has since become a popular resort area and state park.

The remnants of the island's luxurious past are still a big part of its allure. Be sure to see the Jekyll Island Club House, the center of the tycoon resort, which is now a hotel. A historic district on the island contains restored mansions once owned by some of the Jekyll Island Club members. When you've finished ogling the extravagance of yesteryear, head for Jekyll's 10-mi-/16-km-long beach or take advantage of the island's many bicycle trails.

Cumberland Island National Seashore lies to the south (near the coastal town of St. Marys) and extends all the way to the Florida border. Because it's a protected area, Cumberland Island provides a largely undeveloped landscape with wide sandy beaches, dunes, salt marshes, wild horses and a dense maritime oak forest. The 15-mi-/25-km-long barrier island was formerly owned by members of the Carnegie family and is now only accessible by boat. (A passenger boat from St. Marys runs all year.) There is a luxurious inn on the island, Greyfield, that used to be one of the Carnegie residences (John F. Kennedy Jr. went to Greyfield for his private wedding in 1996). Other historic structures also stand on the island, some of them abandoned.

It's also possible to take a day trip to Little St. Simons Island, a privately owned retreat that's about 30 minutes by boat from St. Simons. Overnight lodging and meals are available—you can even rent the entire 10,000-acre/4,050-hectare island for your personal use (provided you can afford it). Farther north are several islands that are largely taken up with various nature preserves. They include Wolf Island National Wildlife Refuge, Sapelo Island National Estuarine Sanctuary and Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge (on an island where the infamous pirate Edward Teach was said to have buried treasure). The Golden Isles begin about 40 mi/65 km south of Savannah.