Happenin’
Places › Georgia › Savannah › Fort McAllister State Park
Fort McAllister State Park

Photo: Bubba73 (Jud McCranie) / CC BY-SA 3.0

Lakes & rivers

Fort McAllister State Park

Richmond Hill, GA · Savannah$10 ParkPass per vehicle; fort admission adults $9.75, seniors 62+ $7.50, youth 6 to 17 $5.50

About

Fort McAllister, an earthwork on the Ogeechee River in Richmond Hill, south of Savannah, held off seven attacks by Union ironclads. Sherman's infantry took it in about 15 minutes on December 13, 1864: roughly 4,000 men against a garrison of 230. Henry Ford owned the property in the late 1930s and paid to restore the fort, which has bombproof barracks and a hot shot furnace for heating cannonballs red-hot. Call 912-727-2339 before counting on a ranger-led fort tour, which runs Wednesday through Sunday at 2 p.m. as scheduling allows and needs at least four people. Fishing for redfish and seatrout in the river and Redbird Creek is best from a boat, and the public ramp is at the park entrance, before the gate.

Highlights

Best-preserved Confederate earthworkHeld off seven ironclad attacksFell to Sherman in December 1864Hot shot furnace and bombproof barracksCottages on stilts by the marsh

Getting there

3894 Fort McAllister Road, Richmond Hill, GA 31324

Related places

Tallulah Gorge State Park Lakes & rivers

Tallulah Gorge State Park

Tallulah Falls, GA · Northeast Georgia$

A hike on the floor of Tallulah Gorge, at Tallulah Falls in Rabun County, takes one of 100 free permits handed out each day. You pick one up at the Interpretive Center on the day…

Amicalola Falls State Park Lakes & rivers

Amicalola Falls State Park

Dawsonville, GA · North Georgia Mountains$

Amicalola Falls, the third-highest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi, drops 729 feet near Dawsonville, and its Cherokee name means tumbling waters. The staircase beside…

Anna Ruby Falls Lakes & rivers

Anna Ruby Falls

Helen, GA · North Georgia Mountains$

Two creeks fall side by side at Anna Ruby Falls near Helen, Curtis Creek about 153 feet and York Creek about 50, and meet at the bottom as Smith Creek. The paved path follows it…

More in Savannah

Others worth the drive in this corner of Georgia.

All of Savannah →
Mercer-Williams House Museum Attractions

Mercer-Williams House Museum

Savannah, GA · Savannah$

The red-brick Italianate mansion on Monterey Square was designed in 1860 by architect John S. Norris for General Hugh Mercer, great-grandfather of songwriter Johnny Mercer, and…

Bonaventure Cemetery Attractions

Bonaventure Cemetery

Savannah, GA · Savannah

Live oaks draped in Spanish moss arch over more than a hundred acres on a bluff above the Wilmington River, shading a Victorian gallery of marble angels and weathered family…

Savannah Historic District Attractions

Savannah Historic District

Savannah, GA · Savannah

In 1733 James Oglethorpe laid out Savannah's first six wards around public squares, with lots for public buildings on two sides and houses on the other two. The plan kept growing…

SCAD Museum of Art Attractions

SCAD Museum of Art

Savannah, GA · Savannah

The SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah holds more than 4,500 works, including the Walter O. Evans Collection of African American art. Its costume collection has couture by Yves Saint…

Fort Pulaski National Monument Attractions

Fort Pulaski National Monument

Savannah, GA · Savannah$

In April 1862, Union rifled cannon opened two 30-foot holes in the southeast face of Fort Pulaski, on Cockspur Island 15 miles east of Savannah. Its brick walls are 7.5 feet…

Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist Attractions

Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist

Savannah, GA · SavannahFree

The twin 207-foot spires of this 1876 French Gothic cathedral are the landmark you steer by all over downtown Savannah, rising white above Lafayette Square. Step inside and the…

Part of these collections

Georgia State Parks18 places

Georgia State Parks

Most people know Georgia's state parks by the mountain ones. This list keeps going south almost to the Florida line, and a couple of the best are down there.