Savannah's Historic Waterfront An Architectural and Urban Tour 

Wow what an amazing part of American history,only if the walls could tell the tales.imprrssive.thank you

Excellent historical presentation of my favorite southern city's riverfront.

Fantastic! You have such an in-depth knowledge of the history, materials, the uses and how men progressed forward! I’ll be studying this for a couple days, cause now I must sleep! Thank you so very much! Stay safe

This is excellent. Thank you.

We just came back from our trip to Savannah. My wife planned the trip so well, we slipped right between allergy season (which put our airport cabbie in the hospital), and bug season (vividly described by a CVS clerk), not only that, but we caught a glimpse of Dr Robin B Williams in the wild, giving a walking tour in one of the squares. All of that was pure luck, but what is true is that Savannah is an amazingly beautiful, and richly historical city. Pictures and Google street maps walk throughs cannot do it justice. It is a living feat of urban planning spanning nearly 300 years, whose lessons could benefit any town. It has a vibe like Paris but with more trees, and it's own unique Southern vibe draped with Spanish moss and American history. And the food is good too. Leopold's is the best ice cream I have ever had in my life.

I visited this area(s) and was amazed by the history....and beauty. This is a great video as well the guide and speaker. Thank you for your work, time, and historical background, which is sooo interesting. 😊

Spent a lot of time on River Street when we lived there - my husband used to work for the Riverboat company. I knew all the sneaky parking spots under Factors Walk. ;-) But I still learned a LOT from watching this video! Thanks so much!

I would love to visit this place. It's not only beautiful but has such a rich history. ❤

I love the technical proficiency of the explanations. Thanks for introducing me to Savannah.

Thank you for the history of the savannah waterfront. Loved this video.

Wonderful presentation. Thank you Dr. Williams.

This presentation was Exquisite. thank you for showing us the history

Fantastic post Dr.Williams!

What an enthralling and enjoyable tour! It makes us eager to revisit Savannah and explore the waterfront in person, as well as indulge in the local cuisine.

I LOVE TO WATCH THIS MAN. HE IS SO CHARMING AND GOOD LOOKING. AND SMART. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO.

Awesome! This is very informative and presented in a very interesting manner. Thank you for you work on this.

Thank you !! Great video !! Just visited Savannah (March 2023). Will be going back in the future.

Thank you for posting this. Savannah is truly the most fascinating destinations I have traveled. I’m excited to revisit!! Well done!

Your content has made a real impact on me.

Excellent Broadcast! I will definitely reference next trip to Savannah! Thank You!

What an informative video about a part of the city I visited several times in childhood. My grandparents owned a beautiful house on Calhoun Square and I enjoyed my visits quite a bit. My grandfather being an architect in Savannah, I think he would have enjoyed watching this.

What a rich presentation. Thankyou for the extensive research and filming that went into this work!.

Mr Williams, Professor Williams, Sir, “Range Markers” yes, that object which guided me in laying out my Hurricane Proffing Garden Tableau! The Yucca are breaching and in perfect alignment… for me…seeing markers in the night’s light guides me back into my inside spaces and then I can walk safely to my steps, door and tend my Protection Dogs! Savannah helped me envision what was done, folks like you stressed the contextual context, this video is fabulous! I took it and now must sit back water, mulch, spray and watch…thirty years… My Mini areas! No more golf court grass lands up against the Chesapeake Bay Bulk Head, Section E, Lots 3 and 4! Better professors guided me… Thank you! Stay beautiful! Nurse. Jane from Deale, Maryland

Unbelievable that the entire video was recorded on a Samsung. Hats off to Odette Williams, great job and thanks to Dr. Williams for this awesome video.

Thank you Dr. Williams this is the best Savannah documentary on RU-vid!

Thanks for the memories! I retired from working for the City of Savannah after almost 20 years, and I learned a whole lot that I didn't know before!

Wish I had seen this piece BEFORE I visited Savannah! Well done!

I am visiting Savannah right now & I am so glad I saw this video ! I have a much better understanding /appreciation of the River Front at Savannah. Thank you for the interesting & expert narration .

Excellent tour! I was in Savannah last month and loved walking around the central city, with its historic character and Great architecture. I wish I had seen your video series before my visit, but learned a lot and hope to visit your beautiful city again!

Amazing job on doing this video and telling all these stories about Bay Street/River Street… 💯 👍🍾🇺🇸

I love places with differnt types of elevation like this, it adds so much character

Fantastic video- I'm so glad this knowledge is on youtube!

We just made our first trip this week. Wish I had seen this before! But it was a fantastic way to tie everything together after the fact!! I’m a music major, with a deep fascination for architecture. Thank you!

Thank you for this video! Savannah has been my home since 2019, and besides the mosquitoes and humidity I love it! Other issue in Savannah is the filth in the streets, even, or specifically in downtown. I am guessing you gave the city advance notice because I see everything cleaned. The way it should be. Hopefully you have some connections in the local government to tell them to pay more attention to the way we present the city to visitors, they come here to spend their hard earned money. For locals, the taxes aren’t cheap, and we are forced to pay even for parking when visiting downtown, we also deserve a clean space, especially in downtown. Don’t get me started on the sad ornaments during the holidays! We need either SCAD or the new plant Riverside hotel to be in charge of the Christmas decorations for the city of Savannah! Thank you so much for these videos, there’s so much history in Savannah, and is a good thing to learn it!

excellent! i love love savannah.

Amazing and so informative

Loved the tour and all the historic knowledge you unloaded on us. Savannah is so beautiful. I was lucky enough to see it for myself one time over a year ago. Thanks for sharing with us 🙂

Great tour. Thank you for taking the time to film this project! Looking forward to viewing each of your videos of Savannah.

Wow, thanks!

Thank you for this excellent tour & explanation of my city.

Such an enjoyable tour. I love all things Savannah (a true Savannahian). Thank you so much for your knowledge and interest in our beautiful city.

Good evening Dr Williams thankyou for the informative VLOG the historical and architectural information intriguing from a Rural Australian Resident 😊

Thank you for this very informative tour of the waterfront.

I was their 4 times what a treat. Love this

I loved this tour. I’m a native Savannahian as well, but sadly, now a Floridian. My grandfather was a self taught historian and taught me so much. I grew up in the era of the birth of Historic Savannah. The saving of Davenport house. Such a sweet childhood. But I have memories of Jim Crow practices, that didn’t impact me til decade later.it is wonderful to see that River Street is thriving, but I wish it didn’t have such a Bourbon Street vibe. Old fogey here. And does Bay Street really run north of the river? I could have sworn it was south. 😉

My cousin John Stoddard built Stoddard's Upper Range and Stoddard's Lower Range in the 1850s as cotton warehouses and sales offices. Today they are occupied by Boar's Head Grill & Tavern, 208 Wine Bar and riverfront inns & shops.

Incredibly interesting and presented very well. Really enjoyed this! Making my first trip to Savannah this May.

Enjoyed this immensely! My one and so far only visit to Savannah featured this area. I stayed in a beautifully converted warehouse. The interior was gorgeous with the old brick, wood, brass and wrought iron features. I walked all over the city over the course of 4 days. I would love to come back one day. Thank you for the history and architecture tour. And yes, those historic steps are indeed steep...just had to go up them though.

Wonderful. Thank you.

That was very well done !

He's so knowledgeable. I love historic architecture.

Very entertaining. I love the city of Savannah.

The fire he referred to at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="2500">41:40</a> happened in 1892. It started in the tidewater oil company consuming the entire East end of River Street. The oil company is now the olde harbor inn today

Thanks for this fascinating tour of Savannah's waterfront. The preservation of the area is quite remarkable. The use of stone ballast to make beautiful and enduring retaining walls is particularly notable as is the way the formal city proper was structurally linked to the riverside commercial area and then through shipping, to the world. The Hyatt Regency is a crudely designed over-scaled intrusion -- hard on the eyes! The demolished buildings today would have been repurposed into something special, adding more to Savannah's historical allure...

Just moved to Savannah. Love this detail and history!

Absolutely Excellent intro to Greek revival! Bravo! So nice to listen to Savannah’s waterfront again…last there…1981…Baltimore has a a nice Customs House in Fells Point. The difference between Savannah and Baltimore… my “Heart” was left in the Plantations of Beaufort S.C. And my fun times in Pirates House, as an example. Sir are you any relation to the late Jim Williams?

Love going there. Awesome city.

Awesome job thank you 🙏🏼

This video has a wealth of historical info. Also very interesting to see these sites completely empty from covid19 shelter in place requirements

Lovew learning so much on my adoptive city!

Very reminiscent of how Seattle was built after our big flood! Love it!

Rousakis Plaza was largely designed by Gunn & Meyerhoff in Savannah. Bob Gunn's son was my childhood friend and I knew Mr. Gunn very well. He was just a wonderful, cool guy, who was very passionate about that project. I'm pretty sure he was a classmate of John Rousakis at Savannah High School.

These insights mesh nicely with my research for my Healing Savannah trilogy

This was totally fascinating! Thank you very much! We are heading to HHI and will spend much time in Savannah. It will have a whole new meaning to me. I live near Portland, Maine and we have the same cobblestones from our days as a great harbor (which continues today) when they were ballast unloaded and used as a road. I don’t know if you have been to Portland, but there seem to be many similarities with Savannah with warehouses, brick, cobblestone, and a hill from the city to the harbor. However, we do have Lobsters…l’m just saying.

that hotel replaced an amazing warehouse that i would rather see than that. Savannah is a beautiful city - i've always said if i was to vacation anywhere down south it would b Savannah - so much history

Do you do tours? I recently scheduled a tour through Airbnb but it is the usual “haunted” tour which I believe is interesting and essential, but I’m more interested in the architecture, masonry, and old world history of where this city actually came from. Thanks so much for this documentary as it boosted my interest ten fold!

I just can’t help myself. I remember when the Boars Head was, as far as I recall, the only eating and drinking establishment on the riverfront. There was a small branch library in one of the warehouses at the upper level. As a13 year old, I’d sit on a balcony overlooking the river to read and dream. Mayor Rousakkis and my grandfather were business associates. I know you focus on architecture and history. Can you direct me to a video on the many ethnic and religious groups from the early periods? Irish, Greeks, Jews, and so forth?

Thank you so much. Savannah looks a lot like where I grew up: Boston. Cobblestones, greatly preserved history, lovely parks, etc. I'm looking for a move to warmer climes and Savannah is on my list. Walkable, historic, relatively affordable, relatively safe, decent culture, and not too many hurricanes or floods, hopefully, unlike Florida.

Excellent video 😂

At the <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="401">6:41</a> mark... the staircase resembles the Phoenix bird! Intentional I’m assuming, givin’ Masons built the building!!

And Yes SAVANNAH Has The SECONDED LARGEST 🍀🍀🍀🍀ST.PATRICKS DAY in The COUNTRY ,My last name is DAVIS and my family came from WALES 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Back in the mid 1820’s ! NYC has The largest ST.PATRICKS DAY !

We used the cluskys vaults as bathrooms during st. Party's day on River street.

I am So Very PROUD TO SAY MY FAMILY TREE🌲🌲🌲🌲 PREDATES THE CILVL WAR in SAVANNAH , If there’s anybody who knows This Beautiful City It’s ME ! I Know most of The People In The BOOK MIDNIGHT IN THE GUARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL ! I just wanted to know where was I in That BOOK ?

So the granite used in Savannah's custom house was quarried in John Adams's home town.

HELLO, DO YOU GIVE PERSONAL TOURS? THANK YOU BEST REGARDS

damn - thats messed up when u don't even know about your own columns and haven't changed your mistake yet!!!

Does anyone know where the British imprisoned Patriots in Savannah? We are planning a trip there b/c my Patriot 4th great granddaddy was in prison there. I want to see where he was.

Who BUILT it?

Why are they tearing down the retaining wall on the east end?

The cobblestone streets was built by white indentured servants and slaves. Slaves was transferred from the ships and kept for a while in those chambers/vaults.

Such a tremendous loss, when the Hyatt property buildings were torn down.

please use microphone while on-cam in the future videos

This is a great tour, but I am disappointed that Mr. Williams chose to perpetuate and emphasize the "Lost lover" myth popularly associated with the story of the Waving Girl . She represents much more that as a symbol of guidance, safe harbor, and hospitality and as a token espoused by the City of Savannah as the "Hostess City."

What about the John and Charles Wesley sites

Ah the port for slave ships?

Utilitarian. Utilitarian. Utilitarian.

Language has power. Use “enslaved Africans” not just “slaves” to identify human beings forced into bondage.

Custom House. Collected duty on ENSLAVED, HUMANLY TRAFFICKED AFRICANS. YOU skipped that part. THE LARGEST MONEYMAKER IN THE USA.

This guy has a face for radio and a voice for print

That Hyatt is an UGLY building.

I just can't dig it . I'm a gothic man . New York and Detroit look like they got things I would like . But being European I can just look at the originals 🤷