The oldest city in Georgia, Savannah is famed for its historical Old South architecture and ambiance. The 22 city squares that help define the Savannah Historic District—Ellis Square, Wright Square, Columbia Square and others, among Savannah’s top attractions—aren’t the only public outdoor spaces you can enjoy on a visit. The city offers a mosaic of city parks to explore, many featuring the Spanish-moss-bed wrapped live oaks so deeply associated with this “Hostess City of the South.”
Below we’ll take a look at the 9 best parks in Savannah, from the sprawling and well-known to some little hidden-away gems.
1. Forsyth Park
- Address: Forsyth Park, Savannah, GA
Savannah’s flagship park is its largest and oldest: the 30-acre Forsyth Park, established in the 1840s from land donated by William Hogdson and named after the 33rd governor of Georgia, John Forsyth. Presided over by handsome live oaks and enriched by azalea blooms, Forsyth Park includes some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, not least the 1858-vintage fountain inspired by the Place de la Concorde in Paris and a go-to photo op and wedding backdrop.
A broad green hosts the Forsyth Park Farmers’ Market as well as concerts and other special events. The park includes tennis and basketball courts, a pair of playgrounds, sports fields and walking/jogging paths as well as a Garden of Fragrance designed for the visually impaired. Used as a drilling ground for Confederate troops, Forsyth Park also features a Civil War Memorial (dedicated in 1875 as a Confederate monument) and a statue honoring Spanish-American War soldiers.
2. Mother Matilda Beasley Park
- Address: 500 E. Broad Street, Savannah, GA
This inviting greenspace is one of the top parks in Savannah for pooches, thanks to its fenced-in dog park. Mother Matilda Beasley Park comes named for Georgia’s very first African-American nun, who covertly educated slaves in the pre-Civil War years and, in 1887, founded the St. Francis Home for Colored Orphans.
Besides that aforementioned dog park, amenities in Mother Matilda Beasley Park include a baseball diamond, soccer field, playground and pavilion.
3. Morrell Park
- Address: Morrell Park, Savannah, GA
Set along River Street beside the Olde Harbor Inn, Morrell Park is the only truly waterfront park in the city, offering grassy lawns and walking paths along the Savannah River. It’s perhaps best known for its two statues, especially Savannah’s Waving Girl. This sculpture honors Florence Martus, who for more than forty years hailed incoming and outgoing ships in the Port of Savannah from Elba Island, where she lived as the sister of the lighthouse keeper. (Why she so dutifully waved a handkerchief or lantern for so many years isn’t known, though one legend says it was in hopes of greeting a returning sailor she’d fallen in love with.)
The other Morrell Park statue evokes the Olympic cauldron in commemoration of the yachting events held in Savannah during the 1996 Summer Games.
4. Emmet Park
- Address: 4089 E. Bay Street, Savannah, GA
A stone’s throw from Morris Park, Emmet Park comes drenched in Irish-American heritage. Located in the traditional Irish neighborhood of the Old Fort in an area historically known as The Strand and then Irish Green, the park was renamed in 1902 for Robert Emmet, who a century before had fought against British rule in Dublin. Executed in 1903 after delivering his “speech from the dock” that became famous (“When my country takes her place among nations, then and not till then, let my epitaph be written”), Emmet was revered as an Irish martyr and patriot by Savannah’s Irish-American community.
Emmet Park hosts the Savannah Irish Monument: a limestone Celtic Cross engraved Erin Go Bragh (“Ireland Forever” in Gaelic). Other park monuments include the Chatham Artillery Monument and the Vietnam War Monument.
5. Salzburger Park
- Address: 4089 E. Bay Street, Savannah, GA
The pocket-size Salzburger Park forms an outlier of Emmet Park and is, despite being a mere half-acre, another of the Savannah top parks for history buffs. Its centerpiece is the Salzburger Monument of Reconciliation, which honors the journey of the Lutheran Protestants known as the Salzburgers, who were exiled from Austria and began a new life in Georgia in the 1730s.
A sign and a statue—created by Anton Thuswaldner under commission from the Governor of the State of Salzburg and given to the Georgia Salzburger Society in 1983—evokes their story.
6. Joseph J. Tribble Park
- Address: 12517 Largo Drive, Savannah, GA
An oasis of green on the south side of the city, Joseph J. Tribble Park (often shortened to Joe Tribble Park) sits within the Windsor Forest community. Its defining feature is an approximately 11-acre lake with an islet.
Stroll the walking trail that circles the lake and set up on one of the benches and you’ve got a good chance of seeing various waterfowl—perhaps even great blue herons and other wading birds. You’ll also find a playground and picnic facilities in Joseph J. Tribble Park (named, by the way, for a Georgia state senator).
7. Mohawk Lake Park
- Address: 1132 Mohawk Street, Savannah, GA
Dedicated in 2021, Mohawk Lake is another precious Southside Savannah park with a handsome water body. Among Savannah’s nicest parks as far as the Fido department is concerned, it encompasses two fenced-in off-leash areas dedicated for large and small dogs.
Mohawk Lake Park also includes a playground and a small pavilion and future plans call for a fishing pier and other enhancements.
8. Savannah Botanical Gardens
- Address: 1388 Eisenhower Drive, Savannah, GA
The Savannah Botanical Gardens—the public areas of which are free to access (unless you’ve got a large group)—delight the senses with floral splendor and lush greenery. Individual zones include multiple rose gardens, the Native Plants Garden, the Perennial Garden, the Fern Garden, the Camellia & Azalea Garden and the Children’s Garden, to name a selection.
The property also includes the Reinhard House, an 1840-built farmhouse that now serves as home base for the Savannah Area Council of Garden Clubs, Inc.
9. Skidaway Island State Park
- Address: 52 Diamond Causeway, Savannah, GA
Any list of the best parks in Savannah needs to include Skidaway Island: not a city park, of course, but a state park and one of the area’s most magical destinations. Edging the Skidaway Narrows of the Georgia Intracoastal Waterway, the park protects a portion of the namesake barrier island and features a maritime forest, wildlife-rich tidal salt marshes and other native habitats. Take to the Sandpiper Trail Loop, Big Ferry Trail or other portions of the park’s trail circuit and keep your eyes peeled for white-tailed deer, raccoons and a plethora of waders and shorebirds.
Skidaway Island State Park also includes ancient indigenous shell middens, Confederate Army earthworks and other signs of past human use.
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