Planning Valentine’s Day in Savannah

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Melanie Kramer Realtor

For visitors and locals alike, the Savannah Richmond Hill area is one of the most romantic in the country. With Valentine’s Day around the corner now is the time to make your reservations and plan your night out.

I love sharing what the coastal empire has to offer, especially around a holiday that showcases the romance that hangs in the air as naturally as the moss that decorates the live oaks.

This time of year I often talk to those looking to either relocate or retire from the cold temperatures and snow and desire a move to a warmer climate. Valentine’s weekend is a great time to visit, do a little site seeing and tour a few homes. Valentine’s tends to mark the end of our winter and we start planning for Spring… after all the azaleas will be in full bloom in another month!

If you’re planning a visit here are a few options you might like to consider:

I Love You, Your Perfect, Now Change! Love is complicated, which is why it can be so funny. The talented cast at the Savannah Theatre offer up the perfect date night with this hilarious musical comedy that shines a light on everything from dressing for the first date to meeting the in-laws. More info.
Evening Savannah Riverboat Cruises fill up early during Valentines, but don’t forget they offer a sightseeing harbor tours during the day and offer wonderful brunches as well. More info.
Say “I do” in the Davenport House Garden. This has become a bit of tradition for this beautiful property in the historic district. Ceremonies are offered every 10 minutes from 5 to 7 with a licensed marriage officiant. Reserve your time slot in advance. More info.
A private carriage tour is one of the most romantic ways to see Savannah. Cozy up with your loved one and hear the history and stories that makes this area so enchanting. More info.
Bed and Breakfasts are romantic any time of year, but there is just something special about a Valentine’s Day get a way. The B&Bs of the area are rich with historic and architecture. They tend to book up so now is the time to make your reservations. More info.
Shopping for the perfect Valentine’s gift? Both Savannah and Richmond Hill offer wonderful local shops for the traditionalist looking for flowers, jewelry and chocolate as well as galleries and unique shops selling that one of a kind item.
Eating out in the greater Savannah area is treasure trove of flavors to amuse any palette and price point. It’s difficult to make suggestions so I’ll recommend checking out Yelp. You’ll see plenty of 4 stars by many of the restaurants and read a collection of reviews.

Coming in to town to do a little house hunting with your site seeing… please call or email me today. I can help you find the perfect home. The Coastal Empire is a wonderful place to call home.

Melanie Kramer
Keller Williams Realty Coastal Area Partners
912-459-5001 Office
912-658-1390 Cell Direct

One Week Countdown to Holiday Events in the Coastal Empire

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Melanie Kramer Realtor

With one week left until Christmas and a few candles lit on the menorah I’m hoping you will find time to enjoy a few of these Holiday Events.

Whether you’re out doing a little last minute shopping or you’ve been organized since before Thanksgiving, the Savannah / Richmond Hill areas offers plenty of activities and Lights.

Christmas Tradition Show at The Savannah Theatre runs through, December 24th – including afternoon performances. The show runs 2-3 hours and delights people of all ages. The Savannah Theatre opened in 1818 which makes it one of the oldest of its kind still operating in the United States. The Art Deco style will transport you back to the 1940s and adds a certain level of magic to all the events held there.

The Savannah Harbor Foundation Festival of Lights & Winter Wonderland is great family fun! Running through December 28th the event features a drive through light show around the Hutchinson Island Road Course. You can even take a tour bus if you don’t feel like driving it yourself. There is a fun zone for the kids and the kids at heart in Bryan Square along with holiday food and drink vendors. A ferris wheel is up on the Riverfront Esplanade. Inside the hotel the annual gingerbread village competition is not to be missed – makes me hungry just thinking about it. And of course a holiday event wouldn’t be complete without a picture with Santa.

Discover a Victorian Christmas at the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low. The home where the Girl Guides Founder spent her childhood is on the corner of Bull Street and Oglethorpe Avenue in Savannah’s historic district and is open for tours through December 30th. Not only will you tour this historic gem of a home, you will have the added bonus of experiencing Victorian holiday customs, games and decorations.

How about a little winter activity in the Martin Luther King Jr. Arena at the Savannah Civic Center. Enjoy an afternoon or evening on the ice under a the twinkling lights. Skatefest runs through January 3rd.

This year the Habersham YMCA is bringing the snow! The Winter Wonderland features real snow, hot chocolate and cookies, story time and dancing to favorite holiday classics. I hear Santa might even make an appearance. Winter Wonderland is one night only, Thursday December 18th.

Stop by the Forsyth Park Inn for a little holiday cheer. Enjoy the beautifully decorated parlor while treating yourself to fresh baked goodies and hot apple cider or hot chocolate. The open house runs noon -2 daily through January 2nd.

This is my favorite time of year to enjoy a carriage ride through Savannah’s historic district. Pick up a coffee or hot chocolate in City Market and enjoy a personal tour with historic stories and holiday lights.

New Years Eve brings another round of entertainment and parties. Both City Market and the Savannah River Front offer a festival like atmosphere with music and fireworks. Tybee Island offers holiday celebrations New Years Eve.

Wishing you and yours the very best of the holiday season!

Melanie Kramer
Keller Williams Realty Coastal Area Partners
912-459-5001 Office
912-658-1390 Cell Direct

Best Places to See Holiday Lights in The Coastal Empire

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Melanie Kramer Realtor

With all the holiday lights the Coastal Empire shines this time of year.

I love seeing homes and businesses in the Richmond Hill area where I live decked out for the holidays. Savannah and the surrounding communities offer many holiday light displays for your viewing pleasure.

Private Homes

A casual drive around the Coastal Empire will net a great show of holiday lights but Southern Mamas has compiled a growing list of private homes that go all out and have become a bit of a destination for the holiday light enthusiast.

And the holidays wouldn’t be complete without a little Clark Griswald action. The Peabody Light Show in Savannah is featured on the Tacky Light Tour. Here’s hoping we all get to toast with eggnog in moose head cups this year!

Holiday Lights Events

The Festival of Lights seems to grow every year. Located at the Westin on Hutchinson Island, the Festival of Lights and Winter Carnival features the not to be missed Gingerbread Village inside the hotel and a drive through light show around the road course. A Ferris wheel and other carnival rides are set up on Bryan Square.

Old Town Trolley Tours provides tours around the light show – a great way to allow everyone in your party to enjoy the holiday lights.

Looking for an evening stroll through a half a million sparkling lights? The December Nights & Holiday Lights at the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens showcase 10 acres with a self guided walking tour through themed gardens and the historic farm house. Most of the displays are stroller and wheelchair friendly.

The shops and restaurants in Richmond Hill participate in a friendly holiday decorating contest. Voting for Light up the Hill runs through December 18^th. Come by, support local and don’t forget to vote!

The Guido Gardens in Metter offer a FREE Night of Lights tour. Although the gardens are open 24 hours the lights are only on from 6-9 PM.

TMT Farms Christmas Lights Display in Statesboro is FREE to experience but they do accept non perishable food items to help those in need this holiday season.

Holiday Lights Road Trips

Shopping trips and visits to family often find us on the road this time year and there are amazing holiday light events that are worth the road trip.

Hilton Head is a great day trip from the Savannah area and offers two wonderful displays. The center piece of Harbour Town Lights features a 30 foot Christmas tree with activities and live entertainment. The Dove Street Festival of Lights at Shelter Cove Towne Centre has been a Hilton Head holiday tradition for 20 years.

The Holiday Festival of Lights at James Island County Park in Charleston features over two million lights!

The Atlanta area offers many beautiful light displays. The Garden Lights, Holiday Nights at the Atlanta Botanical Garden are simply amazing.

If you come across any holiday light displays you’d like to see on the list please drop me a line. I’d be happy to add them.

Wishing you and yours the very best of the holiday season!

Melanie Kramer
Keller Williams Realty Coastal Area Partners
912-459-5001 Office
912-658-1390 Cell Direct

Savannah Neighborhoods: from the Historic District to Tybee Island

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Melanie Kramer Realtor

The Savannah Richmond Hill area offer many residential communities with prices and amenities to fit your budget and lifestyle. Today we’ll explore Savannah Neighborhoods from the Historic District out to Tybee Island via Victory Drive.

The Historic District

The “Hostess City of the South”, established in 1733, is the heart of the Savannah area. For the most part the city has maintained its original plan and is a walkable community laid out around 22 park like squares shaded by live oaks and Spanish Moss.

The homes are stately, historic (the oldest buildings date back to the 1700’s) and offer a full range of architecture styles including an area of Victorian homes. Since the 1950s, there has been a focus to reclaim and restore homes within the historic district. Many of the interiors feature hand carved wooden accents and modern updates to spaces with historic significance.

Elegant condos and town homes seamlessly blend into the landscape of the historic district and offer the charm and convenience of living in town.

Thunderbolt

Thunderbolt is a small town that was once the shipping point for many of the local plantations making it a perfect spot for those looking for something close to water.

Incorporated in 1856, Thunderbolt offers both historic and new construction homes as well as condo communities.

Whitemarsh and Wilmington Islands

Located half way between the historic district and Tybee Island, these islands offer wonderful residential neighborhoods with the convenience of in town living. Most of the homes and condos are within a few minutes of shopping and doctor’s offices.

Here you can find new construction as well as homes dating back to the 1950’s.

Looking for water access? This area is rich with water ways that could take you just about anywhere you’d care to go. Homes on the marshes tend to offer floating docks that move in relation to the tides.

Tybee Island

Looking for a fun and funky beach house? Tybee Island is a relatively quiet beach community. The condos and homes that line the beach lean a little more toward rental properties, but less than a block from the beach you will find the locals. Most of the construction dates back to the 1920’s through the 1950’s, but you can still find new construction and active renovation projects.

What sounds like home to you? Please call or email me today for more information or questions about your relocation needs!

Melanie Kramer
Keller Williams Realty Coastal Area Partners
912-459-5001 Office
912-658-1390 Cell Direct

Exploring Film Locations in Savannah

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Melanie Kramer Realtor

With the Savannah Film Festival kicking off this weekend I got to thinking about some of our beautiful southern homes and locations that have graced the silver screen.

The film locations in Savannah can be a fun adventure for any film buff but is also a great way to see the area when visiting during a scouting trip for a relocation move.

You may be familiar with a couple of the most popular films shot here, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Forrest Gump. Both were set and filmed in the Savannah area. But the list doesn’t start or stop there. There are so many, you can even take a 90 minute narrated tour of film locations.

Exploring Film Locations in Savannah

A few years ago Robert Redford transformed Savannah’s historic district into 1865 Washington, DC when he filmed The Conspirator.

The Harper Fowlkes House at 230 Barnard St is a Greek revival mansion built in 1842 is one of many homes open for tours.

Laura’s cottage, an old slave cabin on State Street was used as the lawyer’s home in the film and is also available as a vacation rental.

The Last Song used a variety of locations on Tybee Island and the Savannah Coast.

A running story line throughout the film was the burning of a community church. The church was built as a temporary set for the film, but ended up as a permanent structure. The church was moved to its current location on highway 80 just as you enter Tybee Island and is now used as a wedding chapel.

How about that scene in Something to Talk About where Julia Robert’s character tears Dennis Quaid a new one on the streets of Savannah?

The Six Pence Pub at 245 Bull Street is a true English Pub complete with an old red phone box out front. The food is great and the atmosphere fun. A great place for an afternoon stop.

Believe it or not, the set dressers of CBGB turned Congress St into New York City cir. 1973.

Congress St. is lined with pubs and shops and with a little imagination was transformed into the famous CBGB (which stands for Country, Blue Grass, and Blues) on the Bowery and Bleeker Streets in the East Village.

A tour of filming locations in Savannah wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Leapold’s Ice Cream shop on Broughton Street. It’s owner Stratton Leopold still produces movies and film memorabilia decorates the walls of the 1930s themed ice cream shop.

About the Savannah Film Festival

Each fall the Savannah College of Art and Design hosts the festival which presents a variety of competition film screenings, workshops, panels and lectures. More than 40,000 people attend and support the craft of filmmaking including award-wining professionals and emerging student filmmakers.

Please call or email me today for more information or questions about your relocation needs!

Melanie Kramer
Keller Williams Realty Coastal Area Partners
912-459-5001 Office
912-658-1390 Cell Direct