Forsyth Park (The 1858 Fountain) & Walking the Bull Street Corridor (5 Central Squares)

If you only have two hours to fall in love with Savannah, start at the northern entrance of 30-acre Forsyth Park (at Gaston and Bull Streets) and walk 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) straight north up Bull Street to the golden dome of City Hall on the riverfront. This single tree-shaded axis strings together Forsyth Park and all five of Savannah's central signature squares.

1. Forsyth Park & The 1858 Cast-Iron Fountain

At the northern end of the park stands Savannah's signature icon: the 1858 Forsyth Park Fountain. Contrary to local legend, it was not custom-designed in Paris; the city commissioners ordered it from an 1855 mail-order iron foundry catalogue by Janes, Beebe & Co. in New York (Model #5), inspired by the Place de la Concorde in Paris and ringed by water-spouting tritons and swans. Every March before St. Patrick's Day, the city dyes the fountain water emerald green. On Saturday mornings, the southern lawn hosts the Forsyth Farmers' Market, where Lowcountry growers sell Georgia peaches, tupelo honey and warm pastries under the oaks beside Collins Quarter at Forsyth.

2. Walking North Up Bull Street Through All 5 Central Squares

1. Monterey Square (1847): two blocks north of Forsyth Park, home to the red-brick 1868 Mercer Williams House, the rare Gothic Revival 1878 Congregation Mickve Israel (holding a 15th-century deerskin Torah), and the 1853 Pulaski Monument.
2. Madison Square (1839): surrounded by the 1893 Savannah Volunteer Guards Armory (SCAD's Poetter Hall), gothic St. John's Episcopal Church, the 1853 Green-Meldrim House, and independent bookshop E. Shaver, Bookseller.
3. Chippewa Square (1815, the Forrest Gump Square): centred on Daniel Chester French's bronze statue of General James Oglethorpe. Stand at the northern kerb where Tom Hanks sat in Forrest Gump (the prop bench is inside the Savannah History Museum), alongside the 1818 Independent Presbyterian Church and 1946 Historic Savannah Theatre.
4. Wright Square (1733) & Johnson Square (1733): pause at the boulder monument to Yamacraw Chief Tomochichi in Wright Square before reaching Johnson Square, the oldest of the 22 squares, anchored by General Nathanael Greene's obelisk in front of the gold-domed 1905 City Hall.