Wormsloe State Historic Site (1.5-Mile Live-Oak Tunnel), 1736 Tabby Ruins & Isle of Hope

Located 16 kilometres (15 to 20 minutes' drive southeast of the Historic District via the Truman Parkway) on the sheltered marsh island of the Isle of Hope, Wormsloe State Historic Site (check the official Georgia State Parks website for current admission rates and daily hours) boasts the single most famous photograph in coastal Georgia: a straight, 2.4-kilometre-long (1.5-mile) sandy avenue bordered by two unbroken rows of more than 400 towering live oak trees whose interlocking branches and trailing Spanish moss form a shaded green tunnel.

1. Photographing the Oak Avenue & Walking to the 1736 Tabby Ruins

• The 1.5-Mile Drive In (Use the Designated Pull-Off): after passing through the 1913 stone entrance arch on Skidaway Road, drive slowly down the 1.5-mile sandy oak alley to the Visitor Center car park at the end. Rangers ask drivers not to stop in the middle of the narrow sandy lane; instead, pause at the designated photo pull-off near the front gate, or park at the Visitor Center and walk the shaded pedestrian path running parallel to the oaks.
• The 1736 Colonial Tabby Fortified House Ruins: behind the Visitor Center, follow the shaded 1.6-kilometre forest trail along the tidal salt marsh of the Skidaway Narrows (part of the Intracoastal Waterway) to the 1736 to 1745 fortified home ruins of Noble Jones, an English carpenter and physician who sailed to Georgia with General Oglethorpe on the ship Anne in 1733. Jones built the thick defensive walls out of tabby, a durable coastal concrete made by burning oyster shells into lime and mixing them with sand, water and whole shells.
• The Colonial Life Area: along the trail, costumed interpreters inside a wattle-and-daub colonial cabin demonstrate 18th-century blacksmithing, candle-making and heritage crafts.

2. Driving Bluff Drive on the Isle of Hope & Bethesda Academy

When you exit Wormsloe's gate, turn right and drive three minutes to Bluff Drive on the Isle of Hope, a curving 2-mile lane of white-columned 1840s antebellum verandas facing the wooden docks and sailboats of the Skidaway River. Five minutes further south sits historic Bethesda Academy (founded in 1740 by George Whitefield, the oldest child-caring institution in America) with its whitewashed chapel and museum.