Tybee Island and Fort Pulaski

Friday morning I decided to swing by Tybee Island which is 18 miles east of Savannah since Fort Pulaski didn’t open until 9am. My main interest in Tybee Island was that the film “The Last Song” with Miley Cyrus was filmed there so I decided to do the movie start tour of Tybee Island. First up was the iconic lighthouse.

I then headed over to the house that was used in the movie but its kind of set back from the road so it was hard to see. I walked along the beach in front to get a better look but it is set back behind some dunes so you can't get too close.

I then perused the boardwalk and finally tried to find the church that plays a pivotal role in the movie. However, the church was originally built in a different location for the movie and then moved in recent years. The funny thing is that the church sits on the main road as you drive into Tybee Island but because its such a different setting from the movie, I drove past it a few times before I realized I had the right church. I felt like a paparazzi trying to get pictures of all these locations.

 

I finally headed over to Fort Pulaski which is located off the causeway between Savannah and Tybee Island. I got there right as a tour was starting and got to hear from a polished Southern gentleman all about the Fort and its role in the war.

 It is a large brick fort and walls are eleven feet thick, which were thought to be impenetrable except by only the largest land artillery- which at the time were smooth bore cannon. These cannons had a range of only around a half mile, and the nearest land (Tybee island) was much further away than that. It was assumed that the Fort would be invincible to enemy attack. 

Tybee Island was thought to be too isolated and unprepared for conflict and was abandoned by Confederate forces which allowed Union troops to gain a foothold where they began construction of batteries along the beaches of Tybee. In 1862 the Union Army successfully tested a rifled cannon and within thirty hours, the new rifled cannon had breached one of the fort's corner walls. Therefore the fort was surrendered and was now pretty much obsolete. So much for being the latest and greatest.

It is a sizeable fort and pretty cool to explore around. I really liked these passages that took you around underground; I hadn't seen that at a fort before.

Also on the island are the ruins of Battery Hambright which was built in the late 19th century during the Spanish-American War.