Isle of Hope Historic District

Isle of Hope is a crescent-shaped riverfront community about eight miles from downtown Savannah, wrapped around a horseshoe bend in the Skidaway River. Land grants in the early eighteenth century gave way to subdivision of the Parker family's holdings in the early nineteenth century into large riverfront lots. Wealthy Savannah families built summer houses there in the 1840s and 1850s to escape heat and malaria, and a railroad opened in 1871 made it a popular summering place. By the early twentieth century many residents lived there year round. The houses run from small cottages to mansions in Greek Revival, Victorian Eclectic, Neoclassical and Bungalow styles, nearly all with prominent porches and mostly built of wood. Bluff Drive follows the river and is lined with live oaks, and the houses face the water. The district was recognized for its unusual planning, its varied architecture and its landscaped, semi-tropical setting.