Savannah River
The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the norther ...
, north of downtown
Savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The island is formed where the Back River breaks off to the north from the Savannah River. Historically, Hutchinson Island's land use has been primarily industrial, much of which supported the
Port of Savannah
The Port of Savannah is a major United States of America, U.S. seaport located at Savannah, Georgia, Savannah, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of 2021, the port was the third busiest seaport in the United States. Its facilities for oceangoing ...
, one of the busiest
containerization
Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers). Containerization is also referred as "Container Stuffing" or "Container Loading", which is the pro ...
cargo ports in the world. The island is roughly long and wide at its widest point.
History
The island was named after Archibald Hutchinson, an acquaintance of General Oglethorpe.
It played a major role in the capture of Savannah during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. After capturing Atlanta, Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman turned his army east and south, toward the Atlantic Ocean, and arrived in Savannah in December 1864. Rather than destroying Savannah, Sherman elected to demand the city's surrender. Confederate Gen.
William J. Hardee
William Joseph Hardee (October 12, 1815November 6, 1873) was a career United States Army, U.S. Army and Confederate States Army officer. For the U.S. Army, he served in the Second Seminole War and in the Mexican–American War, where he was capt ...
led his troops, under cover of darkness, across the
Savannah River
The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the norther ...
on a makeshift pontoon bridge, across Hutchinson Island and into the South Carolina wilderness.
On the Back River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers formerly maintained a tidal control system that slowed the natural filling-in of the main river's shipping channel. The tide gate was abandoned after studies showed that it had increased saltwater intrusion into the upriver freshwater
Savannah National Wildlife Refuge
The Savannah National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located in Chatham and Effingham counties in Georgia and Jasper County in South Carolina. Of the total area, is in Georgia and is in South Carolina. The refuge was establis ...
.
Facilities
Totaling approximately , Hutchinson Island was targeted as the site for a public-private partnership to build a convention center and hotel. Chatham County voters approved spending $63 million in public
special-purpose local-option sales tax
A special-purpose local-option sales tax (SPLOST) is a financing method for funding capital outlay projects in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is an optional 1% sales tax levied by any county for the purpose of funding the building of parks, scho ...
money for the trade center and $10 million for the road system on the island. The
Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...
and the
Westin Savannah Harbor Resort
Westin Hotels & Resorts is an American upscale hotel chain owned by Marriott International. , the Westin Brand has 226 properties with 82,608 rooms in multiple countries in addition to 58 hotels with 15,741 rooms in the pipeline.
History Wester ...
were built. In addition, the state of Georgia provided $18 million, and former land owner
CSX
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
railroad donated for the public trade center.
While much of Hutchinson Island has been trade convention and resort-oriented in the past, the island's first residential community is under way, The
In the 1990s, a group of local businessmen formed the Colonial Motorsport company, deciding it was time to bring back international racing action to Savannah. Major international races had last been held on the streets of Savannah with the American Grand Prize in
1908
Events
January
* January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica.
* January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 46 ...
,
1910
Events
January
* January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...
, and
1911
A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole.
Events January
* January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...
; and the
Vanderbilt Cup Race
The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing.
History
An international event, it was founded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904 and first held on October 8 on a course set out in Nassau County on Long Island ...
in 1911. After four years of careful negotiations, an agreement was reached for a stand-alone race of the then PPG/Firestone Indy Lights series in
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
, with follow up events in '98 and '99 offering the possibility of a future
CART
A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people.
It is different from the flatbed tr ...
round. Public monies helped build a 1.965-mile county road to serve as a 10-turn circuit; the first time a public road had been pre-designed with the intention of also using it for racing in the USA.
In May 1997 the inaugural
Dixie Crystals Grand Prix
Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas shift over the years), or the extent of the area it cover ...
was held, with support races for the
North American Touring Car Championship
The North American Touring Car Championship was a touring car racing series using the Supertouring formula that raced in North America in 1996 and 1997. The series was funded in part by IndyCar team owner Gerald Forsythe with input from British se ...
U.S. F2000 National Championship
The USF2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires is an American racing series using the American variation of the Formula Ford formula, "F2000", that resumed operation for the 2010 season. As of 2022, it is sanctioned by the United States Auto ...
. Before of a race day crowd of over 30,000, future Indianapolis 500 winner, Hélio Castroneves, won the race.
Mark Blundell quoted, after a feasibility test for future CART races, "As a drivers track, it's good, It's quite demanding and really physical. It's a fun circuit to drive, and there are at least two and possibly three spots for overtaking. It doesn't have a street course feel, it's more of a road course feel. From a spectator viewpoint, there are plenty of great vantage points."
The event looked like a modest success; drivers seemed happy with the course, fans turned out in reasonable numbers, and a contract was in place for future years. However, creditors and several companies involved in the construction didn't want to give the promoters a reasonable time frame to make the event profitable. The resulting lawsuit threw Colonial Motorsport company into Chapter 11, and all its contracts, including the one with CART, were dissolved. The track itself came into public ownership and fell into disrepair.
In the 2010s the track was reworked and reopened for historic racing.
Historic Sportscar Racing
Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) is an automobile club and sanctioning body that supports historic racing in the United States. The organization traces its roots to the first running of the Walter Mitty Challenge in 1977 at Road Atlanta. HSR conti ...
(HSR) has been sanctioning th Savannah Speed Classic part of th Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival & Concours d'Elegance taking place the last weekend of October (in Savannah) through the first weekend in November (in Hilton Head Island) each year.
In July 2021, the organizers of the Savannah Speed Classic, Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance, cancelled the 2021 event. With construction work encroaching on the south west portion of Grand Prize of America Ave (the track's turn 8) forcing the guardrail to be removed, organizers had significant concerns about the ability to provide a safe venue for competitors, spectators, volunteers and on-site management. There are currently no plans to bring with Savannah Speed Classic back.
Access
Ferry
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
boats take visitors and residents across the
Savannah River
The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the norther ...
on a regular, daily schedule. The island can also be accessed by car from the south, via the
Talmadge Memorial Bridge
The Talmadge Memorial Bridge is a bridge in the United States spanning the Savannah River between downtown Savannah, Georgia, and Hutchinson Island. It carries US 17/ SR 404 Spur. The original bridge was built in 1953; a replaceme ...
U.S. Highway 17
U.S. Route 17 or U.S. Highway 17 (US 17), also known as the Coastal Highway, is a north–south United States Highway that spans in the southeastern United States. It runs close to the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Co ...