Enlarge Photo

When Lady Astor visited Savannah, in the 1940s, she described the city as “a beautiful woman with a dirty face.” Its bones were noble and glorious but it had not yet been scrubbed clean. The heroic women behind the Historic Savannah Foundation took care of that in the 1950s, ’60 and ’70s, and then writer John Berendt made the city famous when he chronicled its eccentricities in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Just as a woman with a past is more intriguing than a mere pretty girl, Savannah benefits from a rich history. It is also undergoing a wonderful creative renaissance, thanks to the flourishing Savannah College of Art and Design. (Beginning as an art teacher’s vision, comprising one building and forty students in 1981, it has expanded to encompass more than 60 structures in the Historic District and 7,500 pupils from around the world.)

The real charm of the city, though, is its inhabitants’ wry and welcoming nature. One antiques store has a sign giving its hours as “by chance or by appointment.” Another carries racks of cards that poke fun at Southern stereotypes with such sentiments as “I guess I should have married my other cousin.” In addition to traditional house tours, you can take a Hearse Tour, specializing in the city’s famous ghosts, or a Caddy tour, in a convertible Cadillac. Even the cab companies have whimsical names, like Big Mike and the Magical Taxi. It’s easy to see how John Berendt learned so many secrets. Stop in a clothing store, and the owner may invite you to a jazz club to hear one of his employees play. If it starts to rain, an antiques dealer may offer to give you a lift. Alex Raskin gave me one and on the way remarked on the city’s growth. “It’s strange to walk into restaurants and not know anyone,” he said, “or to go to the airport and not know everyone. Dropping someone off or picking someone up used to be like old-home week.” Maybe that’s what induces the natives to treat visitors like old friends—nostalgia for that old-home-week feeling.

Finally, Savannah casts a spell of languor over you. As British rock journalist Nik Cohn wrote of his visit, “I wandered aimlessly through the streets, drifting from one touch of magic to the next: the great stand of live oaks along Oglethorpe Avenue or the chorus line of sweeping cast-iron stair railings on Gordon Row. . . . Before I came to Savannah, I’d almost forgotten how good surrender can feel.” It does feel good, and these days it also comes very inexpensively. You can book a room in the best hotels in town for less than $250 a night, eat well for under $50 and pick up intriguing antiques and housewares for a fraction of what they would cost in New York or L.A. With the movie “The Last Song,” which Nicholas Sparks (best-selling author of The Notebook) adapted from his novel of the same name specifically for Miley Cyrus, is about to begin shooting here, Savannah’s romantic beauty will charm a new generation, who will clamor to visit. So come soon before teen tourists besiege the city.