Fort Pulaski National Monument

The siege of Fort Pulaski (or the Siege and Reduction of Fort Pulaski) concluded with the Battle of Fort Pulaski fought April 10–11, 1862, during the American Civil War. Union forces on Tybee Island and naval operations conducted a 112-day siege, then captured the Confederate-held Fort Pulaski after a 30-hour bombardment. The siege and battle are important for innovative use of rifled guns which made existing coastal defenses obsolete. The Union initiated large-scale amphibious operations under fire. The fort's surrender strategically closed Savannah as a port. The Union extended its blockade and aids to navigation down the Atlantic coast, then redeployed most of its 10,000 troops. The Confederate army-navy defense blocked Federal advance for over three months, secured the city, and prevented any subsequent Union advance from seaward during the war. Coastal rail connections were extended to blockaded Charleston, South Carolina. Fort Pulaski is located on Cockspur Island, Georgia, near the mouth of the Savannah River. The fort commanded seaward approaches to the City of Savannah. The city was commercially and industrially important as a cotton exporting port, railroad center and the largest manufacturing center in the state, including a state arsenal and private shipyards. Two southerly estuaries led to the Savannah River behind the fort. Immediately east of Pulaski, and in sight of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, lay Tybee Island with a lighthouse station.

Cockspur Island is an island in the south channel of the Savannah River near Lazaretto Creek, northwest of Tybee Island, Georgia, United States. Most of the island is within the boundaries of Fort Pulaski National Monument. The island was so named on account of its bent shape. It was originally called Pepper Island and is also called Long Island.Historic buildings on the island include Fort Pulaski (built in 1847) and the Cockspur Island Lighthouse (built in 1837–39), designed by John S. Norris, the New York City architect.

The Cockspur Island Light is the smallest lighthouse in Georgia. It ceased operation as an active beacon in 1909. It has been relit since 2007 for historical rather than navigational purposes.The lighthouse is situated on an islet off Cockspur Island at the south channel of the Savannah River near Lazaretto Creek, northwest of Tybee Island in Chatham County, Georgia. It is part of Fort Pulaski National Monument.

Lazaretto Creek is a small tidal river in Chatham County, Georgia. It divides Tybee Island from McQueens Island.

Tybee National Wildlife Refuge was established on May 9, 1938, by an executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as a breeding area for migratory birds and other wildlife. Located in the mouth of the Savannah River, the 100-acre (0.40 km2) refuge began as a 1-acre (4,000 m2) oyster shoal, Oysterbed Island, used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a spoil disposal site to support their mandated harbor dredging activity. As a result, the majority of the refuge is now covered with sand deposits. The more stable portions of the island are densely covered with such woody species as eastern red cedar, wax myrtle, and groundsel. saltwater marsh borders parts of the island. The refuge is an important resting and feeding area for migratory birds including gulls, terns, neotropical migratory songbirds, and shorebirds. Least terns, black skimmers, Wilson's plovers, and several other shorebird species have nested on the spoil deposits on Tybee. During all seasons, the refuge's shoreline and open spoil deposits are used as resting sites for brown pelicans, gulls, and terns. Endangered species, including piping plovers and wood storks, have been observed on the refuge land, while shortnose sturgeon and manatees have been found in the waters bordering Tybee. With the use of telescopes, birdwatchers observe the refuge birdlife from levees located across the river within Fort Pulaski National Monument.

The Savannah River is a major river in the Southeastern United States, forming most of the border between South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the northernmost part of the state border. The Savannah River drainage basin extends into the southeastern side of the Appalachian Mountains just inside North Carolina, bounded by the Eastern Continental Divide. The river is around 301 miles (484 km) long. The Savannah was formed by the confluence of the Tugaloo River and the Seneca River. Today this confluence is part of Lake Hartwell. The Tallulah Gorge is located on the Tallulah River, a tributary of the Tugaloo River that forms the northwest branch of the Savannah River. Two major cities are located along the Savannah River: Savannah and Augusta, Georgia. They were nuclei of early English settlements during the Colonial period of American history. The Savannah River is tidal at Savannah proper. Downstream from there, the river broadens into an estuary before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean. The area where the river's estuary meets the ocean is known as "Tybee Roads". The Intracoastal Waterway flows through a section of the Savannah River near the city of Savannah.

Tybee Island Light is a lighthouse next to the Savannah River Entrance, on the northeast end of Tybee Island, Georgia. It is one of seven surviving colonial era lighthouse towers, though highly modified in the mid 1800s.

Tybee Island is a city and a barrier island in Chatham County, Georgia, 18 miles (29 km) east of Savannah. The name "Tybee Island" is used for both the island and the city, but geographically they are not identical: only part of the island's territory lies within the city. The island is Georgia's easternmost point. The phrase "From Rabun Gap to Tybee Light", intended to illustrate Georgia's geographic diversity, contrasts a mountain pass near the state's northernmost point with the coastal island's lighthouse. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 3,114. The entire island is a part of the Savannah metropolitan statistical area. Officially renamed Savannah Beach in a publicity move at the end of the 1950s, the city of Tybee Island has since reverted to its original name. (The name Savannah Beach nevertheless appears on official state maps as far back as 1952 and as recently as the mid-1970s.) The small island, which has long been a quiet beach getaway for Savannah residents, has become a popular vacation spot for tourists from outside the Savannah area. Tybee Island is home to the first of what eventually became the Days Inn chain of hotels, the oft-photographed Tybee Island Light Station, and the Fort Screven Historic District. The U.S. Air Force accidentally dropped an atomic bomb into the sea off Tybee Island during a botched 1958 military training exercise. Though the "Tybee Bomb" did not detonate (according to some reports, it was never armed with a fuse), there has been ongoing concern because the Mark 15 nuclear bomb lost during the mishap was never recovered.

The Burton 4-H Center is one of five 4-H centers in Georgia, United States. It offers both day programs and one-week residential programs. Students from all over Georgia attend the Burton 4-H Center which specializes in marine science education. In addition to providing typical 4-H classes in applied science, the Burton 4-H Center has achieved substantial community recognition for sea turtle conservation and rescue. The center maintains a regionally specific collection of coastal maritime species including Carolina diamondback terrapins, bearded dragons, gopher tortoises, oyster toad fish, and clear-nose skates. The center has been recognized for supporting numerous community service projects such as beach clean-ups. It also hosts operation purple camp (OPC) during the summer. OPC is a camp for children who have parents actively serving in the armed forces. https://web.archive.org/web/20110525050418/http://www.burton4h.org/facilities/images/4h_center_map.gif

Dutton–Waller Raised Tybee Cottage is a cottage on Tybee Island, Georgia, in Chatham County, Georgia, near Savannah. It is significant as a very well preserved example of a raised Tybee cottage. It is one of few still intact from the "golden era" of Tybee Island's development during 1910–1939, when Tybee Island became a beach house community for Savannah middle-class families.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 2008. It is the fourth property that is listed as a featured property of the week in a program of the National Park Service that began in July 2008.The cottage is located in the Back River area of Tybee Island; there are also historic cottages preserved in the Strand area of the island. Cottages of this type were built from the 1920s through the 1940s as summer homes for the middle class. The Dutton–Waller Raised Tybee Cottage was built as a speculative investment by Edward A. Dutton in 1938. It was purchased in 1940 by Blanche S. Waller. The unpainted interior retains the original, rustic heart-pine paneling and bungalow floor plan. The living space is on the upper floor of the two-story building, with servants' quarters and garage space below. The cottage was remodeled extensively in 2006. It has been refurbished to remove non-historic changes made in the 1950s–1970s and replace historic elements that had been removed. The cottage's significance is enhanced by the fact that it is one of the few such cottages remaining, most having been demolished to make way for much bigger homes in recent times of escalating property values. It is listed as a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home, with an additional sleeping porch. There are live oak trees, jasmine, and palm trees surrounding the house.

The Tybee Island mid-air collision was an incident on February 5, 1958, in which the United States Air Force lost a 7,600-pound (3,400 kg) Mark 15 nuclear bomb in the waters off Tybee Island near Savannah, Georgia, United States. During a night practice exercise, an F-86 fighter plane collided with the B-47 bomber carrying the large weapon. To protect the aircrew from a possible detonation in the event of a crash, the bomb was jettisoned. Following several unsuccessful searches, the bomb was presumed lost somewhere in Wassaw Sound off the shores of Tybee Island.

Tybee Post Theater is a movie theatre located on Tybee Island, Georgia, United States. It was constructed in 1930 by the military for the local fort Fort Screven. Following the Second World War, it was abandoned by the military. After laying dormant for 40 years, the Friends of Tybee Theatre revitalized it and it continues to be used today. The Tybee Post Theater is one of the few building used by the U.S. Army during its operation of Fort Screven to be accessible by the public.