Drifting down river into Darien: A Georgia getaway awaits

The Oaks on the River, just opened in November, is a luxury boutique hotel and offers The Oaks, an upscale restaurant, a spa and local nature tours with Georgia Tidewater Outfitters. (Mary Ann Anderson/TNS)

Driving north into Darien on U.S. Highway 17, I pass over a long bridge that crosses the Darien River, an offshoot of the Altamaha River considered Georgia's wildest and most beautiful. To the right, clustered shrimp boats bob slightly in shimmery water, as if they are curtsying, their riggings capturing the filtered light of a spring day. With dappled clouds in the background, the picturesque scenery is striking.

Darien, at its heart a fishing village, is on the more southerly end of the long quarter-moon-shaped crescent of Georgia coast that curves inland from Savannah to St. Marys. Surrounded by wide swaths of saltwater marsh, in season either as golden as Midas’ touch or as pale green as seafoam, the prairies unfurl into Altamaha Sound, with long fingers of Spartina grass rippling in endless waves. The marsh is a secret garden, a labyrinth of water, mud and peat continually ebbing and flowing and camouflaging a hidden world of terrestrial and marine creatures of herons and wood storks, crabs and shrimp, alligators and otters.

The town proper of Darien, threaded with mighty oaks drizzled with Spanish moss, is the alpha and omega of the Altamaha River, the first community on its journey inland from the Atlantic and the last before it fans out to where the Altamaha Sound laps gently toward the ocean. U.S. Highway 17, the old coastal highway that's a throwback to romantic road trips, slices through Darien before it runs north to Virginia and southward to Florida's Gulf Coast.

Textured with an amazing depth of history, mesmerizing unspoiled nature and local seafood restaurants, Darien gives you an authentic taste of saltwater with fresh oysters, fish and its most famous denizen, Georgia Wild Shrimp. The shrimp flourishes in the warm waters of the sound, soaking in the nutrients of the rich Spartina grass, related to sugar cane, and a primary reason the crustaceans are so plump and sweet. You won't need to walk far in Darien to find shrimp fried, broiled or boiled.

The Guale Indians were here first, and then the Spanish in the 1560s. The Spanish built missions along the coast but only a smattering of colonists and missionaries settled before the British took a foothold in the Georgia soil. Nearly three centuries ago, Scottish Highlanders, under the leadership of Gen. James Oglethorpe, the British general credited with establishing Georgia, meandered down the coast from Savannah to establish a port city. Darien eventually became the second oldest planned city in Georgia, after Savannah, with its grid-like streets, azalea-lined and shaded, neatly laid out in squares.

The disarming charm of Darien casts a long spell. Darien, beautiful and quiet, has a nice small-town feel as no factories or big businesses exist here. While it was once a thriving port and financial hub, its buildings date only from the Civil War, as the town, with its wonderful old colonial architecture, was burned in 1863 by Union troops.

Today's Darien, with its population of about 1,500, not only pays homage to its seafaring past but also caters to visitors who come for the history, natural beauty, shrimp and shopping in its eclectic tiny downtown, which included Sugar Marsh Cottage Specialty Confections for artisan chocolates, Vintage Wildflowers Boutique for clothing and Waterfront Wine and Gourmet for a taste of Georgia and international wines.