Daffin Park, Savannah

Daffin Park is a historic 80-acre Beaux Arts-inspired city park mostly used for exercise, sports and relaxation by the local population. The park is the site of Savannah’s Grayson Stadium, and also hosts several special events each year.

Daffin Park is located somewhat to the southeast of Savannah’s downtown Historic District, within its own Daffin Park-Parkside Place Historic District and near to the early-20th-century suburbs of Chatham Crescent and Ardsley Park. See on map

Daffin Park Events

Forsyth Farmers Market operates a weekly mobile farmers market, Farm Truck 912, on Wednesdays at the Salvation Army site on the eastern perimeter of Daffin Park. SNAP and EBT benefits are accepted.

Daffin Park is also the venue for several annual races and occasional festivals and other events.

History Of Daffin Park

Daffin Park was established in 1906-1907 in response to the need to provide more active forms of recreation for Savannah’s citizens (a role it still largely fulfils to this day).

Parks suitable for active recreation were created in many American cities from the late 19th century. Savannah, however, with the exception of the extension to Forsyth Park, had few municipal spaces where games and sports could be played.

In the early 20th century, citizens and officials suggested that a plot of land to the southeast of the then built-up part of Savannah, formerly used as the city’s fairgrounds, could serve this purpose. In 1906 council decided to buy the land for a park.

Early plans for the new park were to dedicate only a 37-acre portion of the old fair grounds to recreation. The rest was to be laid off for residential development, in the hope of raising enough money from the sale of lots to pay for the outlay on the land.

In the end, however, the city decided that all of the 78.4 acre plot would be devoted to a new recreation ground. An additional two acres were later added to the park, bringing it to its current total of 80 acres.

Daffin Park was designed by landscape architect John Nolen, at the beginning of an illustrious career in city planning. It was Savannah’s first completed park to be designed by a professional landscape designer from outside the city.

The park was named for Philip D Daffin, then chairman of the Park and Tree Commission, a position he went on to hold for almost three decades.

Grayson Stadium

1401 East Victory Drive, Savannah, GA 31404

The historic Grayson Stadium, former home to the Savannah Sand Gnats (now known as the Columbia Fireflies after a move to Columbia, SC), currently hosts new team the Savannah Bananas. Game schedule and tickets

Dog Park

Daffin Dog Park, on the eastern edge of the main ground, is an enclosed space for off-leash exercise. It has three separate enclosures: one for small dogs (less than 25lbs), one for large dogs (more than 25lbs), and another for playing fetch.

The dog park is well shaded, with fountains for the dogs and swimming tubs in summer, and benches and picnic tables for their human attendants. The park can sometimes be full, especially at weekends and in the evenings.

See Also: Highlights Of Historic Savannah

– Forsyth Park
– Bull Street
– Jones Street
– Pin Point Heritage Museum
– Isle of Hope