One of the most popular day trips from your base on Hilton Head is to Savannah, Georgia. Depending on your time constraints, the trolley tours give you a lot of info and scenery for the money.
The restaurants in the city are well known for their diversity, but my favorite food - steamed blue crabs - is not easy to find, especially early in the spring. Crab season traditionally starts around Memorial Day and goes through Labor Day. Since we visited early in May, steamed crabs were not to be found. We gave up and went shopping instead.
From the City Market trolley stop, it was an easy walk to the restaurant owned by Food Network's own Paula Deen. The line outside the "Lady and Sons" can be formidable, but, if waiting for your food is not your style, there is a store attached to the restaurant where all things Paula Deen can be purchased. We found bibs for the babies, marinades for the aspiring chefs in the family, and beautiful shirts with the Paula Deen "logo" on them.
We also stopped on River Street and window shopped for a few minutes. An ice cream treat topped off the day and we continued our trip on the trolley.
You will notice that many of the buildings on the tour have the SCAD influence. The school is one of the leaders in rehabilitating old ( read "decrepit") buildings and giving them more modern uses.
Savannah is a beautiful and historic city and well worth a day or two of your time.