Savannah Quarters was designed to function as its own world. The Greg Norman-designed course, Norman's Grille, the pool, the club amenities — the whole development logic is self-containment. For residents who moved here for that, it works. But that design logic has also created a blind spot: most Savannah Quarters households don't have a strong mental map of what sits within two miles of the front gate.
That blind spot is about to matter. By fall 2026, three major venues are either opening or expanding within that radius — one of them a $30 million facility with two professional-grade ice rinks, a 5,200-seat amphitheater, and a restaurant. Another is a museum adding 20,000 square feet anchored by a one-of-a-kind WWII artifact that arrived by cargo ship last August. The third has been free and open the whole time. Most residents have driven past it without stopping.
The Museum That Has Been There Since 1996
The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force sits at 175 Bourne Avenue in Pooler, roughly two miles from Savannah Quarters. The Eighth Air Force was chartered in Savannah on January 28, 1942 — the museum commemorated the 84th anniversary this past January — and the institution has operated here since 1996. Most Savannah Quarters residents recognize the name. Fewer have been inside.
What's inside: a B-17 Flying Fortress being restored under the name "City of Savannah," a Russian-built MiG-17A bearing North Vietnamese Air Force insignia, and a B-47 Stratojet in the memorial gardens. The Combat Gallery includes a Navigator Exhibit and a Gunner Exhibit where visitors practice on a .50 caliber machine gun simulator. The Mission Experience — a film recreation of a World War II bombing mission using authentic footage and sound — runs every 30 minutes. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.
The reason to pay attention now: a 20,000-square-foot expansion is on track for fall 2026. The centerpiece of the new wing is a 1902 German boxcar — one of the few surviving examples of its type — that was repurposed by the German military to move Allied prisoners of war across Europe. It arrived at the Georgia Ports Authority on August 1, 2025, and was delivered directly to the museum in Pooler four days later. The new exhibit, called Airman's Fate, is scheduled to debut in late 2026 or early 2027. There are not many places in the country where a WWII German railcar is about to become a permanent public exhibit. One of them is two miles from your front door.
The Empty Lot and What It Tells You
In late 2022, Pooler City Council unanimously approved a height variance for BigShots Golf to build a two-story entertainment facility on the lot next to Costco on Pooler Parkway. The timeline was 2023, then 2024. BigShots was subsequently acquired by Topgolf. As of March 2025, the city of Pooler had not heard from Topgolf since the acquisition. The lot is still empty.
This is not a cautionary note about the area. It's context for evaluating what's actually happening now. Pooler's entertainment development has a history of announced venues that don't open on schedule, and occasionally don't open at all. The Ghost Pirates Ice Cove is structurally different from that pattern: steel is in the ground, the final beam was placed in October 2025, and the opening timeline is confirmed by the city of Port Wentworth and the project's architecture firm. When you see a construction site, the BigShots lot is the benchmark for skepticism. The Ice Cove clears it.
What Fall 2026 Actually Looks Like
| Venue | Location | Opening | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ghost Pirates Ice Cove | Anchor Park, Port Wentworth | Fall 2026 | Two regulation ice rinks (public access), restaurant and bar, retail shop |
| Port Wentworth Amphitheater | Anchor Park, Port Wentworth | Fall 2026 | 5,200-seat covered venue, club-level seating and suites |
| Mighty Eighth Museum Expansion | 175 Bourne Ave, Pooler | Fall 2026 | 20,000 sq ft new wing, Airman's Fate exhibit with 1902 German POW boxcar |
The Ghost Pirates Ice Cove is a $30 million facility built on a 150-acre site in Port Wentworth's new Anchor Park, at the corner of Meinhard Road and Monteith Road. The Savannah Ghost Pirates — the city's ECHL team — will use it as their training base, but both ice rinks will be open to the public for recreational skating, youth hockey, and figure skating programs. The facility also includes a restaurant with a bar and a retail shop. The connected amphitheater seats 5,200 under a covered structure with club-level suites.
Ground broke on August 20, 2024. Port Wentworth's city manager and Zawyer Sports CEO Andy Kaufmann were on site. Vertical construction began by June 2025, the final structural beam went up in October 2025, and WSAV confirmed the construction timeline wraps in summer 2026 with a fall opening. Anchor Park will also add pickleball, softball, baseball, and soccer fields. The whole complex is a short drive from Savannah Quarters along I-95 North.
The 200 Acres That Have Been Free the Whole Time
Tom Triplett Community Park sits at 100 Tom Triplett Road in Pooler, on Highway 80 just north of where it crosses I-95. It covers roughly 200 acres. There is no admission charge.
Most Savannah Quarters residents pass it regularly. What's inside:
- A 19-acre central lake stocked with catfish, bass, and bream, with fishing piers, grassy banks, and two bridges crossing the water
- A 1.5-mile paved lakeside trail, lit and open to joggers, cyclists, and leashed dogs
- A fenced dog park divided into separate areas for large and small breeds
- An 18-hole disc golf course that threads through the full length of the park
- Two free tennis courts on a first-come, first-served basis
- A monthly Live Like Locals farmers market with local growers, artists, and makers
The pavilion along the lake is large enough for community events and can be reserved. Occasional alligator sightings near the water are real — the posted warnings are there for a reason. Wildlife photographers and birders work the park regularly. The trail is well-lit, which matters for early morning or evening use in summer heat.
This is the park most Savannah Quarters residents can reach in under five minutes and have not made a habit of using. The farmers market alone is worth the calendar reminder.
The case for living in Savannah Quarters has always rested on what's inside the gate. What's changing is the weight of what's outside it. By the end of 2026, the two-mile radius around the development will include a WWII museum in the middle of its biggest expansion since opening, a professional hockey team's public ice facility, a 5,200-seat amphitheater, and a 200-acre county park that costs nothing to walk into. Residents who map that footprint now will be ahead of the curve when the rest of the metro figures out what's been quietly building here.
Nicholas Oliver and the Oliver Group team have followed this market closely through every phase of Pooler's growth. If you're curious what your Savannah Quarters home is worth as the surrounding infrastructure continues to expand, request a home valuation and get a straight answer.
