The Savannah River is an alluvial stream, which means its headwaters originate in the Georgia mountains and Piedmont. (The only other alluvial river on the Georgia coast is the Altamaha. The rest are essentially blackwater rivers or tidewater rivers.) The river is famous for its fossil oysterbeds located upstream. Technically, the Savannah River is a 300-mile-long river originating near Hartwell, Georgia at the confluence of the Tugaloo and Seneca rivers in the Piedmont. But the headwaters of these streams are in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The Savannah River drains a surface area of more than 10,500 square miles, of which approximately 5,800 are in Georgia, 4,500 are in South Carolina, and 175 are in North Carolina. The Savannah River has two characters: the impounded alluvial Piedmont stream north of Augusta, and the natural flowing Coastal Plain river south of Augusta. The character of the mountain stream north of Augusta is forever obliterated by many hydroelectric dams, which creates a river that's more like a lake in most stretches. Eight miles below Augusta, the river meets its final dam before being left to its own devices in the Coastal Plain of Georgia. This lower portion to Interstate 95 near the City of Savannah is deeper and calmer, and canoeists are treated to a more pristine environment, with oxbow lakes, river swamps, and bottomland forests. (source:sherpaguides.com)