Savannah

The town of Savannah was laid out in 1733, 18 miles from the Atlantic Ocean on a sandy bluff 50 feet above the Savannah River. The site was chosen partly because of its proximity to a local Indian village, partly because of its defensive merits, and partly to substantiate English claims to lands south of the Savannah River. Savannah was designed according to a precisely organized plan. Each town ward was centered on a square, following the fashion of contemporary Georgian Britain, with four public lots and 40 private lots making up the rest of the ward. The initial plan called for six squares, although as the city expanded in the early 19th century there were eventually to be 24 squares. In addition to the town lots, Savannah’s plan called for garden plots of 50 acres to surround the town, where residents could grow food. Early buildings were made of wood and did not last long in Georgia’s humid climate.

After Georgia became a royal colony in 1752, Savannah’s population grew rapidly, and new public and private brick buildings began to be built. By the 1760s the town’s increasing economic independence meant it was able to import manufactured goods directly from Britain, sending rice and other staples in return. As a further sign of the increased importance of the town, slave ships from African ports began to travel directly to Savannah. However, although a number of free and enslaved Africans lived and worked there, Savannah never had a black majority population. Indeed, the various employment opportunities offered in the town meant it contained far more white working people than did surrounding rural areas. The town also had a number of elite residents. As the seat of colonial government, Savannah attracted merchants, politicians, and planters, and their lifestyles stood in stark contrast to the poverty of the majority of the town’s population. Savannah was a cosmopolitan place where rich and poor, slave and free, and black and white interacted in a multitude of complex ways.

—Timothy James Lockley