Why go
Read this before walking from the riverfront through the squares. It connects Oglethorpe's planned town to the Savannah River, the city's colonial role and the nineteenth-century port, while keeping Tomochichi and Mary Musgrove in the founding account rather than beginning with the settlers alone.
The full story
In February 1733, James Oglethorpe and settlers from the Anne landed at Yamacraw Bluff. They encountered Tomochichi and the Yamacraw people, as well as traders John and Mary Musgrove; Mary often interpreted between the groups. Savannah then grew as the capital of the new Georgia colony. Oglethorpe's pattern of wards and open squares can still be followed on foot above the river. The town later became an important commercial port, a role that shaped its streets and economy through the nineteenth century. During the American Revolution, British forces took Savannah in 1778. An American and French siege the next year failed, and British troops remained until 1782. The Civil War brought another turning point. In December 1864, as General Sherman's forces approached at the end of the March to the Sea, local authorities surrendered the city. Walking the surviving grid today means seeing a place shaped by Indigenous diplomacy, colonial expansion, Atlantic commerce, war and preservation, rather than a single untouched period.