GEORGIASAVANNAHHISTORIC NEIGHBORHOOD SQUARES

If there is one thing that sticks in my mind as being representative of Savannah, Ga., after making a half-dozen visits there over the course of six years, it is the 22 neighborhood squares in the historic section of old Savannah.

That is why I am leading off the series on Savannah with those beautiful squares, which are akin to full-block parks. 

On my first visit to this charming city in early March 2017, I made a smart decision to take a trolley tour of the community (see photo of trolley below), something that cost me about $25 at the time. (Today it’s a little more). It’s a hop-on and hop-off optional system for the entire day, or, if you first purchase your ticket late in the day, they’ll let you use it again the next day. At least they did when I took the trolley tour. 

Savannah has two types of community tours. One uses a trolley, which is what I took, and another uses a larger bus. Both have operators that narrate histories behind the sundry points of interest as the vehicle weaves throughout the historic part of the city. 

I can’t emphasize enough how appreciative I was of this tour; it gave me many ideas on what to photograph later when I tackled the city on foot. I took the trolley tour again on one of my last visits as a refresher of sorts. 

What I learned was that most of the drivers (and tour guides) cover the core highlights of the city, but they also share some of their own favorite landmarks and stories along the way. So no tours by different drivers/guides will be exactly the same.  

 

The first tour is where I got to see the various neighborhood squares. And I decided then and there I would try to reach each and every square as soon as the trolley ride ended. I didn’t hit them all in one day; I did it two days.   

Today, 10 years later, as I went to draft this post to lead off the Savannah series, I was perplexed about how I could adequately represent all the squares. I didn’t organize the pictures of them afterward by specific squares, and I had long forgotten which is which. What saved me were the helpful photos I took of the parks’ names on signs at points somewhere outside the squares.  

Two of the squares were easy to remember. One of those is Forsyth Square, by far the biggest, best-known and most-visited. And actually, it’s so large that it’s more of a park than a square. It’s probably six times the size of all the other one-block-long squares. 

James Edward Oglethorpe is the individual responsible for laying out the city into repeating modular units called wards. Each ward was centered around an open green square, surrounded by residential tything blocks and civic trust blocks.

Oglethorpe laid out the first six squares. As the city grew over the next century, civic leaders replicated the square-and-ward pattern, eventually expanding to 24 squares (22 survive today). Oglethorpe worked with surveyor Noble Jones and architect William Bull to execute and map the design. Oglethorpe, Jones and Bull would have streets named after them in the historic area, and Oglethorpe also has one of the squares named for him.

As Savannah grew further south, instead of making a 25th square, planners designed Forsyth Park to serve as one large, centralized public park for the entire southern expansion. The park started with a 10-acre donation from William Brown Hodgson in the 1840s and expanded to 30 acres in 1851 with additional land. It was named to honor Georgia Gov. John Forsyth.

The squares are laid out as shown in the graphic below, courtesy of the online Savannah First Time website. 

Forsyth’s iconic and beautiful fountain (shown in the lead-off photo and in the first several photos below) is a popular attraction, and many people take advantage of the benches circling the fountain to rest for a spell and take in the fountain aesthetics.

It is such a treasure that I’ve dedicated a full post in the Savannah series just to Forsyth Park (or square). That will be the second post in this series. 

Two original squares, Liberty and Elbert, were demolished in the 1930s to make way for laying out U.S. 17, and other urban development. Liberty also was removed to make way for the Chatham County Courthouse. A tiny remnant of Elbert — a sliver of grass opposite the Savannah Civic Center — does remain today.    

The first five photos below also are from Forsyth Park. The fifth photo of the park below shows the Civil War Monument, also known as the Confederate Monument. 

Possibly my second favorite square is Whitfield Square (above), because of the gazebo and the ability to get the picture I did with people sitting in benches on both sides of the gazebo. 

Mature oak trees abound in most of the squares, including the ones above in Warren Square, which also has these distinguished bench seats (below).

Oglethorpe Square (above and below) was laid out in 1742 and was the last square laid out in Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe’s time in Georgia. It is one of the few squares without a monument or fountain and, instead, is a quiet, shaded green space known for its understated design. A statue of Oglethorpe can be found in Chippewa Square. 

Above and first two photos below: The Armillary Sphere in Troup Square is a bronze and iron astronomical sculpture created in the late 1960s to 1970s that models the movement of celestial objects and orbits. The entire sphere rests on top of six small metal tortoises (or turtles). It features a central lance and rings that act as a working sundial. Local residents and clubs frequently dress the turtles and sphere to match holidays and seasons (such as St. Patrick’s Day, which is a very popular holiday in Savannah and features a large parade).

Above and below: The Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue, more familiarly known as the Haitian Monument, is the centerpiece of Franklin Square on the far northwest edge of the core downtown area. It commemorates more than 500 free soldiers of African descent from present-day Haiti (then the French colony of Saint-Domingue) who fought during the 1779 Siege of Savannah in the American Revolutionary War. The sculptor was James Mastin. The sculpture and park are adjacent to City Market and across the street from historic First African Baptist Church (second photo below), which was completed in 1859 and built at night by both free and enslaved blacks. It is regarded as the oldest continuous black Christian congregation in the United States with roots dating to 1773. 

Above and first three photos below: Chippewa Square, which was the site of the opening bus stop scene in the motion picture Forest Gump. The statue is of Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe, the founder of the colony of Georgia and the city of Savannah. Curiously, there is an Oglethorpe Square elsewhere with no monuments.

Reynolds Square (above) features a monument (on the far left above) dedicated to John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist faith. A direct photo of the monument is shown in the first photo below. 

Johnson is the largest square (other than Forsyth, which I noted above is more of a park than a square), and it is known for having two fountains, one of which is featured in the photos above and below. It is also the oldest square. It was laid out in 1733. The square also features a 50-foot marble obelisk (fourth and fifth photos below) commemorating Revolutionary War hero Nathaniel Greene, whose remains are buried underneath it. Golden-domed Savannah City Hall can be seen in the background of the second picture of the obelisk.

Above and first two photos below: Scenes from Lafayette Square. 

Above: The city of Savannah has a square holding a monument to Revolutionary War general Casimir Pulaski, but alas, it is not in Pulaski Square (above and first two photos below), which contains no monuments. The Pulaski Monument (third photo below) is in Monterey Square, which is situated across from the well-known Mercer-Williams House Museum (fourth photo below) made famous in the book and motion picture movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. 

Telfair Square (above) is nicely situated in very easy walking distance from the Jepson Center for the Arts (in the background of the first photo below) and the Telfair Academy Museum (in the background of the second photo below). 

In a visit to Savannah in May 2022, we came across art students (above and below) practicing their craft in Telfair Square, very close to the Jepson Center for the Arts and Telfair Academy Museum.

Orleans Square, not far from Savannah’s Civic Center and Savannah College of Art and Design’s Oglethorpe House, is home to the German Memorial Fountain (above and below), located at Barnard and McDonough streets. It also features some luscious landscaping (photos two through five below). 

Wright Square contains striking landscaping as shown in the photos above and below ... 

... but Wright Square also has the tall monument above, dedicated to William Washington Gordon, a prominent Savannah politician, former mayor, and the founder and first president of the Central of Georgia Railway. He also was the grandfather of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts. There is a house containing a museum dedicated to Juliette Gordon Low elsewhere in Savannah. Also in Wright Square is a monument and final resting place (first three photos below) of Tomochichi, who was chief of a Yamacraw tribe town on the site of present-day Savannah in the 18th century. Tomochichi gave land on Yamacraw Bluff to Gen. James Oglethorpe to build the city of Savannah, and he remains a prominent historical figure of early Georgia history. As the principal mediator between the native population and the new British settlers during the first years of settlement, Tomochichi contributed much to the establishment of peaceful relations between the two groups and to the ultimate success of Georgia.

Scenes from Taylor Square (above) and Ellis Square (first six photos below). The land where Ellis Square sits today was long used to accommodate market houses. Later it served as a parking site for shoppers. The market building was demolished in 2006 and the property refurbished into the square that it is today.

Below: A statue of songwriter Johnny Mercer stands on the far west end of Ellis Square. Mercer, who composed Moon River; Days of Wine and Roses; On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe; In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening; One for My Baby (And One More for the Road), was born and raised in Savannah. He died in 1976, and his grave in Bonaventure Cemetery is a popular attraction for locals and tourists. 

Calhoun Square (above and below) is another square with plentiful mature oaks and pedestrian paths. 

Crawford Square has a gazebo (above and below) as well as an historic basketball court (second photo below). It is considered historic because it was built as the prize for a 1946 local neighborhood tournament and became a rare, vital hub for Black recreation during the Jim Crow era (as noted in the third photo below). The square also has some pretty landscape (fourth photo below).

Above and first two photos below: A look at Greene Square, named for Revolutionary War General Nathaniel Greene. An obelisk honoring Greene stands in Johnson Square. Because my photos of Greene were not very inclusive, I’m including the second image below from the square’s Wikipedia entry. It is attributed to Jefferson LH. 

Above and first two photos below: Several views of Chatham Square. 

The Wormsloe Fountain in Columbia Square (above and below) is so named because it once sat at the historic Wormsloe Plantation, another attraction in the Savannah area. It was moved to Columbia Square in 1970 as a memorial to Augusta and Wymberly DeRenne, descendants of early Savannah settler Noble Jones. It features a pedestal styled like a tree trunk and is decorated with woodland motifs like vines, leaves and flowers, painted in a historic color known as “Swamp Root” green.

Coming next: A closer look at Forsyth Park