Savannah
Map
Downtown
1- River Street
2- City Market
3- Waving Girl
4- Johnson Square
5- Telfair Museum of Art
6- Wright Square
7- Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace
8- Colonial Park
9- Forsyth Park
River Street
Savannah, Georgia's First City, sits like a jewel just across the broad Savannah
River. Historic 18th century garden squares, gourmet restaurants, antique shops
and boutiques beckon by day and night. The name conjures images of nights
redolent with honeysuckle, warm breezes and the glint of moonlight over the
sweeping river and marsh. History, tradition, courtesy and hospitality are at
the heart of our Southern culture.
Savannah's historic waterfront is lined with more than 100 unique shops and
galleries, fabulous restaurants, seductive nightspots, and elegant inns and
hotels. Our site includes a schedule of events, and a list of shops and
services.
Street Market
CITY MARKET is not a place you visit. It's a place you discover and explore. A
place that's romantic, historic, serene and exciting. A place where there's
always something new to encounter, something different to find, something hidden
to uncover. You may have to look around a corner, behind an old door or up a
remote staircase. But that's just part of the charm and what makes CITY MARKET
so special
Waving Girl
The Waving Girl statue is a popular monument for visitors to the River Street
area of Savannah, Georgia
The statue immortalizes a Savannahian named Florence Martus, who lived near the
entrance to Savannah Harbor and supposedly waved to each ship that came and went
-- for 44 years!
The bronze statue of Florence Martus (1869 - 1943), known as "Savannah's Waving
Girl" because of her practice of waving to ships entering and leaving Savannah's
harbor is located on the bluff overlooking the Savannah River at the south end
of downtown Savannah's riverfront area.
Johnson Square
Johnson Square was the first of Savannah's squares and remains the largest of
the twenty four. It was named for Robert Johnson, friend of General
Oglethorpe. Interred in the square is Revolutionary War hero General Nathanael
Greene, the namesake of nearby Greene Square. Greene died in 1786 and was buried
in Savannah's Colonial Park Cemetery. His son, George Washington Greene, was
buried beside him after drowning in the Savannah River in 1793. Following
vandalism of the cemetery by occupying Union forces during the Civil War the
location of Greene’s burial was lost. After the remains were re-identified
Greene and his son were moved to Johnson Square. An obelisk in the centre of the
square now serves as a memorial to Gen. Greene. The cornerstone of the monument
was laid by Lafayette in 1825. At that time the obelisk did not yet commemorate
any specific individual or event. In fact, due to financial restrictions the
unmarked obelisk served for several years as a joint monument to both Greene and
Casimir Pulaski. Inscriptions honoring Greene were added in 1886, but the
Greene's’ physical remains did not arrive until 1901, following their
"rediscovery."
Johnson Square contains two fountains, as well as a sundial dedicated to Colonel
William Bull, the namesake of Savannah's Bull Street. Bull assisted Oglethorpe
with the establishment of Savannah and, as a surveyor, laid out the original
street grid. The sundial has four panels, one on each side of its square granite
base. The dial itself is bronze, set atop a marble shaft. One of the base panels
reproduces a 1734 map of Savannah.
Johnson Square is located on Bull, between Bryan and Congress Streets.
Telfair Museum of Art
The Telfair Museum of Art traces its history from 1886 when
the Telfair family home opened to the public as an art museum and school. It now
boasts three diverse sites -- the original building, the Telfair Academy of Arts
and Sciences, a National Historic Landmark building; the Owens-Thomas House,
also a National Historic Landmark; and the recently completed Jepson Center for
the Arts, a contemporary building which houses 20th- and 21st-century art.
Designed by internationally acclaimed architect Moshe Safdie, the 64,000-sq. ft.
Jepson Center for the Arts is a state-of-the-art museum facility. It features
expanded gallery spaces, expanded educational resources, much-needed art storage
facilities, sculpture gardens, an auditorium, café and museum store.
Wright Square
The
second square established in Savannah, Percival Square was named for Lord
Percival, generally regarded as the man who gave the colony of Georgia its name
(a tribute to Great Britain’s King George II). It was renamed in 1763 to honor
James Wright, the third, last and perhaps most notable of Georgia's royal
governors. Throughout its history it has also been known as Court House Square
and Post Office Square; the present federal courthouse is adjacent to the west.
The square is the burial site of Tomochichi, a leader of the Creek nation of
Native Americans. Tomochichi was a trusted friend of James Oglethorpe and
assisted him in the founding of his colony. When Tomochichi died in 1739
Oglethorpe ordered him buried with military honors in the center of Percival
Square. In accordance with his people's customs the grave was marked by a
pyramid of stones gathered from the surrounding area. In 1883, citizens wishing
to honor William Washington Gordon replaced Tomochichi's monument with an
elaborate and highly allegorical monument to Gordon. William Gordon is thus the
only native Savannahian honored with a monument in one of the city’s squares.
Gordon's own widow objected strongly to this perceived insult to Tomochichi. She
and other members of the Colonial Dames of the State of Georgia planned to erect
a new monument to Tomochichi, made of granite from Stone Mountain. The Stone
Mountain Monument Company offered the material at no cost. Mrs. Gordon felt that
she was being condescended to and insisted on paying. The Monument Company sent
her a bill—some sources say for fifty cents, others for one dollar—payable on
Judgment Day. Mrs. Gordon paid the bill and attached a note explaining that on
Judgment Day she would be occupied with her own affairs. The new monument was
erected in 1899. It stands in the southeast corner of the square and eulogizes
Tomochichi as a great friend of James Oglethorpe and the people of Georgia.
Wright Square is on Bull, between State and York Streets.
Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace
Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts, U.S.A., was born into a wealthy family in Savannah. After an unhappy marriage to an English gentleman, she met Sir Robert Baden-Powell. His success as founder of the Boy Scouts impressed her so much that, upon her return to Savannah, she began the Girl Scouts on March 12, 1912. She encouraged girls to compete and succeed in any endeavor. She devoted the remainder of her life to Girl Scouts, which has served an estimated 50 million multinational members. Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts, U.S.A., was born into a wealthy family in Savannah. After an unhappy marriage to an English gentleman, she met Sir Robert Baden-Powell. His success as founder of the Boy Scouts impressed her so much that, upon her return to Savannah, she began the Girl Scouts on March 12, 1912. She encouraged girls to compete and succeed in any endeavor. She devoted the remainder of her life to Girl Scouts, which has served an estimated 50 million multinational members.
Colonial Park
The
Colonial Park Cemetery, one of Savannah’s most beautiful restorations, is the
final resting place for many of Savannah's earliest citizens. Established about
1750, it was the original burial ground for the Christ Church Parish. The
cemetery was enlarged in 1789 to become the cemetery for people of all
denominations. Among those buried here are Button Gwinnett, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence. Names of other distinguished Savannahians buried
here can be found below in the text of the historical marker below.
More than 700 victims of the 1820 Yellow Fever epidemic are buried in Colonial
Park Cemetery. There are also many victims of Savannah's tragic dueling era.
Savannah history records the first dueling death in 1740 and the final shot
fired in 1877. Many of the duels left a number of men dead from what one source
calls acts of "too much honor." Some of the duels were fought in and around
Colonial Park Cemetery.
The cemetery was already closed to burials before the start of the Civil War and
no Confederate soldiers are buried there. But the war did leave its mark on the
cemetery. Federal troops took over the cemetery grounds during their occupation
of Savannah and many of the graves were looted and desecrated. It has been said
that Union soldiers changed the dates on many of the headstones.
Forsyth Park
Forsyth
Place was the first large park created in Savannah, other than the squares,
designed as part of the city plan by General Oglethorpe in the eighteenth
century. Stylistically, the Park belongs to a later era, and was influenced by
the urban renewal of Paris, in the 1850's. Paris was given broad boulevards and
parks for practical reasons: improving access to the new railway stations and
important public buildings, clearing slums, increasing fresh air and green
space, developing middle-class and working class suburbs, putting in piped water
and storm sewers, and financing public works to provide employment, investment
opportunities and increase property values in Paris. This greatly influenced
city planning throughout the industrial world--every large city in the United
States was developing large city parks in the 1850's. Culturally speaking, it is
not insignificant that the Forsyth Park fountain was thought to be a copy of the
one in the Place de la Concorde, by Hittorff, who completed two monumental
fountains in that square only a few short years before Forsyth Place was
created. Bull Street was thought of as a boulevard and promenade (both French
terms) and the fountain served as a focal point of a long vista, all the way
from the Exchange, which was City Hall. In an economic context, the park and the
fountain would not have been possible if Savannah were not experiencing economic
prosperity. The 1850's were the first consistently prosperous period throughout
the South, which admired and emulated the high style of the French Empire.