Savannah's Historic District

A National Historic Landmark

 A substantial factor in determining the identity of a city or even a country is through history. The past events that happened there, its renowned inhabitants, and the architecture that frames the narrative of its streets, all contribute to the individuality and formation of a place. The history of a location is perhaps one of the most important factors used to perceive ourselves and our heritage. In the United States of America, cities rich with history can give us a look into the past and help us understand the stories that helped shape our current reality. As the country nears its 250th anniversary, historic settlements keep the heritage and national pride of the country alive. The historic district of Savannah, Georgia, is one of the most unique and well-preserved sites in the US. Its distinction as one of the most significant historic districts of its kind, as America’s first planned city, as a strategic port for the American Revolution, as a pivotal setting in the American Civil War, and among many other reasons, make Savannah an illustrious, iconic destination that serves as a beacon for American patrimony.

The city of Savannah started similar to other founding colonies throughout the United States. As one of the original thirteen colonies, where some settlements were founded to achieve religious independence, others like Georgia, were founded on the principles of an egalitarian society that aimed to expand business prospects for the British empire. As the oldest city in the state and the last of the colonial capitals, its coastal waterfront became lined with cobbled streets and warehouses that could house shipments worldwide. Thus, since its founding in 1733, the city has functioned as a hub of trade and commerce.

The city’s founder, British General James Oglethorpe, created Savannah using a plan that historians believe may have been influenced mainly for military reasons. He designed the project to defend the town from Spanish or Native attacks and tend to the social needs of the day. Although Oglethorpe lived in Savannah for only a short time, after laying out the town’s first four wards along the Savannah River and over some time, his plan proved exceptionally successful. City planners followed the design for decades, expanding the city through the plan’s unique layout. Oglethorpe’s plan ultimately abandoned the notion of the haphazard and congested streets reminiscent of medieval Europe for the vision of an unobtrusive city with open public spaces and a grid plan centered around city squares.

According to the Georgia Historical Society, “Each ward centered on a square and had four tything on the north and south sides of the square. Tything were rows of house lots, ten lots long. On the east and west sides of the square, there were trust lots used for public buildings such as churches or the courthouse. Today, Savannah is one of the largest urban historic districts in the United States, and most of Oglethorpe’s original plan remains.”

As the city grew, the initial egalitarian pursuits of the founders truncated the commercial desires of entrepreneurial families in the city. Soon enough, the terrible practice of slavery was introduced, which was initially banned but later lifted to support the rising need for labor. With Eli Whitney’s newly invented cotton gin, Savannah became the world’s largest exporter of cotton, especially to Great Britain, amid the peak of the industrial revolution. Subsequently, Savannah planters exhibited their wealth by constructing their residencies in the most desirable architectural styles of the times. With the change of epochs and the constant variation of glamorous styles of architecture, the urban landscape of Savannah began to include a vast range of architecture. The citizen’s preoccupation with beautifying their residencies lead to the city including the Federalist style, the Georgian style, the Greek Revival (the most prominent,) the Italianate style, the Regency style, the Romanesque style, and the Second French Empire style of architecture, along with other revival styles, in its repertoire of historic architecture.

“Plantation owners, merchants, and cotton brokers dominated Savannah’s economic, social, and cultural life… They exhibited their wealth by constructing homes in the latest styles. Although the plain, egalitarian wooden homes constructed during Oglethorpe’s tenure were gradually replaced by brick and stucco mansions and the population expanded, the original city plan was never altered. As the City grew, new ward modules were laid out, replicating the first four in size and shape, and people built new homes within the same house lot sizes as the original settlers…” - https://www.nps.gov/articles/savannah-georgia-the-lasting-legacy-of-colonial-city-planning-teaching-with-historic-places.htm

Fast forward to the 20th century. The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 was enacted to preserve historical and archeological sites throughout America. Through this act, the list of National Historic Landmarks was created, which officially recognizes, by the United States government, landmarks of the most distinguished historical importance for the country. Only three percent of over 90,000 sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places are considered National Historic landmarks. There are over 2,600 in the US today, which roughly demonstrates the rigorous vetting method these landmarks endure to be considered.

One month after the National Historic Preservation Act became law in 1966, a large portion of Savannah’s downtown area earned its designation as a national landmark. From over the 2,600 landmark designations, Savannah’s downtown remains one of the country's most extensive and architecturally varied landmarks. In Savannah alone, there are eight National Historic Landmarks. These include Fort James Jackson, a restored 19th-century fort used in the American Civil War, and the Central of Georgia Railroad Shop and Terminal, considered the most complete antebellum railroad complex in the US. Among these eight landmarks is the Savannah Historic District, which contains a magnificent number of historic buildings, including residencies that are considered historic landmarks themselves. These include the Green-Meldrim Home, an example of Gothic Revival architecture, the Owens-Thomas House of the English Regency style, which contains the oldest restored urban slave quarters in the south, the Williams Scarbrough house made in the Greek Revival architecture style, and the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences designed by influential Savannah architect William Jay. All of these historic landmark homes are part of the Savannah Historic District.

With a fortuitous history that conserved the original and remarkable planning it has exhibited since its origins, the city's historic structures indeed experienced worrisome moments, particularly in the urbanization of the 20th century. Ultimately, through a sense of national identity and community, preservation movements with a strong momentum began to save the city’s historic buildings. Today, much of Savannah’s endowment to American heritage is dutifully preserved as a robust community-wide historic preservation district. Ultimately, evidenced by its landmark designation, the city of Savannah lives in the American imaginary as an irreplaceable national treasure.