OurCoast.com :: Savannah City Guide

Who were the settlers who came to this roiling town? There were Jews, the first of which fled the Spanish Inquisition from Portugal and landed in Savannah in July, 1733. The founding of Temple Mickve Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in the South, goes back to this group. Later, Jews from many different nations settled in Savannah.

Joining the Jews were Evangelical Lutherans from Salzburg, who arrived in Savannah in March, 1734, and settled a few miles up the Savannah River at a place they called Ebenezer. Groups of Scots and German-speaking Moravians were also some of the first settlers, joining the colony in 1735 and 1736. Savannah's ethnic stock was enriched by, among others, Dutch, Welsh, and Irish, too. The descendants of the latter organize America's greatest St. Patrick's Day parade every year.

Preachers of the Gospel in the first days were John and Charles Wesley, whose precepts of Methodism have fared much better than the preachers did in Savannah. George Whitefield came together with James Habersham in 1737 to Savannah, where they started the nation's first orphanage, Bethesda, in 1740.

A few important and unique regulations dominated the early days of Savannah: no slavery (until 1750), no rum (until 1742), no lawyers (until 1755) and no Papists, thus creating a paradise on earth (or not?).

These good-intentioned internal rules were not to prevent a general decline. The population diminished and crime was prevalent. Because of the failure of the silk culture and with the antislavery law overturned, labor-intensive rice became a major crop; soon one-third of the population was slaves. Trade with the Indians fell off. Oglethorpe left Savannah forever in 1734 and the Trustees gave back their charter to the King a year earlier than planned. It was now up to the Crown to cope with these problems and thus the colony became a province headed by the Royal Governors, with Savannah at its center.

During the revolutionary period Savannahians raised their own protests against the perceived injustices imposed by the Mother Country, especially the hated Stamp Act of 1765, which taxed every printed thing and every official paper. However, Georgia paused longer than any other colony before deciding to join the revolutionary movements and to participate in the Philadelphia meetings. The colony also hesitated to establish any representation in England, doubting it would do any good, but finally Georgia decided to take Benjamin Franklin's offer to represent her in London.

Tondee's Tavern, at the corner of Whitaker and Broughton Streets, was the preferred meeting place of the "Liberty Boys," a group holding up the common cause of freedom in Georgia. Much to the indignant outrage of Royal Governor Wright, a liberty pole was erected in front of the tavern in 1775. In 1776 those at the tavern celebrated with numerous readings of the new Declaration of Independence, signed by three men from Georgia: Lyman Hall, George Walton, and Button Gwinnett.

--Sojourn in Savannah

Washington wins are not forgotten. Eli Whitney gins some cotton.
A brief history of Savannah, Georgia 1776-1800.

pre-1732 | 1733-1776 | 1777-1800 | 1800-1850 | 1850-1865 | 1865-1900 | 1900-1955