A Day In Savannah (I)

My arrival in Savannah GA late in the evening precluded me from exploring this fascinating and usually ignored mid-sized US city yesterday. Savannah is ignored because it isn't one of the "big 25" metropolitan areas, is much overshadowed by Atlanta, and isn't really on a "corridor" from and to anyplace, unless you are travelling from Charleston to Jacksonville. But one short day in the town teaches you--about history, nature, and the way that earliest decisions in a city's history help define its character. This and the next essay provide a brief explanation of the unique city planning features of downtown Savannah and then conclude with some comments on a state park that has seen better days.

Getting Our Language Straight

Georgia was founded as the 13th of the 13 original colonies. Though SC to its North was founded as a Proprietary Colony, GA was a Trust Colony. I need to clarify this because some online sources make the mistake of calling GA a "Proprietary Colony." The first 19 years of GA history (1733-52) are called "Trustee Georgia." A detailed history is here. A trust colony differs from a proprietary colony in that the trustees are motivated by humanitarian interests, own no property in the trust territory and make no money off their involvement in the trust. On the other hand, a proprietary colony assumes that the original proprietors would have a fiscal stake in the prosperity of the colony. They would own land, parcel it out, sell it to others, etc.

The virtue of the trust colony was also its downfall; i.e., since its strength depends on the good wishes and exertion of trustees who have no fiscal "stake" in the venture, the trust territory might fail if they become distracted or if the annual subvention from Parliament diminishes. Both of these things, in fact, occurred. What had begun with high spirits in 1733 had diminished to almost nothing in 1752. The London Evangelist George Whitefield, after whom one of the "squares" in Savannah is named, remarked on his preaching tour in January 1740 that things looked much more discouraging than his May 1738 trip to the colony. There were only about 3300 Europeans in GA in 1752, (down from a high of some 20,000) when Trustee GA ended and GA became a Royal Colony in 1752 (with appointed Governor and government).

Laying Out Savannah

The Trustees of the GA colony appointed James Oglethorpe to set up the colony with headquarters in Savannah, which he did upon his arrival in Feb. 1733. Oglethorpe's vision for Savannah is unique among American cities and is very evident in the layout of the downtown to this day. He wanted to lay out the city by "wards" (six in number in his original plan), which would be surrounded by four "tythings" (groups of 10 homes) to the SW, NW, NE, and SE of the square set up in the center of the ward. To the immediate W and E of the square in the center of the ward were "Trust Lots," where public buildings such as churches and schools were supposed to have been built. A very helpful map is here. Though only four wards/squares were set up in the first seven or so years of the colony, a total of 24 were established, with two/three having been lost to urban development since the last one was established around 1850.

The idea was brilliant, and to this day each one of the squares has its own flavor and "feel." Some of them, which cut through the heart of the City from City Hall to Forsyth Park in the South, are larger and surrounded by very prominent structures--i.e., large and old Churches, gracious homes and hotels, etc. These larger squares all have plaques or readerboards explaining either something about why the square is so named or some significant events or people that Savannah wants to remember. A few of the "outliers" are well-manicured, but lack any signage. For example, the most South Easterly square is "Whitefield Square," laid out in 1851. I was intent on going there today because I knew it was named after the British Great Awakening revival preacher who founded an orphanage in GA with contributions raised between his two trips to there, and I wanted to see what Savannah wanted us to remember about him. But, not a word was said about the square in any sign or marker. There was a very attractive gazebo in the center of the square, which I learned from someone there is used extensively for weddings, but nothing at all about good old George.

Stopping in the Jewish Synagogue--Mickve Israel

On the East end of Monterey Square is a building that at first glance appears to be a Christian Church. Its neo-gothic exterior and narrow nave remind us of the soaring Churches from other American and European cities. But it is the late 19th century building of Mickve Israel, which actually is the third oldest synagogue in the colonies. Its congregation dates back to 1733, antedated only by New York City (1654) and Newport, RI (1695) synagogues. The Charleston, SC synagogue Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, which dates its founding to 1749, proudly calls itself the oldest Reform congregation of Judaism in America, even though Mickve Israel is also a Reform congregation. How to explain? Well, the Reform movement in Judaism entered into the US in the 1810s and 1820s, fueled by the modernizing tendencies of German Jews in Hamburg and Berlin. Charleston's Jewish community "caught on" first, thus claiming the honor of the oldest Reform congregation in the US.

I went into Mickve Israel for two reasons today. First, I saw that it had a docent who was eager to share about his congregation. But, the more important reason was that the Episcopalians wanted $7 from me to look at their church/parish house, while the Jews only charged me $3. When I went into the Charleston synagogue to ask the docent some questions on Sunday, I was wearing my "Champion Speller" T-shirt. The alert Charleston cop who was sitting in the synagogue lobby asked me to spell "docent." Today, however, I was wearing my "Mizzou" (U of MO) t-shirt, and no one asked me to spell anything.

Well, Mickve Israel wants other honors in addition to being the third oldest synagogue in the US. It thinks it may have the oldest Torah scroll in America. This deerskin scroll, in their upstairs museum, was written prior to the persecution of Jews in 1492 on the Iberian Peninsula. Why the Iberian Peninsula? Well, the congregation's founding members were almost all of Sephardic (Spanish/Portuguese) descent, who had fled the Inquisition in those parts by going to England in the 1720s. London's 6,000 member Jewish community was reluctant to take in great numbers of co-religionists and so they were sent off to GA in 1733 to take up residence in the Trustee Georgia. Though the earliest GA laws required religious tolerance, they also forbade Jews from residing in the colony. But probably because of the poor conditions in the colony, as well as some help by a doctor in the Jewish congregation in healing some people during a yellow fever outbreak in the 1730s, they were not asked to leave. They are still there, 270+ years later.

The next essay "finishes" my thoughts on Savannah.

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