Go To LOCAL HISTORICAL FORTS

CONRAD AIKEN MARKER Oglethorpe Ave. median between Abercorn and Lincoln
Born in Savannah in 1889, he was a writer of novels, short stories, critical essays and poetry. e received many literary awards including the Pulitzer Prize in 1930. He received almost every literary award possible and during his career he produced four novels, 40 short stories and many volumes of poetry. He eventually returned to Savannah where he lived on Oglethorpe Ave. next door to his boyhood home. He died in 1973 and is buried in Bonaventure Cemetery.

FRANCIS S. BARTOW MONUMENT Forsyth Park - South End.
This monument, unveiled in 1909, was originally in Chippewa square. Bartow was elected to the Confederate Congress and helped shape the Confederacy. He was born in 1816, and died at the first Battle of Bull Run. He is buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery. Bartow County was named in his honor.

WILLIAM BULL SUNDIAL, Johnson Square
The very first colonist placed a sundial in the center of Johnson Square. The current one was placed on the southern end of the square in 1933 to commemorate Georgia's 200th anniversary. William Bull, from South Carolina, was born in 1683 assisted Oglethorpe in locating a site for a new colony, and surveying and laying out the town. He died in 1755 and is buried in the church graveyard at Sheldon Plantation in South Carolina. Bull Street was named in his honor.

THE CELTIC CROSS, Emmet Park at Habersham Street
Placed in Emmit Park to honor those Georgians of Irish ancestry for their contributions to Savannah, to Georgia, and to the nation. The inscription reads "To Americans of Irish Descent, past, present, future. Erin Go Bragh."

CHATHAM COUNTY FIREFIGHTERS MEMORIAL
"BIG DUKE", Ogelthorpe Ave. between Abercorn and Drayton Streets
The bell was acquired by the city in 1873. For years it hung in Colonial Park Cemetery on a steel tower, used to sound the fire alarm. It was moved to it's present location in 1968.

CITY EXCHANGE FIRE BELL, Emmet Park west of Abercorn Street
Believed to be one of the oldest bells in Georgia, it was imported from Amsterdam and bears the date 1802. When the threat of fire was so great in the city, the bell was hung on the site of the present City Hall Building, and was manned each night to watch for fires. The bell was also used to signal the beginning of trading on the Savannah Cotton Exchange, and the closing time for shops in the city.

CONFEDERATE MONUMENT, Bull and Gwinnett Streets (center of Forsyth Park)
Designed by Robert Reid, it was erected in 1874 to honor the living and dead who served the Confederacy. The monument was made in Canada and arrived in Savannah by ship (so as to never touch Yankee soil). The monument, however, was not as grand as expected, so George Wymberly Jones DeRenne received permission to have a bronze solder placed on top of the monument in 1879.

FORSYTH FOUNTAIN, forsyth park
This cast iron fountain was erected in 1858 and is similar to the grand fountain in Paris in the Place de la Concorde. When first installed, it was thought to be the largest fountain in the country.

GORDON MONUMENT, Wright Square
The monument was designed by architects Henry Van Brunt and Frank M. Howe and completed in 1883. William Washington Gordon, born in 1796, was the first Georgian to graduate from West Point in 1815. Gordon promoted the concept of a railroad from Savannah to Macon (to access crops produced in the interior sections of the state). He became the founder and first president of Central Railroad and Banking Company of Georgia. Gordon died in 1842 and is buried at old St. Paul's Churchyard in Augusta. Gordon County and Gordon Street were both named in his honor.

OGLETHORPE MONUMENT, Chippewa Square
James Edward Oglethorpe was born in 1696, in London. After spending ten years in the new colony of Georgia, he returned to England. The monument was designed by Daniel Chester French, with the base designed by Henry Bacon. It was unveiled in 1910.

OLD HARBOR LIGHT, Emmet Park at East Broad Street
It was erected by the U.S. Government in 1858, as a beacon light to guide ships into
the harbor. The cast iron beacon stands 77 feet above the water level and is
illuminated by gas.

TOMOCHICHI MONUMENT, Wright Square
Tomochichi was born about 1650. His tribe occupied Yamacraw Bluff when the colonists arrived in 1733 .He moved his tribe 4 miles upriver to allow the colonists to settle on the bluff. In 1734, Oglethorpe took Tomochichi, his wife Senauki, his nephew and selected other chiefs of neighboring tribes, to England to meet the King George II.Tomochichi died in 1739 and the tribe abandoned their village, never to return. Tomochichi requested that he be buried with the colonists. He is buried in Wright Square with a pyramid of stones. His monument, the largest piece of granite in the state, was placed in 1882.