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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS
NOTE: There are numerous monuments that are not listed on this page. On the Squares
and Parks page, the monuments within each square are listed. We recommend
a tour to see all the monuments and markers in Savannah.
SEE LISTING OF 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
Fforsyth 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. |
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