Savannah

1. Savannah A Description by Peter Gordon to the Trustees

2. Oglethorpe • Praised Oglethorpe for his “indefatigable zeal in carrying on our affairs, conducting the building of the town, keeping peace, laying out of lands, supplying the stores with provisions, encouraging the fainthearted, etc.”

3. Town • On a bluff 40 feet above the high water on the river.

4. Houses • 40 houses • “timber and clapboard with shingle roofs” • “Oglethorpe still lay in the tent set up before the houses were built.”

5. Defense • Twelve guns set up on the river front. • Two blockhouses with four guns each.

6. Crops • “Kitchen roots and herbs” which the Trustees had sent over did not do very well. • Colonists had not done a great deal of work in clearing their lands and planting crops because they had been busy building their houses. • Told them that the grapes would do well and would provide employment for the colonists. • Also, he expected the silk business to thrive.

7. Indians • 40 Indians living in nearby town • They “live in great friendship with us, as we do with them.”

8. Sickness • Avoided telling the Trustees of the deaths. • Only said that “several of our people have fallen sick by drinking the river water.” • Said that when he left Georgia “the people were healthy and orderly.”

9. Fish • River was full of all of sorts of fish • “and particularly sturgeon”

10. Sketch • To give the Trustees a better understanding of the new town of Savannah, Gordon produced a rough sketch. • Showing “its situation, and manner it was laid out in, as likewise the form and elevation of all the houses and other public buildings.” • The Trustees ordered Gordon to “get a complete drawing made of it.” • Oglethorpe arrived in England some months later and gave Gordon additional information on what had been added to the colony since he had left Savannah.

11. Payment • The Trustees gave 16 guineas to Gordon for his draft. • They ordered that the draft be engraved in the year 1734.

12. Idea for Design • Savannah’s plan is among the most researched and analyzed in the history of city planning. • Disagreement exists about exactly where Oglethorpe and Colonel William Bull (Royal Governor of South Carolina) got the idea for the layout of Savannah... Northern Ireland Influence? Architect Robert Castell (friend of Oglethorpe)? Royal Estates of King George II? City of London Design?

13. Layout • Basic Design= Square shaped unit called a “ward” • At the center of each ward was a large, open space called a square. • The four corners of each ward contained a “tything” (consisted of 10 house lots each). • These 10 house lots were reserved for the private homes of the settlers. • Each house lot measured 60 by 90 feet. • Ten men in each tything were ready to bear arms at all times. • The squares served as assembly points and drilling spaces for those militiamen. In case of attack, farm animals and colonists could take refuge in the squares. • East and West of the Squares/Wards = Trust Lots (Reserved for public structures like churches, banks, or government buildings).

15. First House • Peter Gordon wrote the following in his journal for March 1, 1733: “The first house in the square was framed and raised, Mr. Oglethorpe driving the first pin. We are now divided into different gangs and each gang had their proper labor assigned to them, so that we proceeded in our labor much more regular than before (with) as set of shingle makers and a sufficient number of ... sawyers who were hired from Carolina to be assisting us.”