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SavannahA Description
by Peter Gordon to the Trustees
OglethorpePraised 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.”
TownOn a bluff 40 feet above the high water on the river.
Houses40 houses “timber and clapboard with shingle roofs”
“Oglethorpe still lay in the tent set up before the houses were built.”
DefenseTwelve guns set up on the river front.
Two blockhouses with four guns each.
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.
Indians40 Indians living in nearby town
They “live in great friendship with us, as we do with them.”
SicknessAvoided 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.”
FishRiver was full of all of sorts of fish
“and particularly sturgeon”
SketchTo 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.
PaymentThe Trustees gave 16 guineas to Gordon for his draft.
They ordered that the draft be engraved in the year 1734.
Idea for DesignSavannah’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?
LayoutBasic 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).
First HousePeter 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.”
