As the British out grew Charleston and the Carolinas, they sent James Oglethorpe south to establish Georgia and the port city of Savannah. He established Savannah under several strict laws including no slavery, no drinking, and no Catholics. His laws stuck for almost 10 years until he returned to England.
As a port town, it was difficult to keep the sailors from drinking. Today, Savannah has an open container law. You can drink on the streets as long as it is from a plastic cup. When you order a drink from a restaurant, they will ask “Is it for here or to go?”
The major problem with no slaves is that Georgia could not compete with South Carolina on prices. Georgia’s products were too expensive. Slavery was brought into Georgia initially for economic reasons.
The other interesting difference between the way Oglethorpe settled Savannah is he purchased the land from the Native American’s establishing a working relationship before they began to develop the city. The city was built on prime land with a high river bank. Good water and rich soils. Oglethorpe designed the streets and parks creating a master plan for Savannah before he set eyes on the land.
While in Savannah, we toured the Owens-Thomas house built in the 1830’s. Designed by a progressive, young English architect. The home was complete with a master suite, walk-in closet, indoor plumbing, and a toilet. There were additional bathrooms on the top floor and showers in the basement. It was the first home with indoor plumbing in America. It was the only home of its kind for another 10 years.
The home was divided between areas of “conservation” and areas of “restoration”. The upper 2 floors were restored to match the 1830’s period. The basement was been conserved to help further knowledge of how slaves lived and worked. In the basement, the bathroom was conserved in such a way that we could see the foundation walls made of oyster shells, lime, and sand also known as “tabby” as well as the plumbing.
One of our favorite rooms was dedicated to learning more about the enslaved. Since it was against the law to teach a slave to read or write, there is little written documentation on their lives. In this room, historians were using letters written between the family members that lived in the home to learn things about the slaves that they owned.
We spent the rest of our time in Savannah walking the streets and waterfront. To close our visit, we took a ghost tour to hear about the underbelly of the city. A trip to Savannah would not be complete without an evening walk to the cemetery.
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