SAVANNAH, a city of south-eastern Georgia, U.S.A., on the Savannah river, 18 m. from the Atlantic ocean; a port of entry and the county seat of Chatham county. It is on Federal highways 17 and 8o; has a municipal airport; and is served by the Atlantic Coast Line, the Central of Georgia, the Savannah and Atlanta, the Seaboard Air Line and the Southern railways, and by steamship lines operating to both American coasts and to foreign ports. Pop. 83,252 in 1920 (47% negroes) ; and 85,024 in 1930.
The city occupies 7.4 sq.m. on a plateau 42 ft. above the river. It has retained and extended the original ground plan (designed by Oglethorpe) of broad, straight streets, interspersed at fre quent and regular intervals with grassy squares and parks, which now cover altogether 898 acres. Many dwellings of colonial archi tecture and buildings of historic interest still remain; there are numerous statues and monuments to local and national heroes ; and charm is added by thousands of shade trees and many sub-tropical plants. A granite seat marks the spot where Oglethorpe first pitched his tent. Gen. Nathanael Greene is buried under a monu ment erected to his memory in 1829. Christ church, now occupy ing its third building (erected 1838), was organized by George Whitefield in 1740, and its third rector was John Wesley, who established here the first Protestant Sunday-school in America. The First African Baptist church dates its history from 1788. Ten miles south of Savannah is Bethesda, the oldest orphan asylum in the United States, founded by Whitefield in 1740. "The Hermit age," 5 m. N., is a 500 ac. plantation on the river, settled in 1783, with many of the slave huts and other ante-bellum buildings still standing. "Wormsloe," at the south end of Isle of Hope, is occupied by lineal descendants of Capt. Noble Jones, to whom it was originally granted by George II. At "Mulberry Grove," the estate given by Congress to Gen. Greene, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin while he was a guest there in 1793. Bonaventure cemetery, with its winding avenues of live-oaks draped with Span ish moss, is one of the country's most beautiful burial-grounds.
Savannah has the oldest theatre in the United States still in active use (established 1818), the oldest golf club (I8i 1), and the oldest brick house in the State. The city itself is a favourite winter resort for many Northerners, and there are many bathing beaches, fishing grounds and other pleasure resorts near by, including Tybee island (5 sq.m.) at the mouth of the Savannah
river, Montgomery, Thunderbolt and Isle of Hope (where there is a diamond-back terrapin farm). The United States Department of Agriculture has an experimental bamboo farm 12 M. from the city.
Savannah is one of the leading South Atlantic ports. Its water borne commerce in 1927 amounted to of which $115,118,264 represented foreign trade, largely exports of raw cotton and naval stores. In 1927 the output of ioi manufacturing establishments situated within the city was valued at $13,573,168. Its cotton warehouses can store f,000,000 bales, and the two f uel oil storage plants have a capacity of 16,000,000 gallons. Chief among the manufactures are fertilizers, rosin and turpentine, cot ton-seed products and sugar. Bank debits exceed $1,000,000,000 annually. The assessed valuation of the city's taxable property for 1927 was $77,879,118.
The first European settlement in Georgia was made at Savannah in Feb. 1733, by James Edward Oglethorpe. Charles and John Wesley arrived in 1735, and George Whitefield was here in 1738 and 1740-42. Until its capture by the British in 1778, Savannah was the seat of government of Georgia. The first legislature met here on Jan. 1, 1755; the first Provincial Congress on Jan. 18, 1775 and a second on July 4, soon after which the royal Govern ment collapsed and the city was administered by a Council of Safety. Loyalist sentiment was strong, and many families were divided among themselves. From Oct. 1776 to Feb. 1777, the convention which framed the first State Constitution of Georgia was in session in Savannah, and the first State legislature as sembled here in May 1778, but on Dec. 9, the British captured the city, and the seat of government was then transferred to Augusta. In May 1782 the British evacuated, after a short siege by Gen. Anthony Wayne, and Savannah was again the capital for a few months. It was chartered as a city in 1789, and soon became a commercial rival of Charleston. In 1819 the first steamship to cross the Atlantic (the "Savannah," built by Savannah capital in the North) sailed from Savannah to Liver pool in 25 days. The convention which adopted Georgia's Ordi nance of Secession met here in 1861. The port was blockaded by the Federal Government early in the war, and on Dec. 12, 1862, Ft. Pulaski, commanding the channel at the mouth of the river, was forced to capitulate. Savannah was the objective of Sherman's "march to the sea," and surrendered to him on Dec. 21, 1864.