Savannah

General Oglethorpe set about the job of drawing up a plan for the city. His design featured a layout of squares, miniature parks to serve as an organizing system. Houses, churches and businesses would surround each square. Savannah would have 23 separate squares. Each square would be unique.

Savannah's history is rich with blessings and struggles. As the Civil War was coming to an end in 1864, General William T. Sherman captured Savannah and presented the city as a Christmas gift to President Lincoln. Savannah's charm did not go unnoticed even by her captors. She was spared the fate of so many other Southern cities that were burned to the ground during Sherman's legendary March to the Sea. History records that Gen. Sherman resided at the Green-Meldrim House on Madison Square and conducted business operations in a building on Bay Street.

In the twentieth century, the fifth decade, seven women established the Historic Savannah Foundation. These women originally came together to save the Davenport House just hours before the demolition was scheduled.

Present day Savannah embraces expansion as she clings to her past. Oglethorpe's sageness is called upon today as the city wrestles with the intrusions of modern life. Questions like how many stories will buildings be allowed and whether the plans for a new art building will interrupt the lanes Oglethorpe laid out almost 3 centuries ago, are addressed frequently.

The Savannah Morning News records, "Time has been kind to the city's squares. Some of its buildings have survived war, modern construction and the automobile. These facts stand equally divided between luck and forethought.

A visit to the historic district offers a pleasing eyeful of the Hostess City of the South's past and present beauty. DeSoto might certainly find the answer to his puzzle today as Savannah glistens as brightly as a golden nugget.

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