James Oglethorpe
1696 to 1785
Founder of Georgia and planner of Savannah
Founders and leaders
James Oglethorpe was a British army officer and member of Parliament who investigated the cruelty of debtors' prisons and then led the founding of Georgia. In 1733 he landed at Yamacraw Bluff, where the Yamacraw leader Tomochichi agreed to the settlement, with Mary Musgrove interpreting. At his urging the colony's trustees banned slavery and rum, though both bans were later dropped.
His real monument is the town plan: wards built around open squares, a pattern Savannah kept extending long after he left. Johnson Square, laid out in 1733, was the first. Walk Bull Street south from City Hall and you are walking his plan, square after square, each with its own trees and monument. His own statue, by Daniel Chester French on a pedestal by Henry Bacon, was unveiled in Chippewa Square in 1910.
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Where to meet them
Savannah
- Savannah City HallStop 3, Savannah, the River, the Squares and Forsyth Park
- Johnson SquareStop 4, Savannah, the River, the Squares and Forsyth Park
- Wright SquareStop 5, Savannah, the River, the Squares and Forsyth Park
- Chippewa SquareStop 8, Savannah, the River, the Squares and Forsyth Park
- Forsyth Park and the fountainStop 12, Savannah, the River, the Squares and Forsyth Park