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'Jewel of the South': Savannah's Historic District
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17930 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
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4 / 1999 |
2,798 Words |
| Author
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Stephen Henkin
Stephen Henkin is an arts editor for The World & I. |
Information on Savannah can be accessed on the Internet at: savcvb.com Additional Reading
William Tecumseh Sherman was so enchanted by Savannah that on his destructive march through Georgia during the Civil War he refused to burn it down. Instead, he presented the charming coastal city to President Lincoln as a "Christmas gift." Today Savannah's magnificent architecture is still fascinating Yankees (and lots of others)--to the tune of over five million visitors a year.
Once characterized by Lady Astor of England in 1946 as "a beautiful woman with a dirty face," Savannah has been reborn as one of the Top Ten tourist--and walkable--cities in the United States. During a great reawakening in the forties, neglected squares and a ratty wharf became the target of renewed civic pride. The local government began to stop urban developers from tearing down some elegant old structures and vastly improved the city's considerable landscaping.
Savannah is now a place of intriguing historic architecture complemented by oasis-like squares. There are no Planet Hollywoods or Hard Rock Caf?--they just would not fit in. But Mercer House, a comely, red brick Italianate-style structure on Monterey Square where composer Johnny Mercer was born, somehow seems most appropriate.
2,000 Buildings
The city possesses not only the nation's largest registered urban-historic district but also the highest concentration of nineteenth-century buildings. This "Jewel of the South" contains about 2,000 structures, 1,100 of which are considered historically significant, in an area roughly 1 mile wide by 1.5 miles long, making it a walker's paradise.
An innovative city plan conceived by founding father James Oglethorpe in 1733 provides for 22 lush squares (originally 24), making rest simple for tourists. Heralded as a masterpiece, the plan earned the city a National Historic Landmark designation in 1966. (The designated area extends from East Broad Street to West Broad Street, now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and from the Savannah River to Gaston Street.) Indeed, Savannah's historic architectural heritage, city plan, and squares are recognized worldwide as civic treasures.
"Savannah is a lovely, gentle, sad old city. You can walk through the shadowy, cobbled streets of the town on a
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