Immediately after the first settlers arrived in February 1733, James Oglethorpe began to lay out his plan for the new city. Today historians and city planners debate where he got his inspiration—perhaps from Old English, Roman, or Chinese designs. Oglethorpe designed Savannah as a pattern of grids with wide streets, interconnected neighborhoods and shady public squares, the very design that residents and visitors enjoy today. His plan for Savannah was an easily repeatable system of self-sufficient wards. Each ward had forty building lots, four trust lots (for churches, schools and other public purposes), and one public square. Each building lot was assigned a five-acre garden lot inside the town boundaries and a forty-five-acre farm lot outside the boundaries.

Oglethorpe’s grid design makes the historical district of Savannah very easy to understand and especially to navigate on foot. Take a look at this modern-day map and begin to get acquainted with the simple and distinctive layout of historic Savannah.

Today Savannah's plan is considered a masterpiece in the history of American city planning. Author and architect John Massengale called it "the most intelligent grid in America, perhaps the world." Oglethorpe's plan of squares and streets for Savannah is "so exalted that it remains as one of the finest diagrams for city organization and growth in existence," said Philadelphia planner and author Edmund Bacon. The area of the original Savannah plan was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1966, and in 1977 The American Society of Civil Engineers designated the city plan of Savannah as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Although there is some uncertainty about its accuracy, the drawing below (“View of Savannah as it Stood the 29th of March, 1734") is the oldest representation of Savannah’s city plan that remains today.

Learn more about the original plan for Savannah:

Savannah City Plan

See a map of Savannah from 1796 (from the Library of Congress website):

Map of Savannah - 1796

Join us for The Great Slow Travel Gathering - Savannah, Georgia - April 4 to 6, 2008

Kathy

Wow--is it Sunday already?!

thanks Kathy for the great info.

Keep up the good work.
jan

This is really interesting info for a history buff like me.

Thanks again for all of these weekly Savannah enticements Kathy!

All The Best,

I'm a great fan of Savannah but although I'm neither an historian nor a city planner, the layout of the historic centre seemed obvious to me when I first saw it.

It seems to be clearly based on the Bastide towns of Aquitaine in France. These were built by both sides in the 100 Years War.

Oglethorpe was an army officer and would have known about the defensive capabilities of such plans.

Interestingly, another city planned by an army officer (Colonel Light) is Adelaide, South Australia, which has a similar layout.

I think this is going to be great!