You’re walking down a cobblestone street, the air is thick enough to wear, and Spanish moss is dripping off live oaks like green chandeliers. It feels old. Like, really old. If you’ve ever stood in Johnson Square and wondered exactly when was the city of savannah founded, you aren't just looking for a date on a plaque. You're looking for the moment a desperate social experiment turned into the Hostess City of the South.
February 12, 1733.
That is the date. But the date is just a number. The "why" and the "how" are way more interesting than a dusty calendar entry. Imagine a ship called the Anne dropping anchor after months at sea. James Oglethorpe didn't just stumble onto a beach; he had a very specific, very weird plan for what this place was supposed to be.
The Day the Anne Arrived at Yamacraw Bluff
Savannah wasn't born in a vacuum. It was born on a riverbank. On that chilly February day in 1733, 114 settlers stepped off a boat onto Yamacraw Bluff. Honestly, they were probably exhausted, terrified, and incredibly relieved to see solid ground.
Oglethorpe was a visionary, but he was also kind of a micromanager. He had spent years lobbying King George II for a charter. Why? Because British prisons were overflowing with "worthy poor"—people who weren't necessarily criminals but had fallen into debt. Oglethorpe wanted a "buffer" colony. South Carolina was a cash cow for the British, and the Spanish in Florida were looking at it with hungry eyes. Georgia was meant to be the firewall.
When they landed, they weren't alone. They met Tomochichi, the chief of the Yamacraw Indians. This is where the story usually gets sanitized, but the reality is fascinating. Without Tomochichi and a local translator named Mary Musgrove—who was half-Creek, half-British—the settlement probably would have folded in six months. They negotiated. They didn't just fight. That’s a huge reason why Savannah survived those first brutal years.
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Why 1733 Changed Everything for the American South
Before the city existed, the "South" was a very different concept. When Savannah was founded in 1733, it was the first planned city in America. Oglethorpe didn't want a chaotic mess of alleys. He wanted order.
He designed the Savannah Plan.
Think about the squares. Those twenty-two iconic parks that define the downtown today? They weren't just for picnics. They were designed for military training and fire protection. Each "ward" had a square at the center, with trust lots for public buildings and tithing lots for houses. It was genius. It was symmetrical. It was also deeply restrictive.
The Strange Rules of Early Savannah
You might think of the early South as a place of plantations and whiskey. Not in 1733. Oglethorpe had some very strict "No"s for his new utopia:
- No Lawyers: He thought they just stirred up trouble. (Kinda funny, right?)
- No Catholics: Fear of Spanish influence from Florida made them persona non grata.
- No Hard Liquor: Beer and wine were fine, but rum was strictly banned.
- No Slavery: This is the big one people forget. Oglethorpe initially banned slavery because he wanted the "worthy poor" to work the land themselves and remain a hardy militia.
Of course, these rules didn't last. By the 1750s, the settlers grumbled enough that the bans on rum and slavery were lifted, fundamentally changing the trajectory of Georgia's economy and social fabric forever. It shifted from a small-farmer experiment to a plantation powerhouse.
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The Misconceptions About Savannah’s "Debt" History
People always say Savannah was a "debtor's colony."
That’s a bit of a myth.
While the idea started with helping people in debtor's prison, very few of the original 114 settlers were actually pulled from a jail cell. Most were tradesmen—carpenters, bakers, tailors—people with skills who were just looking for a fresh start. They were "the working poor," not necessarily "the imprisoned." They were looking for a chance to own land, something that was basically impossible back in England.
How to Experience the 1733 History Today
If you visit today, you can literally walk the footprint of 1733.
Go to Bay Street. Look down at the Factors Walk. The "Bluff" where they landed is still there, though it's covered in historic brick and warehouses now.
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Key Sites for the History Buff
- The Waving Girl Statue: It's near where the Anne would have been seen.
- Johnson Square: The first square laid out. It’s the heartbeat of the original plan.
- The Georgia Historical Society: They hold the actual documents from the era.
Understanding when Savannah was founded helps you realize it wasn't just about building houses; it was about building a wall against the Spanish and a ladder for the poor. It was a messy, complicated, and beautiful attempt at a perfect society.
The city survived fires. It survived the Civil War (thanks to a very famous telegram to Abraham Lincoln). It survived the Great Depression. But it all traces back to that one afternoon on the bluff in 1733.
Practical Steps for Your Historical Visit
If you're planning a trip to see where it all began, don't just take a trolley tour and call it a day.
- Start at the Savannah History Museum. It’s located in a 19th-century railway shed and gives you the broad strokes of the 1733 landing.
- Walk the Squares in order. Start with the "original six" (Johnson, Percival—now Wright, Ellis, St. James—now Telfair, Upper City—now Oglethorpe, and Lower City—now Reynolds). You can feel the city expanding as you walk south away from the river.
- Visit the First African Baptist Church. While founded later (1773), it represents the complex evolution of the city’s population that began shortly after the founding.
- Check out the "Old Fort Jackson." It’s a short drive away, but it explains why the location of the 1733 settlement was so strategic for river defense.
Savannah isn't a museum; it's a living city that happens to be built on top of a very old dream. When you see the date 1733, remember the 114 people who thought they were moving to the edge of the world. In a way, they were.
To get the most out of your visit, grab a map of the original Oglethorpe Plan. Trace the wards. Notice how the streets narrow and widen. It’s the closest thing to time travel you’ll find in the American South. Don't just look at the houses—look at the spaces between them. That’s where the real history lives.