A Short Visit

Owens-Thomas House sits on Oglethorpe Square where Moravian Monument stands

Savannah was and is the home to many ethnic groups. The Moravians were one of the earliest groups to come to Savannah. They arrived in Savannah on April 6, 1735. Yet they lived the shortest amount of time In Savannah. In fact their time here has been described as “a failed prelude to building bigger and better things to come.”
Protestants were needed not only to protect Charleston from Spanish military takeover but to create a religious buffer between Spanish- Catholics in Florida and French-Catholics in Louisiana. The first group of Moravians were ten men who after nine weeks at sea finally reached their new home. They were to be the first wave of Moravians and they were expected to lay the groundwork for many more Moravians. They included masons, carpenters, weavers, gardener and game-keeper. They were granted 500 acres outside of Savannah to develop and one hundred acres in Savannah.
Their leader Zinzendorf instructed them: “You must live alone, establishing your own little corner, where your customs will irritate no one...Your one aim will be to establish a little place near the heathen where you may gather together the dispersed in Israel, patiently win back the wayward, and instruct the heathen tribes.” One of their early friends in the colony was Tomochichi the mico of the Yamacraws who lived near Savannah. Tomochichi would let them start a school to educate the people of his tribe.
By all appearances they were going to be a great asset to the new colony. They were industrious. They finished their cabin in six days and layed out ten acres of garden on plots outside of town in less than two weeks. The first ten men were successful and a second group of 25 men and women arrived on February 23, 1736.
But with the second group they began to create a critical and potentially politically strong group in Savannah. This caused a closer inspection of their beliefs by the other older settlers of Savannah. What they found disturbed them. The group desired to unite the Christian churches into one. And they were very missionary in their promotion of this idea as they thought it was their peculiar call to make this happen. They also accepted women preaching and holding religious offices something most Protestants were against at that time. They also were opposed to slavery and started evangelizing the slaves. But probably the most disturbing religious belief was their pacifism which may them refused to bear arms. One of the most important responsibilities of the Georgians was to keep the Spanish and French from entering in and settling the so called ‘disputed lands’. This put them at odds with most of their fellow colonists for it was everyone’s duty to help create an army to keep the Spanish and French out.
The group because of these conflicts with their fellow colonists and their own internal conflicts were doomed for failure. Thus by 1740 they had dwindled down to six. Their vision and the hopes they had for Georgia were never to be realized. The remaining six would follow others who had abandoned Georgia and left for what turned out to be greener pastures in Pennsylvania.
Yet this group would leave their mark on America. They had introduced John Wesley who had traveled by ship with them to Savannah to a more pietistic religion which led to his eventual founding of Methodism. They had started and India mission which educated the Native American outside of Savannah in English and European ways. But more importantly it marked the beginnings of the Moravians very successful settlement in North America. The community was an important part of the ongoing evangelical revival that swept Europe and the colonies of North America referred to as the Great Awakening.
Today there are over 60,000 Moravian church members. The towns of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Emmaus, and Lititz, Pennsylvania, were founded as Moravian communities and were influential in settling North Carolina with a settlement in Winston-Salem. This small influential group had its beginnings in the city of Savannah. One of the only remains of their presence here in Savannah is a small monument in  Oglethorpe Square.

---