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Historical Ruminations

Savannah’s and Savannahians contributions to our country are often overlooked by us. Robin Williams, a professor and chair of the Architectural History Department at SCAD, says although Savannah is small it punches out of its weight class. He compared it to a welter weight who can punch and fight in the heavy weight division. The posts in this section will look at some of the ways that this is true.
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Here is Michael Freeman's new book on Savannah. It tells a story not often told of the Creeks and the Native American Creeks who lived in Savannah during its founding. You might  even  say Tomochichi and Mary Musgrove were co-founders of Georgia. 

A Good Catholic Boy

1/27/2017

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​Savannah is known for its writers. We have two Pulitzer Prize winners Conrad Aiken for poetry and James Alan Macpherson for short stories. We also have the Queen of Southern writers Flannery O’Connor and the founder of the writing clubs Zona Rosa also known as acclaimed writer Rosemary Daniell. We have New York Times religious bestseller writer Bruce Feiler and of course Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil written by John Berendt. Then there was Chris Fuhrman born in Savannah New Year’s Day in 1960. Chris Fuhrman graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and earned his master's degree from Columbia University. His one book The Dangerous Lives Of Altar Boys was his debut and only novel. The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys was published posthumously in 1994. It opened to great praise and would be made into a movie by Jodie Foster. He was thirty when he wrote the novel and that was the year he died of cancer.

The story is a coming of age story of three boys who attended Catholic School here in Savannah in the early 1970s. Francis Doyle, Tim Sullivan, and their three closest friends are altar boys at Blessed Heart Catholic Church and eighth-grade classmates at the parish school. They are creative students who love a good prank and find adults a bit humorous. They write a comic book called Sodom vs. Gomorrah '74. The comic book depicts Blessed Heart's nuns and priests breaking the Seventh Commandment. But much to their dismay the comic falls into the hands of the principal. The gang conspire to create a diversion grand enough to make everyone forget their comic and thus avoid the parents’ and principal’s wrath. And from there the story takes all sorts of hilarious twist and turns while they continue their school day routine and the initiatory rites of male adolescence.

The cover of the book looks like a comic book a lifelong passion of Fuhrman. But the content inside is poignant prose. It was made into a movie with Jodie Foster and Emile Hirsch as stars. The characters’ thoughts are sometimes portrayed by animation by noted animator Todd Macfarlane to emphasize the juvenile and creative thinking of the characters. It was an independent movie that Rotten Tomatoes critics rated at 77%. The New York Times called it a "bracingly truthful" coming-of-age film from the directorial debut of Peter Care. In 2002, the film and director Care won the award for Best New Filmmaker from the Boston Society of Film Critics. In 2003, the film won for Best First Feature. The film was not able to be made in Savannah at the Catholic locales because of its controversial nature. It would also not premiere in Savannah for what one presumes were similar reasons.
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The book is still in print over twenty years after its first printing. It is considered by many as a coming of age cult classic. It is a good read and leaves you wondering what other stories lay within such a fertile mind. Fuhrman died On May 01, 1991. His funeral service was held at the Oatland Island Education Center. He stands today as one of Savannah’s lesser literary lights.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



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No Bull I Helped Build Savannah

1/21/2017

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Picture The Bull Monument

​William Bull (1683 – March 21, 1755) was more or less a visitor to our fair city. He stayed here less than two years but made remarkable contributions to our fair city. Some people believe that Oglethorpe and the good ship Anne came from England straight to Savannah. But Oglethorpe and the early settlers had never been to America and had yet to know of the land we now call Savannah. They stopped at the already settled city of Charleston to resupply and garner advice for where they should settle in what would be called Georgia.

Governor Johnson of South Carolina suggested a place south of Savannah but Oglethorpe would decide that it was too close to the Spanish in Florida. So he took some of the more prominent settlers and at the time a man called Col. William Bull of Charleston with him. William’s father Samuel had been an original settler of the Carolinas and had established the Ashley Hall Plantation. William was really of old Charleston blood. He was an up and comer in the life of South Carolina.

William Bull knew the coast of Georgia well from trading with the Native Americans there. So he took Oglethorpe and his settlers to different locations on the coast to see if any suited Oglethorpe. When Oglethorpe saw the bluff and natural harbor at what we now call Savannah he knew he had found a home for his settlers. The Savannah location offered a bluff for protection against incursions from the Spanish and a harbor for welcoming new settlers and supply ships.

Col. Bull because of his skills in architecture and the different materials to build with directed the building of the early structures and residents of Savannah. But it was his engineering skills that have literally left his mark on Savannah. Bull offered his counsel and the actual laying out of the city plan that Oglethorpe envisioned. This urban layout is internationally known as the Oglethorpe Plan. For these contributions probably Savannah’s most prominent street is named after him: Bull Street.

In Savannah’s first square, Johnson Square, is found a sundial in his honor. There is a mosaic of Peter Gordon’s map of Savannah in 1734.Gordon had traveled with Oglethorpe and Bull on the first expeditionary trip establishing Savannah on Yamacraw Bluff.

Col William Bull would later serve as governor of South Carolina from 1738-44. Bull served as a militia officer in the Tuscarora and Yamassee Indian Wars. As governor his most notable act was his brisk suppression of the Stono River Slave Rebellion (September 1739), and the resulting legislation that restricted the activities of free blacks as well as slaves. His son William Bull Jr. would also serve South Carolina as governor.

An anecdote of Governor Bull was while walking one day before his residence and the State House, he was met by a plain, uneducated back-country man, who stopped and stared at him with open mouth. The governor also stopped and civilly asked the country man, "what is the matter, friend?" The fellow replied, "Really, Mister, you are the ugliest man that I ever saw in my life." The governor smiled as if neither surprised nor displeased, and with much good humor said, "But you would not say so if you had seen my brother.’

I do not know about his looks or his attitudes about slavery but I do know in the settling of Savannah he shares a place of honor.

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Map Mosaic of Savannah at base of Bull Monument
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All Creatures Big and Small

1/13/2017

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PictureCohen's Humane Fountain

​Savannah has had some very generous philanthropists but Percival Randolph Cohen is one of the least recognized but more generous. He was the CEO of the Savannah Compress Company. His philantrophy would be wide and deep. At his death he sealed his prominence as one of Savannah’s great men.
 
He left $50,000 in his will to build Cohen’s Old Man’s Retreat to house thirty-one retired railroad workers or men in need of a home to stay after they could no longer work. He wanted to build a facility 'where men would not die old and lonely". The building was big and beautiful. Today the building is home to Cohen’s Retreat Restaurant and other shops on Skidaway Island Road. He also left $63,000 to the Bethesda Home for Boys, to build one of their residential homes. It is named Cohen Cottage and still stands today.
 
Cohen also left a gift of $40,000 to the Froebel Circle, named after the founder of the kindergarten movement, German Frederick Froebel. The group was founded by local innovative educator and activist Nina Pape. The work of the Circle was to be directed toward increasing the health and happiness of underprivileged children. This gift made it possible for the Circle to erect a building known as the Cohen Shelter for Little Ones on Tybee Island. The largest building on their campus.  On April 15, 1929, the cornerstone, that included a box containing corn, wine, and oil, emblematic of plenty, the spirit of joy, and the spirit of peace, was laid. The box also contained a copy of the Savannah Morning News, a copy of Mr. Cohen’s will, a history of the Froebel Circle, a coin of the year 1898, and a coin of the year 1928.127 The summer camp for needy children is still active today.
 
Cohen also left $1,500 in his will to the city of Savannah for a drinking fountain for horses and mules that were the workhorses for transporting cotton to and fro on Factor’s Walk. One can imagine he often watched the horses on hot days trudging along and felt compassion for them. The only problem was that when he included the fountain in his will and, by the time he died, things had changed. We were quickly moving into an automobile culture and horses and mules were to be found on farms, but not urban areas. The city hired one of its best architects, Henrik Wallin, to design the fountain. He’d designed various buildings around town including the Armstrong House (which would become the birthplace of Armstrong Atlantic State University), the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Wallin Hall, and the major renovation and redesign of First Baptist Church to name three. To solve the problem of the fountain for animals that were no longer seen on the streets of Savannah, he designed it with a birdbath on top and water for dogs underneath. Initially, the Fountain stood in the middle of the wide, brick-paved intersection of Bay and Whitaker Streets. But in 1945, as automobile traffic increased, the city moved the Fountain to Victory Drive and Bull Street.
 
Through his will, Cohen cared for the less fortunate. His will offered respite for the old, the orphaned, and impoverished children. The concept of taking under-privileged children to the beach for two weeks to experience the benefits of fresh air, exercise, and the beauty of nature was innovative for that time. Remarkably, Cohen’s mandate also included a gift to the animals. And one could infer from its title Cohen Humane Fountain. He was a member of the local chapter of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He thought it humane to include the animals in our concerns and care. Today, many thousands pass this gift for work-animals everyday, but few will know the heart of the man who gave it to Savannah.

​Percival Randolph Cohen was laid to rest in Laurel Grove Cemetery on April 21, 1927 at the family site. Cohen's grave reads, "The memory of the just is blessed".

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Cohen's Retreat for Old Men
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Cohen Shelter for Little Ones on Tybee Island
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Button Gwinnett Monument:  Can’t a Fellow Have a Moment’s Peace?

1/6/2017

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THIS IS AN EDITED EXCERPT FROM SAVANNAH'S MONUMENTS: THE UNTOLD STORIES

 
Button Gwinnett was Savannah’s only signer of the Declaration of Independence—and also the signer we know the least about. He died before the signers would become revered as they are now. His life was cut short by a duel, making him the first signer to die. The short life and the few copies of his signature is why it is the most valuable of all of the signers. In his fleeting moment on this earth he was able to accomplish a lot. He wrote the draft of Georgia’s first state constitution, was a prosperous planter, became speaker of the general assembly in Georgia, and the governor of Georgia. The infamous duel was with his chief political rival Lachlan McIntosh. While in Congress, Gwinnett was in line with McIntosh to be the Brigadier General of the Georgia Continental Brigade, which was being organized. Gwinnett was passed over and McIntosh was made the general. While in office, Gwinnett organized an invasion of the British-held east Florida to ensure that the Spanish did not hold any ideas of invasion or encroachment, while the colony was at war with Britain. Gwinnett wanted to lead these troops himself, but as a busy governor it was not possible. Bypassing rival McIntosh, Gwinnett appointed another officer to lead the military effort. The invasion was a disaster. This was the likely reason Gwinnett lost his re-election as governor in 1777. During Gwinnett’s run for office, McIntosh openly blamed Gwinnett for the failed campaign. Gwinnett, who was cleared of wrongdoing in a formal inquiry, felt that McIntosh’s public criticism questioned his honor. He formally challenged McIntosh to a duel. The two met on May 16, 1777, at the estate of Governor Wright near Thunderbolt outside of Savannah. Both men fired almost simultaneously and both were struck. McIntosh survived, but Gwinnett died three days later, when his shattered leg bone turned gangrenous. McIntosh was later accused of murder, but was exonerated in an official inquiry.
 Many years later, in 1957, retired school principal Authur Funk was at the National Portrait Gallery gazing at a painting of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Being a Savannahian, he noticed the absence of Button Gwinnett. When Funk asked the curator why this was, the curator stated that there was not much information about Gwinnett and especially how he looked. This sparked an interest in Funk that would lead him in search of the historical Button Gwinnett and to the development of a monument to Gwinnett. One of the first things Funk decided to do was to locate where Gwinnett was buried. It turned out no one really knew. In a city that prided itself on preserving its history, they had no idea where its signer of the Declaration of Independence was buried. Funk eventually came across some documents that led his search to the historic Colonial Cemetery in downtown Savannah. After much exploration, Funk found where he believed Gwinnett was buried and, upon digging, found what he believed were the remains of Gwinnett. The bones he found were to create quite a stir.
He immediately sent the bones to an expert affiliated with the Smithsonian Institute. The Smithsonian expert said these were not the bones of Gwinnett. But some of the expert’s findings were based on false and misguided premises. Other experts would contradict the Smithsonian’s expert. Eventually, to try to get clarification on the matter, the state of Georgia would create a commission to make the final official judgment of whether these bones were indeed Gwinnett’s. . The state commission disputed the findings of the Smithsonian expert point by point in their report and declared that most likely they were the bones of Gwinnett.
 To add to the intrigue, the city of Augusta, Georgia, laid claim to the bones. Augusta had a signer’s monument in their downtown that already had Georgia’s other two signers (Lyman Hall and George Walton) buried beneath it. Therefore, in a formal letter, Augusta’s mayor and city council contended they had rights to the remains to Gwinnett’s remains. The Savannah and Augusta papers were filled with editorials claiming the bones for their respective cities. This is how the great battle for Gwinnett’s bones began.
The battle pressed on but, in truth, no state official wanted to handle this hot potato. During all of this, Funk ran for state representative from the Savannah area. He won. Although he said it was not the reason he had run for office, he put forth legislation for funding a monument in Savannah to honor the remains of Gwinnett. It passed. But not before Spencer Grayson, another Savannah delegate, declared jokingly, “I only voted for this measure to get Gwinnett’s bones out of Senator Funk’s living room.” Because the issue of the true proprietorship of the bones was in question and the fear of grave robbers, Funk had the remains in a sealed coffin in his house for the prior five and a half years. Legend says Funk replied, “Why sir, I am too much of a gentleman to leave such a prominent guest in the living room; he is in my guest room.” The Augusta mayor, upon hearing the decision replied with a pout, “If we do not know they are Gwinnett’s bones, we do not want them anyway.”
The monument was placed where Funk originally found Gwinnett’s bones in Colonial Cemetery. An engraving of a copy of Gwinnett’s signature sits on a plaque underneath the Roman style monument. Many tourists make rubbings of this signature. Today, years later tourists visit historic Colonial Cemetery and see the monument honoring Gwinnett. Few will realize that his remains had been lost, found, fought for, and legislated as being his. No, a tourist will simply think, nice monument, and believe Button Gwinnett has always been known and honored at this his gravesite.

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