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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. 

Tybee Island's Guale

7/31/2019

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PicturePossibly how a Guale village looked
​Tybee Island was once upon a time referred to as Savannah’s Beach. But even before Savannahians made it their personal beach and even before Gen. Oglethorpe step foot in what is now Georgia the Guales were there. The Guale were a native American tribe.
Before Oglethorpe made developed it was called the ‘Debatable Lands”. The British in Charleston, the Spanish based in St. Augustine, and the French in the West pushing eastward all laid claim to this land. The Native Americans already here were not included in this discussion.
The Spanish tried to lay claim to the land did as they did on the West Coast with missions up the western coast from Mexico. On the East Coast they established missions up from St. Augustine in Florida. They worked with the Native Americans to establish missions some say all the way to Port Royal, South Carolina. One of the missions was on Tybee Island.
In Georgia the Spanish used the tribe Guales, whose territory ranged on the coast of Georgia, helped them establish missions on several of Georgia’s coastal barrier islands (Sea Islands, St. Catherine’s, Sapelo, Ossabaw, Wassaw, and Tybee Islands). By the mid-17th century, the Spanish had established six Catholic missions in Guale territory.
The Guales who were already established here since the 1130s at least would eventually be identified with the great Mississipian Culture. The Irene Mounds which I have written about in a previous blog were the central Mississippian city in the area. The Mississippians Indians had a chiefdoms and are known as the mound builders.
The French whose main mode of expansion was through the establishing of trading posts first met the Guales in 1562. The French established a small French village on Parris Island now a training center for the Marine Corps. This land would later be ceded to the British.
The Guales would be in partnership with the Spanish through most of the !7th century until the early 18th century. But with the strong British presence in North Carolina and the expansion of the British in what is now South Carolina, it was not long before they ran headlong into the Spanish and the Guales.
The Guales had their numbers decreased due to major epidemics in the late 17th century and 18th century. The British took notice of this. The British were uncomfortable with the Spanish population so close to their lands in South Carolina which they had designs to start colonies. So they joined with one of their friendly tribes: Westos to remove the Guales from what was Georgia. With the assistance of three hundred Westo warriors they attacked the Spanish missions on he coast of Georgia. Eventually, they were able to destroy the missions and accomplish their mission by 1702.
With the missions destroyed some Guale removed to Spanish territory in Florida. Many though dismayed that the Spanish in Florida had not given them adequate military support during this time stayed in Georgia joining up with other surviving tribes of the Westos military swoop in Georgia. They would later become known as the Yamasee.
The Yamacraws with their chief legendary Tomochichi with the land now open to British Native Americans would settle in what is now Savannah. Tomochichi and the Yamacraws and Mary Musgrove who had established a trading post next to the Yamacraw Village would be on hand to greet Gen. James Oglethorpe when he came in 1733 to establish the Georgia colony.
Today the Guales are a shadowy memory. But they are part of the story of Savannah.

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Spanish Missions on East Coast
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Depiction of Guale and Settler
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The Mighty Oak of Savannah

7/21/2019

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​Oak trees are beautiful and powerful. People appreciate them for the massive shade they create and their towering presence. Oak trees have lived a long time and have seen centuries of history. One quick tour of Savannah and you can see we love our oak trees. They in fact play an important part in our tourist economy. Oak trees are awe inspiring. One famous oak tree in Savannah started a movement: the Candler Tree.

Standing south of the corner of Drayton and E. Gaston Streets it is thought to be 300 years old. The land around it was owned by the early renditions of Candler Hospital. This tree has creds in 2001 it was named a Georgia Landmark and Historic Tree. It was recognized in 2004 by the National Register of Historic Trees.

In 2000 the hospital which owned the land for over a hundred years left and Huntingdon II Ltd purchased the land. Before this purchase in the seventies and early eighties the tree was in trouble because of development and its health was in dire condition. It was given a prognosis of no more than twenty years to live. In 1982 the Savannah Tree Foundation was formed to protect the urban forest of Savannah. Their first project and galvanizing moment was the saving of Candler Oak. The first group of the Savannah Tree Foundation were called the ‘Monday Morning Mothers of the Earth,’ named after the day & time by which they liked to meet.

To preserve Candler Oak they received a conservation easement for the Candler Oak. It was the first such easement for a single tree in America. The easement was for 6,804 feet surrounding the oak tree. The oak tree was measured with the dimensions of:

Diameter
65 inches

Circumference
17 feet

Height
54 feet

Average crown spread
110.25 feet

 
The Savannah Tree Foundation’s website list as their first:
Use of satellite imagery to document tree canopy changes in an urban area Protect a single tree—The Candler Oak—through a conservation easement Introduce the “Project Learning Tree” curriculum into Georgia schools Produce a State of the Trees Report to guide municipal urban forestry policy Develop an urban forest component in a countywide disaster management plan, which later served as a model for the USDA Forest Service.  The Foundation helped established the Mother Matilda Beasley Park site which was contaminated and was owned by an investment group, which planned to develop it for commercial purposes. Today Mother Matilda Beasley Park has been landscaped according to a master plan. They were also in preserving the future of Bacon Park Forest which 17 years ago was in danger of being developed into sports fields. Today the Savannah Tree Foundation is one of the leading tree foundations in the nation.

Though the property has had different owners in recent years (the short-lived Savannah Law School purchased the property in 2012. They would use for their logo the Candler Oak), today the property is owned by the Savannah College of Art and Design.

The Candler Oak has seen the likes of Gen. Oglethorpe, Mary Musgrove, the Revolutionary and Civil War, when Cotton was king, Johnny Mercer, Young Flannery O’Connor, and other significant people and events of Savannah. It was the founder of the Savannah Tree Foundation. It is healthy and still standing many years after its death sentence of twenty years thanks to a little help from her friends.
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A Proud History of Healing: Candler/St. Joseph's Hospital

7/9/2019

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PictureThe Early Candler Hospital now owned by the Savannah College of Art and Design.
​Savannah is known for its first. The first golf course, first black church, the third oldest synagogue, first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, first planned city in America, first art museum in the South, first girl scout troop, and the list could go on. So it is no surprise to find Savannah has the second oldest hospital in the nation: the Candler\St. Joseph’s hospital two hospitals that joined forces.

St. Joseph’s Hospital had its beginning in 1875 when the Sisters of Mercy reached out to help ailing seaman. Candler Hospital is the second oldest continuously operating hospital in the United States. It began in the 1730s when the Methodist missionary George Whitfield brought medicines to treat sick seamen and the poor. Whitefield would also start the oldest orphanage here in Savannah: Bethesda. His efforts would lead to a charter in 1804 as a seaman’s hospital and poor house known under the name of Savannah Poor House and Hospital Society.

In 1819, the hospital moved to Gaston Street where it remained for 160 years and is currently owned and used by Savannah College of Art and Design. During the Civil War the building served as a Union Hospital.  In 1872 it was renamed the Savannah Hospital. As they became larger they started the city’s first nursing school in 1902. The Methodist Church would purchase and continue the work of Rev. Whitefield with the guidance of Bishop Warren A. Candler in 1930. Candler would also become the name of the hospital. In 1960 it would join forces with the country’s oldest women’s hospital, Mary Telfair (the hospital was started with a bequeath of money from Mary Telfair one of Savannah’s greatest philanthropist who also started the oldest art museum in the South: Telfair Academy.  In 1997 Candler Hospital would take on its current organization by entering an agreement with St. Joseph’s Hospital.
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Today, Candler/St. Joseph’s Hospital centuries removed from its beginnings continues as one of Savannah’s oldest and proudest institutions.
 

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The Mary Telfair hospital the first hospital for females. It was later incorporated into the Candler system. Now used for apartments.
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