​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.

​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.
 

​Savannah is said to be a town of creatives. Savannah was recently voted the best place for creatives to live. This is largely due to a world renown Music Festival, Savannah College of Art and Design, Telfair Museums and other art organizations. But the fact is Savannah has been able to call themselves a home for creatives at other times too. For Example, During the early to the mid twentieth century with Telfair Academy established in 1886, the Savannah Art Club, and what I have termed Cotton Row Art Colony on Factor’s Walk the art community in Savannah was flourishing.
One of the examples of an artist who came for a period to enjoy and create here in Savannah was Andre Ruellen (April 6, 1905 – July 15, 2006). She painted in the realist style with a modernist touch. Her work would be collected by the Whitney Museum, New York, Phillips Collection, District of Columbia Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Philadelphia MOA, San Diego MOA, and Savannah’s own Telfair Museums. One of her first paintings to be bought by a museum was the Wind-Up a painting of Savannah bought by the Phillip’s Collection.
Andre Ruellen came to Savannah in 1941 with her husband painter and printer John Taylor. Taylor would teach printmaking at the Telfair Academy. When the couple first came to Savannah they went about town sketching things of interest to themselves. Observing them an over eager police officer thought the two may be spies and took them down to the police station. Alexander Brook, one of the Cotton Row painters and friend, came to their rescue and vouched for them. They were released.   Having said this the officer may not have been that far off. Ruellen who was of French descent had parents who were ardent socialists.
Ruellen who had been born in Manhattan had her first published work in the socialist magazine The Masses Ruellen found the American South of interest and would visit Georgia several times. Ruellen was a social realist painter at times. She looked at the South with an eye that would create paintings that would reflect a commentary about southern life. While in Savannah she created three paintings of Savannah scenes Savannah Landscape: City Market, The Wind-Up, and Savannah.  Two of these are in the Telfair Museums collection. John Taylor, her husband, has a print created during his printmaking classes at the Telfair that rests in the Museum’s collection.
Ruellen and her husband during her short stay could have had contact with two of Savannah’s more successful painters Christopher Murphey Jr. and Augusta Oelschig who had garnered national attention. But that year in Savannah either living or passing through would have been Edward Weston, Alexander Brook and his wife Gina Knee (a painter whose work can be found in the Phillip’s collection and Denver Art Museum to name two). Ruellen may have even had contact with two Savannah celebrities Harry Hervey who was writing screenplays for Hollywood and plays for New York was living here and maybe Johnny Mercer visited home while she was here.
Whatever the case there was an active arts community here in Savannah during her several weeks stay. Savannah has always been a city of artists and creatives. Today that tradition continues.

​Ulysses Houston pastor of Savannah’s First Bryan Baptist Church during the Reconstruction era was not just a pastor of sermons but of action too. He was born a slave in South Carolina. He was taken by his master to Savannah to serve as a house servant. After he was freed he worked in the city’s hospital. He learned to read from white sailors while working there.
As many literate and capable black leaders he was attracted to the ministry. The black churches were the most prominent entity in black life. He was licensed to preach in 1855. In 1861 Rev. Ulysses L. Houston became pastor of First Bryan between 1861 to 1889. The church grew during his time as pastor. As he served as pastor, he also served twice as president of the black Baptists in Georgia.
As an influential minister he was one of 16 black church leaders who met with Gen. Sherman and Defense Secretary Edwin M. Stanton in 1865. In this meeting the black representatives told the two representatives of Lincoln’s administrative that the primary thing former slaves and other blacks needed was land to farm. This request would lead to Sherman’s fabled forty acres and a mule But for now  land belonging to those who rose up in rebellion against the federal government had already been declared "abandoned" by an act of Congress .Sherman ordered 400,000 acres of land on the coast from Charleston to the border of Florida and Georgia St. John’s River be redistributed to the former slaves.
With this new order from Sherman, Houston rushed to take advantage of it. He led 1,000 blacks to Skidaway Island, Ga on of the barrier islands off the shore of Savannah where they established a self-governing community. Houston was declared the “black governor.” They farmed and raised crops on the island until 1866 when whites regained the land.
In 1868, during Reconstruction, Houston was elected to the Georgia State Legislature. He was one of thirty-three blacks who were elected. They are now called the ‘Original 33’. The ‘Original 33’ were all expelled or through violence or the threat of violence were forced to resign by the white community. A monument called “The Expelled Because of Their Color" sits on state Capitol property. The names of the thirty-three men are inscribed on it.
Houston Baptist Church in Port Wentworth (small town outside of Savannah) and its adjoining cemetery were organized in 1886. It was obviously named after Houston. The church is built like a plantation praise house. While the church disbanded a while back it now serves as a small museum of the history of Port Wentworth.
Houston led a life of service to his community and demonstrated the Gospel not only through his words but also through his actions.
 

​It is hard to tell where Savannah starts and Thunderbolt begins. The small town east of Savannah lies on Wilmington River Bluff. Surrounding Savannah there are many small towns whose history is not quite as grand but interesting and add to Savannah’s history. The Town of Thunderbolt owes its name to a legend of a lightning strike that created a freshwater spring on the Wilmington Bluff.  Thunderbolt came into being as a shipping point for the needs of the plantations and small farmer’s on the coast. It also became a place for building and repairing of boats for those same people. The town was incorporated in 1856 as Warsaw.
This incorporation was done amidst an economy change to a place where fish was processed. The incorporation would lead to a trolley from Savannah through Gordonston and ending in Thunderbolt being created. No longer would it be the place just beyond Savannah’s city limits to hold duels, or the place once inhabited by Native Americans. It was a new town of ‘white ‘commerce.
In 1890, Georgia State College was founded in Thunderbolt for the education of African Americans. This college is known today as Savannah State University. It was the first college in Savannah and the first historically black university in Georgia. In 1921, Warsaw's name was restored to Thunderbolt.
In1893 the casino came to town. The electric company wanted to entice people to ride the trolley to its end (Thunderbolt). The casino was one of the first establishments in the Savannah area to show movies.  The site had two bandstands for concerts and dancing. One bandstand was a circular gazebo in the center of a large round duck pond west of the casino. Wood and cast iron benches lined the bluff overlooking the river. The casino grounds included an amusement park, a thirty-acre zoo and a beer garden. A post card image of the Casino, tightrope walkers perform on a rope set up over the duck pond at almost twice the height of the Casino. It was one of the ‘most be places’ to be on a Saturday. The casino burned down in 1930 and was never replaced.
But the citizens of Thunderbolt had not stopped with being a place to be. In 1939, yacht racing became popular and saw the construction of a yacht basin. Annually, the "Blessing of the Fleet" was celebrated until recent years and shrimping evolved into the primary seafood product. The bluff of Thunderbolt had served its military purposes. During the Civil War a battery was built on the bluff to keep union troops from going up the Wilmington River. Jefferson Davis came to town to tour the battery. During World War II the yacht basin was used for rescue boats. Today, the city still serves as base for shrimpers to dock, sell and process their product. They also have a yacht repair company that works on yachts around the world. In fact, I laughed at the irony of some of my homeless men working on the yacht of Bill Gates. They have Tubby’s a seafood place with live bands and large crowds. But compared to its former self it is a sleepier town. So, the next time you cross the bridge of interstate 80 via Victory Drive slow down and see Thunderbolt.  They have no duels or casino but they do have some vintage homes, a bluff, shrimpers to purchase from, yachts, and pier.