Savannah, Georgia - A Bit of History

Tourist season in Savannah, Georgia is in full swing once again. People from around the country and the world have been lured in by gorgeous historic houses and squares shaded by massive oaks dripping with Spanish moss, a beach community straight out of the 1950s, and seafood and soul food served with a big helping of hospitality and thick Southern drawls. Others come for the eccentric side of the city, with characters straight out of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," the haunted history, the nightlife, and the arts. Savannah is the perfect tourist destination if you want to experience the old South perfectly blended with the new, with dashes of excitement and a pinch of eccentricity for flavor. What tourists won't find, however, in the romantic history of the tourism city is the reality of the first years of Georgia.

We Will Put The Poor To Work And Make A Killing

Savannah began with the humanitarian intentions and financial dreams of the founder, Gen James Oglethorpe. He envisioned the colony to be a fresh start for debtors imprisoned in England. Overpopulation due to the lack of a good old fashioned plague, the overuse of natural resources, and stiff competition for work forced many into debtors prison. A colony could solve the problem by relocating debtors and the unemployed to harvest much needed natural resources, develop new cash crops, and protect the upper colonies from the Spanish to the south. Perfect! What could possibly go wrong?

Not a single person from debtors prison was chosen to colonize. None were considered to be of suitable quality to establish a wholesome financial enterprise built upon hard work and God. Tradesmen and craftsmen were. A few with agricultural backgrounds were also selected to pack up and start over in what was sold to them as the Garden of Eden where they would receive a free house lot, a larger garden plot outside town, and even larger plots for livestock. Indentured servants could help carve out a colony from the forests. Perfect! The Trustees - or investors - knew this was going to work!

When Exactly Do We Get To The Garden?

When the colonists arrived in 1733 and saw their new home - a flat, sandy wasteland with unusually large reptiles and scary mammals - they were not impressed. The only built structure was a small native burial mound on the bluff overlooking the muddy river. Doubt crept in. Debtors prison looked better than the hot mess that stretched out before them.

Oglethorpe quickly took matters in hand and convinced them this would be a little slice of heaven. A stern sermon by the only preacher drove the point home. They hated him already. Oglethorpe was getting on their nerves, too. Enthusiasm was hard to maintain as clearing and construction began just as the weather warmed. Drenched with sweat, falling sick from the heat, covered in mosquito bites, gnats flying into their ears and mouths, unable to drink the putrid water, and venomous snakes, alligators, bear, and big cats prowling about had them mumbling about the hell on earth they were brought to to die. Only the hope of riches kept some going as others gave up and took to bed with the weak ale they were allowed since hard spirits were off limits. No hard spirits, no Catholics, no slavery, and no lawyers were the rules for the colony.

You Promised Us Wine, Jimmy

The export of ship mast poles wasn't working out well even with indentured servants doing the hard work, and the horticultural experiments at Trustees Garden which promised cash crops of wine grapes, oranges, and silk worms failed so miserably that mobs went after the colonial gardner and threatened his life. The Yamacraw tribe helped teach the colonists as much as possible about the peculiar climate and agriculture, but Charles Wesley, who founded Methodism after his Georgia tenure, treated them as badly as his own congregation and threatened them all with hell if they did not submit to his will and lust for a married woman. They were already in hell, how could it get worse? The Yamacraw tribe, minus Chief Tomochichi, said "good luck with all that" and disappeared. Charles Wesley abandoned his church and stole away into the night with a criminal, much to the delight of the colonists.

Those Are Some Bad Ass Kids

The colonists who survived the first years gave up in spirit or volunteered to fight Spanish to get away from the disease and insect infested town. The ones who didn't took to drinking ale in large quantities because they were parched from the heat, of course, and stayed in bed instead of working. We all know what happens when drunk people stay in bed together. Unwanted children was the one crop that flourished. Added to the large numbers of homeless orphans, gangs developed. They roamed the streets at night destroying property and taking food. The gangs of children were feared as much as the seamen coming into port to deliver goods or load the few pathetic ship masts the colonists managed to harvest and process. Murder and violence came in waves, as did malaria. The colony was failing. A disaster to be written off. Had it not been the influx of new settlers and investment, the colony of Georgia would have been a wash during the first two decades.

But Manual Labor Is Hard. Can't Somebody Else Do It

Years went by and not much changed. Only when the Trustees decided to allow slavery in the colony, at the urging of Preacher George Whitefield and parched colonists, did it begin to prosper and grow. Slavery saved and built Savannah, and the South as a whole. What Savannah is today was built on the backs of and due to the engineering and agricultural knowledge of African Ameticans. Don't fall for the tourist-dollar friendly history costumed guides relay. History is ugly, and fascinating when it isn't sanitized and romanticized. Now get to Savannah and enjoy the historic structures built by African Americans. Eat the regional food developed by African Americans. Listen to the speech patterns of residents influenced by the Gullah and Geechee African Americans of the Low Country and Coastal Empire. Listen to the stories, folklore, and music, along with the artwork and crafts developed by African Americans. It truly is a beautiful and magical place.

*And don't worry about those bad ass kids roaming the streets in gangs. Preacher Whitefield built Bethesda Orphanage to home and educate them - and put them to work or get the whip!