“The town is laid out for two-hundred and forty freeholders; the quantity of land necessary for that number is twenty-four square miles; every forty houses in town make award, to which four square  miles in the country belong; each ward has a constable and under him four tything men." 

—Francis Moore (Secretary to James Oglethorpe) 

Abraham Shefthall and The Historic Savannah Foundation  

Two enlightened movements happened in the design of the City of Savannah. First, James Oglethorpe founded the Georgia Colony in 1733 with a planned design for Savannah and its surrounding area. Over two hundred years later, beginning in 1955, a group of concerned local citizens fearing the continued demolition of the city organized the Historic Savannah Foundation to preserve what remained of the two centuries of preceding efforts by Savannahians.  

The combination of these two movements, Savannah's original city design and subsequent restoration, were essential to the majestic beauty you'll find everywhere today throughout this great Southern city. 

The Oglethorpe Plan establishing Savannah provided the initial colonialists with a meticulous town design calculated to improve the success of the Georgia Colony. Francis Moore, Oglethorpe's private secretary, outlined the structural details of the plan in his 1774 book: A Voyage to Georgia. The initial town design reinforced the ideals of agrarian equality, provided an effective defense from enemies, and organized essential public facilities like water, food storage, and collective roads. 

The Ward Design Oglethorpe utilized has been compared to a utopia-in-the-garden landscape design he'd learned from Alexander Pope, the famed English poet who said: "To err is human; to forgive, divine." The unique arrangement of each Ward surrounding a Square in Savannah supported the principles of social justice and equality. While serving in the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-18, General Oglethorpe became intimately familiar with Roman-era military encampments, which he later employed to accommodate and maximize the military effectiveness of Savannah's defense.  

The uniqueness of Savannah's Oglethorpe Town Plan remains largely intact today, but only because of the equally impressive work of a group of ladies who founded The Savannah Historic Foundation in 1955. Today, Savannah boasts one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the country due to these ladies mobilizing city-wide efforts to halt demolition activities within the area now recognized as the Savannah Historic District and then promote the practice of historic preservation. 

In 1954, demolitions within the City Market area on Ellis Square (see PFS-46 and see PFS-54) to make way for a parking garage became the rallying cry for a historic preservation movement in Savannah.  

The ladies of Savannah moved quickly and, in 1955, managed to stop the Isiah Davenport House (see PFS-30) from being torn down for the parking lot of a nearby funeral home. Artist and activist Anna Colquit Hunter gathered a half-dozen of her friends to block the Davenport House demolition. The group of gals went on to form the Historic Savannah Foundation (HSF) and expanded their efforts. 

And expand they did! Dozens and dozens of scenes depicted in this Postcards From Savannah series of paintings only exist today due to the results these ladies achieved by forming the HSF.  

This painting is the rehabilitated home once owned by Abraham Shefthall. The Shefthall Home, constructed in 1818 for a member of Savannah's earliest Jewish families, was moved from Jefferson Street to make way for the Savannah Civic Center.  

The HSF made the Shefthall House its headquarters in 2000. The Shefthall House is found on Columbia Square, near the HSF's first preservation success: The Isaiah Davenport House and Museum.