A multi-structure recreational complex, known collectively as the Gould Casino was built by Edwin Gould for the enjoyment of Jekyll Island Club members and guests around 1902. These structures included a conservatory, a playhouse with bowling alleys and an indoor shooting gallery, The playhouse was destroyed by fire in 1950. This structure, originally the Gould tennis courts, was remodeled in 1957 and became known as the Gould Casino Auditorium. It’s now in a serious state of disrepair.
Jekyll Island Historic District, National Register of Historic Places + National Historic Landmark
A pair of Corinthian lions guarding an empty foundation and swimming pool are all that remain of Chicota Cottage, the beloved retreat of Edwin Gould, son of railroad financier Jay Gould. After Gould’s son Edwin II was killed in a hunting accident on Jekyll in 1917, Mr. Gould rarely returned to the island (his wife never returned). Frank Miller Gould used the house occasionally but when he built Villa Marianna, Chicota went into decline. The cottage was eventually razed.
Jekyll Island Historic District, National Register of Historic Places + National Historic Landmark
Now a bed and breakfast inn, the Kehoe House is located on Columbia Square. William Kehoe (1842-1929) was an Irish immigrant iron worker who became one of the most prominent businessmen in the city after establishing the Kehoe Iron Works foundry on the Savannah riverfront. He served as president of the National Bank of Savannah, the Tybee Beach Company, Chatham Savings and Loan, and was an acting director of the Savannah Electric and Power Company.
After the Kehoe heirs sold it in 1930 it served as a boarding house and funeral home before being purchased by football legend Joe Namath in 1980. Namath originally planned on turning it into a night club but those plans never materialized and he sold it in 1989. Many tourists believe it to be haunted, likely from its days as a funeral home.
Savannah Historic District, National Historic Landmark
Considered one of the finest examples of Federal style architecture in Savannah, the restored Stone House is also located on idyllic Columbia Square.
Francis M. Stone (1789-1864) was Captain of the Savannah Guard and Watch (predecessor to today’s police department), an alderman, and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church. According to the Beehive Foundation, “Stone was an arms dealer (specializing in muskets) and frequently hired out enslaved laborers to the city for municipal work on streets and lanes. He also served as the legal guardian for Cornelia Cleghorn, the wife of William J. Cleghorn, a prominent and freed Black caterer in 1850s Savannah society.“
Savannah Historic District, National Historic Landmark
Cited as the catalyst for Savannah’s nationally recognized preservation movement, the Isaiah Davenport House was spared from destruction for a funeral home parking lot in 1955 and has been painstakingly renovated over the years to its due place as one of Georgia’s architectural gems.
Isaiah Davenport (1784-1827), was a native of Little Compton, Rhode Island. He trained as a carpenter’s apprentice in New Bedford, Massachusetts, before migrating to Savannah circa 1808. Operating in the transitional era between colonial traditions and the early national period, Davenport quickly became a prominent entrepreneur in his adopted city. His home is celebrated as one of the finest American examples of Federal-style domestic architecture, and it was built with the the forced labor of enslaved workers. As many as 13 enslaved craftsmen and laborers performed the heavy carpentry and construction that made his projects possible.
Designed by William Jay, one of the first professional architects in the United States, for prominent Savannah cotton merchant Richard Richardson, this house is considered one of the most important of the English Regency style in America. Construction began in 1816 and was completed in 1819. When Richardson fell on hard times, not long after building the house, it passed from the possession of the Bank of the United States to Mary Maxwell, who operated it as one of the premier boarding-houses in the city. So central to the social scene it was that the Marquis de Lafayette lodged and made a speech from here on his 1825 American tour. From 1830 until 1951 it was owned by George Welshman Owens and his descendants. Owens, a wealthy lawyer and planter, also served as a congressman and mayor of Savannah. His granddaughter, Miss Margaret Thomas, bequeathed it to Telfair Academy in 1951. Today, this designated National Historic Landmark is open to the public and operated by the Telfair Museums.
One of the most beautiful and serene public spaces in Savannah, Colonial Park is a veritable museum of the history of early Georgia. While just over 600 graves are marked, the cemetery is reputed to have been the site of as many as 10,000 burials. It’s the second oldest cemetery in Savannah, established circa 1750 as the burying ground for Christ Church parish. It was enlarged in 1789 to allow burials of people from all faiths and it was closed to burials in 1853.
This monumental arch was erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution to memorialize the Revolutionary War veterans buried in Colonial Park Cemetery.
This scene is near the modern entrance to the cemetery. Early 20th century postcards identify this lane of trees as the Avenue of Palmettos. They were apparently planted in the late 19th century, as they appear quite small in those images.
Though its pathology was unknown at the time, the Great Yellow Fever Epidemic which plagued Savannah throughout 1820 claimed over 700 lives, including two physicians who attempted to treat the afflicted. Several similar epidemics would follow.
Samuel Elbert (1740–1 November 1788) , who migrated to Georgia from South Carolina, served on the Council of Safety and the first Provincial Congress of Georgia in 1775. He was Lieutenant Colonel of the first Continental regiment raised in Georgia, commanded the Georgia Line at the fall of Savannah in 1778, was captured by the British at Briar Creek in 1779, and later took part in the Battle of Yorktown. After his promotion to Brigadier General in the Continental Army in 1783, he served as Governor of Georgia, Sheriff of Chatham County, and Grand Master of Georgia Masons.
John Shellman (January 1757–12 May 1838) and John Shellman, Jr. (1799–9 November 1821)
James Habersham (1712?–28 August 1775) was one of the most prominent merchants and public servants of the Colonial Era in Georgia. Soon after his arrival in the colony in 1738, he helped establish, with Reverend George Whitefield, the Bethesda Orphanage. By the 1740s he had established the most successful commercial enterprise in Savannah; his many posts included Provincial Secretary, President of His Majesty’s Council for Georgia, and Acting Provincial Governor from 1771 until 1773. Though he was opposed to the oppressive acts of Parliament, he remained a fierce Loyalist. His loyalties, though, did not tarnish the universal respect held for him by his fellow Georgians. He died visiting New Jersey.
James Habersham, Jr. (1745-2 July 1799) was a founding Trustee of the University of Georgia.
Joseph Habersham (28 July 1751-17 November 1815) was an ardent Son of Liberty and member of the Council of Safety. In 1775 he took part in the raid on the King’s powder magazine and in 1776 personally affected the arrest of Sir James Wright, the Royal Governor. He later served as Mayor of Savannah, and Postmaster General of the United States, from 1793 until 1801.
John Habersham (23 December 1754-17 December 1799) was twice taken prisoner during the Revolutionary War. A member of the Continental Congress in 1785, he later served as a Commissioner of the convention that established the Georgia-South Carolina Border, and first Collector of Customs at Savannah.
General Lachlan McIntosh (17 March 1725–20 February 1826) , whose father John Mor Mackintosh founded the seaport town of Darien, was Georgia’s most illustrious officer in the American Revolution. Commissioned Colonel of the first Continental regiment raised in Georgia, General McIntosh was transferred to General Washington’s headquarters after his duel with Button Gwinnett. Washington later gave him command of the Western Department at Fort Pitt. Returning to Georgia in 1779, General McIntosh took part in the Siege of Savannah. His war service culminated in his capture during the fall of Charlestown (Charleston) in 1780.
Colonel James S. McIntosh (1784–1847) was a great-nephew of General Lachlan McIntosh. He was a hero of the War of 1812 and later in life provided gallant service during the Mexican War. He died from wounds suffered at the storming of El Molina del Rey on 8 September 1847.
Hugh McCall (17 February 1767–10 June 1824) McCall published the first installment in his History of Georgia at Savannah in 1811. It was the first comprehensive history of Georgia published in America.
James Johnston (1738-1808) Johnston, a native of Scotland, came to Savannah in 1761, and was appointed Public Printer of the Province the following year. The first issue of Georgia’s first newspaper, The Georgia Gazette, was brought out by Johnston on 7 April 1763. Johnston was a Loyalist, and after briefly Savannah, he returned when British rule was restored in 1779, resuming publication of the newspaper under the title Royal Georgia Gazette. Interestingly, the Patriots allowed his return to Savannah after the war, and the paper was published from 1783 until 1802 as Gazette of the State of Georgia.
The Graham Vault For 114 years, the remains of the Revolutionary War hero Major General Nathanael Greene (7 August 1742 – 19 June 1786) and his eldest son, George Washington Greene, were interred here. They were exhumed and re-interred at Johnson Square in 1901. Also entombed here was the British Loyalist Lieutenant Colonel John Maitland of the 71st Regiment of Scotch Foot. After helping defend Savannah from the French and American forces in 1779, Maitland suddenly died. The Royalist Lieutenant Governor of Georgia at this time, John Graham, who owned the plot, allowed Maitland’s entombment here. His remains have also apparently been removed. This is likely the only tomb to have ever held the remains of a hero of the American Revolution, alongside a British Loyalist.
Edward Greene Malbone (August 1777 7 May 1807) Malbone is considered by most art historians to be the greatest of all American miniaturists, and among the best of all time. He died in Savannah while visiting his cousin, Robert Mackay.
Rosannah Millen(1751?–24 February 1810) and John Millen(1757?–28 October 1811)
Major John Berrien (1759-6 November 1815) Berrien came to Georgia from New Jersey in 1775, and soon thereafter, at the age of 17, was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in Georgia’s first Continental Brigade. Within a year, he was promoted to Captain. Berrien was a strong supporter of Lachlan McIntosh and followed him to Valley Forge in 1777, where he served as brigade major of the North Carolina troops stationed there. After the war, he returned to Georgia and was active in the early bureaucracy. His father’s home in Rock Hill, New Jersey, was the scene of General Washington’s farewell address to the army. His son, John McPherson Berrien (1781 – 1856) served Georgia in the United States Senate and was Andrew Jackson’s Attorney General.
John Kreeger (July 1754–26 April 1800) This is one of the few slate headstones in Colonial Park Cemetery.
Reverend Jean Baptiste Le Moine(d. 1794) A refugee of the French Revolution, Reverend Le Moine was formerly the Cure of Morley Le Roi. He was the first Catholic priest in Savannah.
John Screven ( 1767?–November 1820) and Sarah Ann Screven (1788?-June 1823)
Button Gwinnett (1732-35?-19 May 1777), one of Georgia’s Signers of the Declaration of Independence, was also elected to the Continental Congress and President of the Georgia Council of Safety. Though chosen to head the Continental Battalion for Georgia in the Revolutionary War, he was forced to decline the position due to a political rift with his rival, Lachlan McIntosh. Their animosities reached a fever pitch on 16 May 1777 when Gwinnett challenged McIntosh to duel outside Savannah. Though McIntosh survived, Gwinnett died three days later, on 19 May 1777.
In 1964, the Savannah-Chatham County Historic Site and Monument Commission chose this spot to memorialize Gwinnett. There is great debate among historians of Colonial Georgia as to whether Gwinnett is even buried in this cemetery, though the erection of this memorial was a grand gesture considering Gwinnett’s long controversial reputation.
Savannah Historic District, National Historic Landmark
Designed for John Schwarz in the Romanesque Revival style, this office building was the work of prominent Georgia architect Alfred S. Eichberg (see Brunswick City Hall). Over the years it has housed everything from the WPA Writers’ Project and the Venezuelan Consulate to radio stations and banks. It’s located on Wright Square.
Savannah Historic District, National Historic Landmark
Located along Kolomoki Creek, a tributary of the nearby Chattahoochee River, Kolomoki Mounds is among the largest Woodland Period burial and temple complexes in the Southeast. The site dates to 350-750AD/CE and may have been one of the most populous settlements north of Mexico at the time. Most of the mounds are quite small in contrast to the Temple Mound, which has a base of 325 by 200 feet and a height of 56 feet. It is believed that the Temple Mound was used for religious ceremonies and there is speculation that the chieftain’s house was located on the west side (seen below) of the mound, which is slightly higher than the east side.
Various tribes made this site home, including Weeden Island, Kolomoki, and Lamar Indians.
This view, from atop the Temple Mound, looks out onto a vast plaza. This was a typical layout for Woodland villages. The plaza would have included various houses of wattle and daub construction, roofed with local grasses. In its time, all of this would have been exposed red clay.
Looking down the steps to the plaza gives some perspective as to the size of the temple mound.
This burial mound, on the plaza, is known simply as Mound D. At 20 feet, it’s one of the largest extant Woodland burial mounds. It was completely excavated in the early 1950s; radiocarbon dating has suggested it was built around 30AD/CE, with a margin of error of 300 years. More information about the site’s smaller mounds and a history of archaeological excavations conducted here over the years can be found at the New Georgia Encyclopedia. Sadly, a theft at the site in 1974 resulted in the loss of numerous pieces of pottery and other artifacts. It’s hoped that an inventory of the stolen items, which are still sought by the park, will eventually lead to some of them being recovered.
There is much to see at Kolomoki Mounds State Park, including abundant wildlife and flora. This Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), covered in red clay, was crossing the main road in the park. They were likely quite abundant here in the Woodland Period.
Gordon McKay of Massachusetts built Indian Mound and so named it for a mound on the lawn, then thought to have been a burial site of the Guale Indians but later found to be a shell midden. William Rockefeller purchased it in 1905 and it remained in the Rockefeller family until 1947.
It was the first of the club cottages to be restored. It has long served as a house museum.
Jekyll Island Historic District, National Register of Historic Places + National Historic Landmark
