Savannah, Georgia (pop. 147,780; met. area pop. 404,798), is one of the chief ports of the southern United States. The city has one of the world’s most up-to-date systems of docks and warehouses. Savannah lies in east-central Georgia. It is about 18 miles (29 kilometers) inland from the Atlantic Ocean, across the Savannah River from South Carolina. A channel 42 feet (13 meters) deep connects the city with the Atlantic Ocean. For the monthly weather in Savannah, see Georgia (Climate) .
Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah and Fort Stewart 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of the city serve as headquarters for the United States Army Third Infantry Division. Savannah College of Art and Design and Savannah State University are in Savannah. The three buildings of the city’s Telfair Museums together make up one of the leading art galleries in the region. The Bethesda Academy (formerly the Bethesda Home for Boys), the oldest children’s home in the United States, opened on its present site near Savannah in 1740. Many visitors to the area come to the home of Juliette Gordon Low, who founded the Girl Scouts in the United States.
The economy of the Savannah area is supported by farming, manufacturing, the military, the ports, tourism, and the wood products industry. The largest employers produce corporate jet planes, refined sugar, and such paper products as kraft paper, linerboard, and recycled paper products. Other major manufacturers produce building materials, chemicals, food products, and construction equipment. The city’s fastest-growing economic activity is tourism.
James Oglethorpe founded Savannah on Feb. 12, 1733, as Georgia’s first colonial settlement. Because of this, people call it the Mother City of Georgia. Savannah was one of the first planned cities in the United States. Settlers built it according to a design by William Bull and Oglethorpe. It was the chief city and capital of the Georgia colony until after the American Revolution ended in 1783. Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, which led to a great expansion of cotton farming, was invented near Savannah in 1793. The first steamship to cross an ocean, the S.S. Savannah, traveled from Savannah to Liverpool, England, in 1819. In 1864, during the American Civil War, General William T. Sherman ended his march to the sea when he captured Savannah. See Civil War, American (Sherman’s march through Georgia) .
In 1955, residents created the Historic Savannah Foundation and began a project to restore old buildings in the city’s original section. More than 1,000 houses have been restored. Savannah is the seat of Chatham County and has a council-manager form of government.
