Reynolds Square is one of the
22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the northernmost row of the city's five rows of squares, on
Abercorn Street
Abercorn Street is a prominent street in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Located between Drayton Street to the west and Lincoln Street to the east, it runs for about from East Bay Street (Savannah, Georgia), Bay Street in the north to Georgi ...
and East St. Julian Street. It is east of
Johnson Square, west of
Warren Square and north of
Oglethorpe Square. The oldest building on the square is
The Olde Pink House (originally Habersham House), which dates to 1771.
[
Originally called Lower New Square (due to its being the first one laid out, in 1734, after the original four), it was later renamed for Captain John Reynolds, ]governor of Georgia
The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's Georgia National Guard, National Guard, when not in federal service, and Georgia State Defense Force, State Defense Fo ...
in the mid-1750s. Reynolds was, in fact, an unpopular governor, and it is said that the celebration held upon his arrival in the colony was rivaled only by that held upon his departure.[Chan Sieg (1984). ''The squares: an introduction to Savannah''. ]Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the List of cities in Virginia, most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeaster ...
: Donning.
The square contains a bronze statue, by Marshall Daugherty
Marshall Harrison Daugherty (September 6, 1915 – April 28, 1991) was an American sculptor active in the mid-to-late 20th century.
Life and career
Daugherty was born on September 6, 1915, in Seattle, Washington.
He studied at Yale University ...
, honoring John Wesley
John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...
, founder of Methodism
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
. Wesley spent most of his life in England but undertook a mission
Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to:
Geography Australia
*Mission River (Queensland)
Canada
*Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality
* Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood
* ...
to Savannah between 1735 and 1738, during which time he founded the first Sunday school
]
A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes.
Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...
in America. The statue was installed in 1969 on the spot where Wesley's home is believed to have stood.[City of Savannah's monuments page]
This page links directly to numerous short entries, many accompanied by photographs, discussing a variety of monuments, memorials, etc., in the squares and elsewhere. Accessed June 16, 2007.[Official Savannah Guide's ''Tour Savannah's Squares'']
accessed June 16, 2007. The statue is intended to show Wesley preaching out-of-doors as he did when leading services for Native Americans, a practice which angered church elders who believed that the Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
should only be preached inside the church building.[See Savannah]
by T.D. Conner (2001), accessed June 14, 2007 Sculptor Marshall said: "The moment is as he looks up from his Bible toward his congregation, about to speak and stretching out his right hand in love, invitation, and exhortation. In contrast, the hand holding the Bible is intense and powerful – the point of contact with the Almighty."
Reynolds Square was the site of the ''Filature'', which housed silkworm
''Bombyx mori'', commonly known as the domestic silk moth, is a moth species belonging to the family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of '' Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. Silkworms are the larvae of silk moths. The silkworm is of ...
s as part of an early—and unsuccessful—attempt to establish a silk industry in the Georgia colony.[Tour Guide Manual]
for licensed tour guides in the City of Savannah, accessed June 16, 2007.
magazine, May–June 2007, pp 10–11, accessed June 16, 2007.
Dedication
Markers and structures
Constituent buildings
Each building below is in one of the eight blocks around the square composed of four residential "tything" blocks and four civic ("trust") blocks, now known as the Oglethorpe Plan
The Oglethorpe Plan is an urban planning idea that was most notably used in Savannah, Georgia, one of the Thirteen Colonies, in the 18th century. The plan uses a distinctive street network with repeating squares of residential blocks, commercia ...
. They are listed with construction years where known.
;Northwestern trust/civic block
*Habersham House, 23 Abercorn Street (1771)[ – oldest building on the square; now The Olde Pink House
*24 Drayton Street (1924)
;Southwestern trust/civic block
*]Planters Inn
Planters Inn is a hotel in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It occupies the building at 29 Abercorn Street which was constructed in 1913. , 29 Abercorn Street (1913)[Historic Building Map: Savannah Historic District]
– Historic Preservation Department of the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission (November 17, 2011), p. 11
* Oliver Sturges House, 27 Abercorn Street (1813)
;Southwestern residential/tything block
*31–39 Abercorn Street (1920)[
*(The Hunter–Mackay House, 125 East Congress Street][ (formerly the Leroy Myers Cigar Company)
*9 Lincoln Street (1853)][
* 226 East Bryan Street (17 Lincoln Street) (1852)][ – now Abe's on Lincoln (ground floor)
;Southeastern trust/civic block
*28 Abercorn Street (1919)][
;Southeastern residential/tything block
* Lucas Theatre, 32 Abercorn Street (1921) (the former location of the Houston–Johnson–Screven House)
]
Gallery
File:18 Abercorn Street.jpg, Christ Church parish house, 18 Abercorn Street
File:9 Lincoln Street, Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia.jpg, 9 Lincoln Street
File:17 Lincoln Street, Savannah.jpg, 226 East Bryan Street (17 Lincoln Street)
File:GA Savannah HD Lucas Theatre01.jpg, Lucas Theatre, 32 Abercorn Street
File:Mackay House, 125 East Congress Street, Savannah, Chatham County, GA.jpg, The Hunter–Mackay House, 125 East Congress Street (demolished around 1939)
File:OliverSturgesHouse.JPG, Oliver Sturges House, 27 Abercorn Street
File:Olde_Pink_House.jpeg, The Olde Pink House, 23 Abercorn Street
File:24 Drayton Street.jpg, 24 Drayton Street
References
{{Squares of Savannah, Georgia
Reynolds Square (Savannah, Georgia)
1734 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies