By Corinne Ashby · November 1, 2026
When General Oglethorpe laid out Savannah in 1733, he planned the town as a grid of wards, each built around an open square with lots for homes and public buildings around it.
The design made space for markets, drills and gatherings, and it scaled. As the city grew, new wards were added with new squares, until there were twenty-four.
Two were lost to development in the twentieth century and one was later restored, which is why guides today count twenty-two.
The squares are why downtown feels so walkable. Every few minutes you step out of the traffic into shade, which is exactly why we tour on foot.
