Why Savannah Is Called the City of Squares

Walk a few blocks through Savannah's Historic District and you'll feel what makes the city unlike anywhere else in America: a calm, shaded grid of public squares, each one a small park ringed by live oaks, monuments, and centuries-old homes. Savannah is known the world over as the "City of Squares" — and the story behind that nickname is also the story of how the city was born.

A city designed around its squares

Savannah was founded in 1733 by General James Oglethorpe, who arrived with the first English colonists and laid out the new settlement on a remarkably orderly plan. Rather than a simple street grid, Oglethorpe organized the city into wards — and at the center of every ward he placed an open public square.

Each square was surrounded by two kinds of lots. The larger trust lots, on the east and west sides, were reserved for churches, public buildings, and civic use. The smaller tithing lots, to the north and south, were set aside for homes. The square in the middle belonged to everyone — a place to gather, hold markets, muster the local militia, and simply meet your neighbors.

Twenty-two squares that survive today

The plan was meant to grow, and it did. As Savannah expanded through the 1700s and 1800s, new wards — and new squares — were added one at a time, each following Oglethorpe's original template. Of the two dozen squares laid out over that century, 22 still anchor the Historic District today, making Savannah one of the largest and best-preserved planned cities in the country.

Many carry names that read like a tour through American history — Chippewa, Madison, Monterey, Lafayette, Johnson, Wright — and each has its own monuments, fountains, and character. Stroll from one to the next and you're walking a nearly 300-year-old design that still shapes daily life in the city.

Why the squares still matter — especially to buyers

The squares aren't just beautiful; they're the reason so much of historic Savannah feels walkable, green, and human-scaled. They set the rhythm of the neighborhoods around them, and a home's relationship to its nearest square is part of what gives an address its sense of place.

That's exactly why we talk about "knowing your square." As Savannah's exclusive buyer's agents, we help you understand how each square and the streets around it actually live — so the home you choose fits the way you want to be in the city. From the river to the marsh, every square tells a slightly different story, and we'd love to help you find yours.