Tybee

Savannah stands on a bluff above the river of the same name, some distance inland from the Atlantic coast. Tidal marshes and islands lie between the town and the sea, with Tybee Island guarding the river's entrance. The site was home to the Yamacraw, whose chief Tomochichi welcomed the first British settlers to the bluff in 1733.

James Oglethorpe founded Savannah as the first town of the new colony of Georgia. Mary Musgrove, a trader with Muscogee and English family ties, interpreted between Oglethorpe and Tomochichi and helped establish relations with Native communities. In 1734 Tomochichi travelled with Oglethorpe to England, where he met the king and queen. The town was laid out around a regular pattern of streets and public squares. To protect the approach from the sea, Oglethorpe ordered a fort and a navigational tower built on Tybee Island.

British troops captured Savannah during the American Revolution in 1778. The following year French and American forces laid siege to the town, but their assault failed. Soldiers from Saint-Domingue fought among the French forces in the costly attack. Savannah remained an important port after the war, although fires in 1796 and 1820 destroyed large parts of the city. Its inhabitants rebuilt, and the river continued to carry the trade of the surrounding country to the Atlantic.