James Oglethorpe came ashore at Yamacraw Bluff on February 12, 1733, laid the town out in a grid of wards around open squares, and Savannah has been living inside that plan ever since. The city incorporated in December 1789, and the plan is the reason the place still works the way it does on foot.
Preservation here runs through a series of districts. The Savannah Historic District is both a National Register district, listed in 1966, and a National Historic Landmark district, and four more went onto the National Register after it: the Victorian district in 1974, Ardsley Park and Chatham Crescent in 1985, the Thomas Square Streetcar district in 1997 and Cuyler-Brownville in 1998.
The set pieces are spread through that fabric. Forsyth Park covers thirty acres at the southern end of the historic grid, with the 1858 fountain at its head. City Hall opened on the riverfront in January 1906, and Bonaventure Cemetery stands on a bluff over the Wilmington River, private from 1846 and municipal since 1907.
Underneath the squares is a working city. The Georgia Ports Authority runs the Port of Savannah here and Hunter Army Airfield is inside the city. I-95 Exit 99 puts you on I-16 for downtown, and Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is northwest of the historic district, off I-95 Exit 104. US 80 runs east out of the city to Tybee Island, at the mouth of the river.
The city has held close to level while the ring around it has filled in. The Census counted 147,780 residents and 68,089 housing units in 2020, and the estimate for July 2025 was 149,440, one percent above the count. Over the same five years Port Wentworth rose 62 percent, Pooler 27, Richmond Hill 20 and Rincon 7, which is why each of those four carries a page of its own here.
The work is spread as widely as the city. The 2025 financial report names Gulfstream Aerospace, the Savannah-Chatham Board of Education, St. Joseph’s and Candler Health System, Walmart, Memorial Health University Medical Center, Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong Campus, Chatham County, the Savannah College of Art and Design and the City of Savannah among its principal employers. Savannah-Chatham County Public School System serves the city.
Two things get repeated wrongly often enough to be worth correcting. Fort Stewart’s headquarters are on the installation itself, next to Hinesville and about forty miles southwest, so the post is not in Savannah and only Hunter Army Airfield is here. And published distances to the airport range from twelve to fifteen miles depending which official page you read, so we do not print a figure.
Sourced: founding date and incorporation, City of Savannah. Population and housing units, U.S. Census Bureau 2020 count and Vintage 2025 estimate, with every percentage computed from the 2020 count and the July 2025 estimate. Historic district listings and years, National Park Service. Forsyth Park, City Hall and Bonaventure Cemetery, City of Savannah. Employers, the City’s 2025 annual financial report. Port, Georgia Ports Authority.