From the book cover.
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
DEC. 17, 2024 | A new book from the University of Georgia Press compares two nearby coastal cities, Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga. It makes for interesting reading.
The author is Thomas D. Wilson, who wrote books previously about the two cities. Wilson, who lives in Nashville, Tenn. , earlier wrote: The Oglethorpe Plan: Enlightenment Design in Savannah. His book about Charleston was The Ashley Cooper Plan: The Founding of Carolina and the Origins of Southern Political Culture.
His new book is entitled: Charleston and Savannah: The Rise, Fall and Reinvention of Two Rival Cities. It contains 301 pages and is priced at $39.95. It has considerable photographs in the book illustrating points in the narrative.
Charleston was founded first, in 1670, and made its earlier wealth from the transatlantic trade routes, often offloading slaves from Africa. Early arrivals were from England, Ireland, the Bahamas and Barbados. Considered the colony’s major founder is Ashley Anthony Cooper, who had the backing of Oliver Cromwell. By 1690, rice was a valuable export crop, benefiting from the knowledge slaves brought with them.
Georgians know that James Oglethorpe laid out Savannah in 1733 with its squared and elegant simplicity. Meanwhile, Charleston never had such a structured plan for its layout, hemmed in by the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. And Savannah was also founded on a high ridge, while most of Charleston is only a few feet above sea level. While Charleston benefitted from nearby plantations, Savannah in a relatively short time became industrial, Wilson says, and that continues to this day.
Savannah benefitted directly from Eli Whitney in 1791 inventing the cotton gin at Mulberry Grove, up the Savannah River. Soon Savannah began as a major exporter of cotton, mainly to England.
About that same time, William Longstreet in Augusta got the idea for a steamboat design in the 1790s, shortly after Robert Fulton came up with a similar idea, and got the credit for it. Longstreet later designed his first steamboat, and many more, to sail the Savannah River. More than 50 steamboats once plied the river from Savannah to Augusta, hauling goods both ways. This helped Savannah grow.
Here are some other tidbits we learned from this book.
- Charleston owes some of its early planning to Anthony Ashley Cooper’s friendship with English philosopher John Locke. It was Locke who conceived the “fundamental constitutions” and governance of the Carolinas.
- A 102-mile railroad, swinging inward to avoid the marshes, linking Charleston and Savannah was chartered in 1853…and began operations in 1860. It was an essential part of the Civil War effort in the South.
- The two cities have competed in tourism particularly since the turn of the century. Visitors find both cities charming, and full of history. Charleston earlier had an azalea festival, and its Spoleto Festival is an outstanding draw. The biggest day of the year in Savannah is St. Patrick’s Day, full of merry-making, drawing on its Irish heritage.
But people flock to the two cities all during the year, with their mild climates. In 2020 Charleston counted 4.8 million hotel room nights occupied, while Savannah totaled 4.1 million.
This book will enrich lovers of these low country cities.
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