Whitefield Square (Savannah, Georgia)

The First Congregational Church is a church located at 421 Habersham Street in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It stands on the western side of Whitefield Square. The church is unique to Savannah in that it was born out of an educational institution. What was known as the Oglethorpe Colored Free School (established in 1865 and named for the city's founder, James Oglethorpe) became the Beach Institute. The institute fell under the auspices of the Colored Educational Association of Savannah, itself an offspring of the American Missionary Society of New York.The original Beach Institute building, erected in 1867 as its first school, still stands at 502 East Harris Street (now the Beach Institute African American Cultural Center). The Institute is named for Alfred Ely Beach — son of Moses Yale Beach and a descendant of Plymouth pilgrim William Brewster and Elihu Yale — who donated the land.In April 1869, thirteen men and women, along with the Rev. Robert L. Carter, founded the First Congregational Church of Savannah. Meetings were held at the Beach Institute, amongst other venues, over the next few years. In 1878, it acquired the lot at Taylor and Habersham Streets The first small-frame meeting house was replaced in 1895 with the present Gothic structure, which was renovated in 1968. The building's original steeple was destroyed in a 1940 storm, and it was not replaced until 1992.The Madeline V. Hanne Fellowship Hall was added onto the church, on land that was donated by the St Joseph's Hospital, in 1976.The church's first members were white missionaries and students of the school. Its first four ministers were New Englanders.

The John Schwarz House is a home in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Built in 1890, it is located at 302–306 East Jones Street.The building is part of the Savannah Historic District.The home was built for John Schwarz, the 41st mayor of Savannah.

The Augustus Barié Property is a home in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located at 222 East Jones Street.The building is part of the Savannah Historic District, and in a survey for the Historic Savannah Foundation, Mary Lane Morrison found the building to be of significant status.It was built for Augustus Montfort Barié in (1815–1904) in 1857, and sold to George Dillon at year's end for $5,500. By 1859, Dillon had sold the property to John Cunningham, who kept it until 1873.

The Massie School, also referred to as the Massie Common School, opened in 1856 as the first public school in Savannah, Georgia, in the original chartered public school system in the American South. Located on Taylor Square, at 201–213 East Gordon Street, construction of the original schoolhouse began in 1855 with invested funds from Scottish immigrant Peter Massie, who intended his investment be used for the creation of a free school for Savannah's poor children. The Massie School, with the exception of a temporary utilization by Union troops as a hospital during the American Civil War, and then briefly being a Freedmen's school, remained in use until the school closed to traditional instruction in 1974. The Massie Heritage Center occupies the original schoolhouse footprint and serves as a museum. The Massie Heritage Center is the oldest continuously operating public school house in Georgia.

One of the 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States, laid out in 1851 south of Lafayette Square, west of Whitefield Square, and east of Monterey Square, the location long named Calhoun Square has been unnamed since 2022. The oldest buildings on the square, the Adam Short Property and the Alexander Bennett House (both on East Taylor Street), date to 1853. Sometimes called Massie Square, the former Massie Common School House was built in 1855. The Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church, founded in 1868, is located on the western side of the square. The square had previously been used as a "negro burial ground"; in 1855, the bodies of enslaved residents Emily and Rinah were removed to Laurel Grove Cemetery. In 2004, a skull was found by utility workers outside the Massie Heritage Interpretation Center on the square's southeastern side. This legacy prompted a 2021 movement to rename the square after the Sankofa bird, a Ghanaian symbol expressing the "importance of knowing one's history." Susie King Taylor was considered another candidate for renaming in August 2021. City councilors voted unanimously on November 10, 2022 to remove Calhoun's name from the square; a new name is forthcoming.

McDonough Row (also known as John McDonough Row) is a historic row house in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It stands at 410–424 East Charlton Street, in the southeastern civic lot of Troup Square. They are contributing properties of the Savannah Historic District, itself on the National Register of Historic Places. The properties were built in 1882 by John J. McDonough, future mayor of Savannah. Other similar-style row houses exist in Savannah's Gordon Row, the Jones Street Quantock Row, the Chatham Square Quantock Row, William Remshart Row House and Mary Marshall Row.

Troup Square is one of the 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the fourth row of the city's five rows of squares, on Habersham Street and East Macon Street, and was laid out in 1837. It is south of Colonial Park Cemetery, east of Lafayette Square and north of Whitefield Square. The square is named for George Troup, the former Georgia governor, Congressman and senator. It is one of only two Savannah squares named for a person living at the time (the other being Washington Square).A large iron armillary sphere stands in the center of the square, supported by six small metal turtles. The armillary has been the source of some controversy, as it is one of the few examples of modern sculpture in the squares.A special dog fountain is located on the west side of the square. The Myers Drinking Fountain was a gift from Savannah mayor Herman Myers in 1897 and was originally placed in Forsyth Park. When moved to Troup Square, its height was adjusted for use by dogs and has become the site of an annual Blessing of the Animals.The Unitarian Universalist Church sits on the western side of the square and is its oldest building, albeit not original to the square: built in 1851, it was moved a third of a mile from Oglethorpe Square nine years later. It is believed that James Lord Pierpont wrote the tune to "Jingle Bells" while he was the church's music director, but other sources claim he only copyrighted it when he was in the role, and that he wrote it in Medford, Massachusetts. The oldest building original to the square is the Lewis Cook Duplex, at 313–315 East Charlton Street, which dates to 1852. In 1969 Savannah landscape architect Clermont Huger Lee and Mills B. Lane planned and initiated a project to remove the central vandalized playground, close the fire lane, install an armillary sundial, and add new walls, benches, lighting, and plantings.

The Unitarian Universalist Church is a historic church at 325 Habersham Street in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the northwestern civic block of Troup Square. It was designed by noted architect John S. Norris in 1851 and built with funds left in his will by Moses Eastman, a local silversmith and councillor.The Christmas carol "Jingle Bells" was written by the church's music director James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893), supposedly while living in Savannah. The city of Medford, Massachusetts, also claims that the song was written there in 1850, but it has been proven that Pierpont had moved to the west coast to partake in the California Gold Rush at that point. What is known is that he copyrighted the song, with the name "The One Horse Open Sleigh", on September 16, 1857, while he was living in Savannah.The church was physically moved from Oglethorpe Square to the western side of Troup Square, a distance of a third of a mile, in 1860.

The Hamilton–Turner Inn (also known as the Hamilton–Turner House and the Samuel P. Hamilton House) is a historic mansion in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Built in 1873, it is located at 330 Abercorn Street in the southeastern trust/civic lot of Lafayette Square. It is now a luxury inn. Virginia native Samuel Pugh Hamilton (1837–1899), colloquially known as the Lord of Lafayette Square, had the mansion built for his family. He and his wife, Sarah Virginia (née Stillings) (1836–1920), "created a social center for the city's elite" with their home.Sarah, his deceased brother's widow, was Hamilton's second wife, whom he married on June 10 1866; his first, Emma Sprigg, died around 1862, after having two children with Hamilton.Due to Hamilton's work with the Brush Electric Light & Power Company, the Hamilton's mansion was the first home in Savannah with electricity, for in 1883, lights were installed in its salon. The rest of the house was fitted with lights by 1886.The mansion survived Savannah's fire of 1898 that nearly destroyed the nearby Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. This was, in part, due to the Connecticut limestone roof, which prevented it from being engulfed by the flames.Hamilton died in 1899, in his early sixties. He and his wife, who survived him by 21 years, are buried in Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery. In 1915, Dr. Francis Turner (1884–1961) purchased the mansion from the Hamiltons, and lived there with his family until 1926.The home was then opened for boarding and became a home for the nurses of the Marine Hospital in 1928, before the Turner family moved back in during the 1940s.The Turners sold the property to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in 1965. The latter wanted to demolish the structure to make a playground for their nearby school, but the Historic Savannah Foundation stepped in, and the mansion was saved.The home is featured in John Berendt's 1994 book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil as the scene of raucous parties held by its resident Joe Odom. Nancy Hillis, on whom the book's character Mandy Nichols was based, later owned the property.Three years after the book's release, around the time of the film adaptation, Charles and Sue Strickland converted the mansion into luxury suites.

Granite Hall is an Italianate mansion in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located on East Gaston Street, just to the northeast of Forsyth Park. It is part of the Savannah Historic District, and was built in 1881 for Fred Hull. In a survey for Historic Savannah Foundation, Mary Lane Morrison found the building to be of significant status.The building was used as the venue for the Married Women's Card Club visited by John Cusack in the 1997 movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Jim Williams, upon whom both the movie and the book on which it was based was centered, purchased the house in the mid-1980s and began an extensive restoration program on it; he died before it was completed, however. Around that time, it was the Granite Steps guest house, so named for its double-entry staircase that ascends from the street.Since 2006, the property has been owned by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

115 East Jones Street is a home in Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located on historic Jones Street and was constructed in 1853.The building is part of the Savannah Historic District, and in a survey by the Historic Savannah Foundation, it was found to be of significant status.Built as part of the three-unit Eliza Ann Jewett Row House, number 115 featured in the 1997 movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil as the venue for the party hosted by Joe Odom. He was house-sitting for its owner, who was in New York.

Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church is a Methodist church in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Located in Taylor Square, at 429 Abercorn Street, the building's first floor was completed in 1875, with the second floor added in 1878. The church was completed in 1890. Its spire and stucco were added five years later. The church is dedicated to John Wesley and Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism, who came to Savannah in the 1730s. The church's design is based on that of Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, Netherlands. In 1968, a centennial marker noting the 1868 foundation of the church's congregation was placed on an exterior wall of the church. An earlier, octagonal church (known as the "Coffeepot") was located further west in the same trust lot from 1854. Fourteen years later, a mission group from Trinity Methodist Church purchased the property. They hired Dixon and Carson, architects from Baltimore, to design a new church which was to fill the eastern two-thirds of the lot.