Savannah is Georgia's oldest city and also its third largest, following Atlanta and Columbus. Founded in 1733 when James Oglethorpe arrived with 120 settlers, the town began growing immediately. By the early days of the Revolutionary War Savannah was a thriving port city, a fact not overlooked by the British, who occupied it in December 1778. Despite a valiant American effort to regain the strategic port in 1779, Savannah remained in British hands until its liberation by General Anthony Wayne's troops in 1782. Savannah was Georgia's first state capital, a role it held from 1782 to 1785.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Confederate troops seized Union-held Fort Pulaski. One year later, the superior firepower of Union artillery was more than Confederate defenders could resist, and the fort was retaken by the U.S. Army and was used as a Union hospital. In December 1864, General William T. Sherman marched on Savannah and, following intense fighting, took the city. A jubilant Sherman wired President Abraham Lincoln, advising the chief executive that Savannah was being given to him as a Christmas present.

Today, Savannah is one of the "crown jewel" cities of America's eastern seaboard. A vigorous and well-organized historic zoning effort has preserved the inner town much as it was in the days before and immediately following the Civil War. The city boasts 1,400 restored or reconstructed buildings dating from the time of its founding. Warehouses still line the banks of the Savannah River upon which oceangoing vessels haul cargo upstream for unloading.