Wright Square - Tomochichi's Resting Place
Photo: Antony-22, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
A stop on Savannah, a free self-guided tour.
Wright Square is another of the four original squares of 1733, and it holds a story that is easy to miss. Look for a large granite boulder in one corner. It marks the burial place of Tomochichi, the leader of the Yamacraw people who lived on this bluff when Oglethorpe arrived.
Tomochichi welcomed the colonists and helped them make peace with neighboring nations, and he even traveled to London with Oglethorpe. When he died in 1739, he was buried here with honors and a pyramid of stones.
That marker was later removed, and in 1883 the tall monument in the center was built for William Washington Gordon, founder of the Central of Georgia Railway. His daughter-in-law, Nellie Gordon, felt Tomochichi had been pushed aside and led the effort to place the boulder in 1899. The square takes its name from James Wright, Georgia's last royal governor.
Getting here: Head back east along State Street about four blocks to Bull Street. Wright Square is on your right.
Did you know?: The company that supplied Tomochichi's granite boulder reportedly billed Nellie Gordon just one dollar, to be paid on Judgment Day.
Photo op: Crouch beside the Tomochichi boulder and frame it with the Gordon monument rising in the background.
More on Wikipedia: Wright Square · Tomochichi · Yamacraw
Stops on this tour
- Johnson Square - Where the Plan Began
- River Street and Factors Walk - Built on Cotton
- City Market and Ellis Square - A Square Won Back
- First African Baptist Church - A Congregation's Own Bricks
- Wright Square - Tomochichi's Resting Place
- Owens-Thomas House - Regency Mansion and Slave Quarters
- Chippewa Square - Oglethorpe Stands Guard
- Madison Square - Battle Lines and a Christmas Gift
- Cathedral of St. John the Baptist - Twin Spires
- Taylor Square - A New Name for an Old Square
- Monterey Square - Pulaski and the Mercer House
- Forsyth Park Fountain - The Grand Finale