Visual Archaeology in Savannah’s Reynolds Square
JD Byous
In historic cities, the past rarely disappears completely. It lingers in brick seams, buried foundations, altered facades, and street lines that no longer make sense. The clues are everywhere, but most people walk past them without noticing. Historians and archaeologists have a name for this type of observation: visual archaeology — the study of the physical traces of earlier landscapes that remain visible in the modern built environment.
Visual archaeology does not replace traditional excavation. Instead, it complements it. Where conventional archaeology digs into the ground, visual archaeology studies the surface: architecture, street layouts, scars in brickwork, and the subtle “ghosts” left behind when buildings change over time. A careful observer can often reconstruct decades — or even centuries — of urban transformation simply by reading these visible clues.
Few American cities reward this type of investigation more than Savannah. Founded in 1733 and famous for its orderly plan of wards and squares, Savannah preserves a layered architectural landscape that stretches from the colonial era to the modern day. Within its historic district, entire stories remain hidden in plain sight. One of the best places to see this layered history is Reynolds Square, where eighteenth-century buildings, nineteenth-century commercial growth, and twentieth-century redevelopment all intersect within a few hundred feet.
By examining the square closely, its buildings, sidewalks, and walls, it becomes possible to reconstruct fragments of Savannah’s past without lifting a single shovel.
The Idea Behind Visual Archaeology
Archaeology is often imagined as an excavation: trowels, trenches, and buried artifacts. Yet the discipline has long relied on observation as much as digging. Architectural historians, for example, routinely interpret structures by reading their fabric, examining mortar types, brick colors, nail styles, or framing methods to determine when different portions of a building were constructed.
Visual archaeology expands that approach beyond individual buildings to the broader urban landscape. It treats the city itself as a document. Cracks in pavement may mark former property lines. Bricked-up doorways can reveal earlier floor plans. Changes in masonry often indicate additions, demolitions, or shifts in land use.
In places with long histories of redevelopment, these traces accumulate. They become what preservationists often call architectural ghosts— features that remain visible even after the structures that created them have disappeared. Savannah’s historic district contains hundreds of these ghosts. Reynolds Square provides a compact case study of how they work.
Reynolds Square: A Colonial Framework
Reynolds Square dates to the earliest years of Savannah’s founding. The city’s distinctive ward plan — laid out under the leadership of colonial founder James Edward Oglethorpe, organized neighborhoods around central squares. Each ward contained residential lots, civic trust lots, and an open public square designed as a communal space.
Reynolds Square emerged within this framework during the eighteenth century and soon became an important civic and religious center. One of its most significant early occupants was the Anglican minister John Wesley, who lived nearby during his brief but influential ministry in Georgia in 1736–1737.¹
John Wesley, Founder of Methodism
Although the original structures from Wesley’s time have disappeared, the site itself retains continuity. Later buildings were constructed atop or adjacent to earlier ones, preserving layers of occupation that can still be detected in the surrounding architecture.
The Oliver Sturges House December 30 1936. L.D. Andrew Photographer
The Oliver Sturges House: Commerce and Steam Power
One of the most prominent structures facing the square today is the Oliver Sturges House at 27 Abercorn Street. Built around 1813, the house stands as an elegant example of Federal-style urban architecture.²
Its builder, Oliver Sturges, was a Connecticut-born merchant who became a major figure in Savannah’s early nineteenth-century commercial life. After moving south in the early 1800s, Sturges entered the cotton trade and built partnerships with other merchants operating in the Atlantic economy.³
Sturges is remembered today for his involvement with the pioneering steamship SS Savannah. The vessel achieved global fame in 1819 when it completed the first transatlantic voyage by a steam-powered ship. While the crossing relied partly on sails, the journey demonstrated that steam propulsion could successfully operate across the ocean.⁴
Historical accounts indicate that planning for the ship’s voyage took place within Sturges’s Reynolds Square residence.⁵ In that sense, the building became an unlikely headquarters for one of the early milestones in maritime engineering.
Architecturally, the house also illustrates the development of Savannah itself. The structure originally stood beside a nearly identical companion house belonging to Sturges’s business partner, Benjamin Burroughs. Over time the neighboring building disappeared, replaced by later construction associated with the Planters Inn.⁶
Today the Sturges House survives as the headquarters of Morris Multimedia and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.⁷
Ghosts in Brick and Mortar
Behind the Sturges House lies a quieter but equally revealing archaeological landscape. In the courtyard walls and adjacent structures, careful observers can see subtle changes in brick color, blocked openings, and irregular masonry lines. These features represent successive modifications made to the property over more than two centuries.
The parking area of the Oliver Sturges House on Reynolds Square with architecural “ghosts.”
A short brick wall near the rear of the lot likely represents part of the early nineteenth-century garden enclosure that once surrounded the residence. In many urban houses of the period, carriage houses and service buildings stood behind the main structure, separated from the street by enclosed yards.
Where those auxiliary buildings once stood, faint outlines sometimes remain visible. Bricked-up doors and arches can reveal where interior spaces were reorganized or where demolished structures once attached to standing walls. In preservation terminology these marks are often called “ghosts” because they record the presence of something that is no longer there.
Urban historians rely heavily on these clues. By comparing masonry patterns and consulting historical maps, they can reconstruct building phases that would otherwise be lost.
The Olde Pink House: A Survivor from the Colonial Era
Across the street from the Sturges House stands another landmark of Reynolds Square: the The Olde Pink House.
Originally built in 1771 for merchant and planter James Habersham Jr., the Georgian-style mansion ranks among the oldest surviving structures in the city.⁸ Habersham belonged to one of colonial Georgia’s most influential families, deeply involved in commerce and government during the eighteenth century.
The building has served many purposes across its long life. After functioning as a private residence, it became the headquarters of the Planters Bank in 1812 and is often described as Georgia’s first bank.⁹ During the Civil War the building also served as a Union military headquarters.¹⁰
By the twentieth century, the house passed through a series of commercial uses, including an attorney’s office and bookstore. In the 1930s it became a tea room operated by preservationist Alida Harper Fowlkes.¹¹
Today the structure operates as a well-known Savannah restaurant, drawing visitors from around the world.
Why the Olde Pink House Is Pink
The building’s distinctive color has produced more than a few myths. One commonly repeated story claims that the house turned pink because red bricks bled through white plaster over time. In reality, the explanation is less complicated.
The myth about the building says it was constructed of red brick and later, coated with plaster. Over time, weathering and repainting altered its appearance. At various points owners painted the exterior white, while later restorations embraced the now-iconic pink color. If you’ve ever worked in construction you can see the problem with that explanation. Brick colors do not bleed through plaster.¹²
The reality is much simpler. Alida Harper-Fowlkes, the lady who operated the Pink House as a tea room and restaurant in the late 1930s, had the building painted… well… pink. Over the years it has been painted with many variations of that color. It is a local favorite and is a famous destination for Savannah visitors today. Lens on History Producer, Becky Byous particularly loves the She-crab soup.
Whatever the building’s origin, the hue has become inseparable from the building’s identity. Today the mansion stands as one of Savannah’s most recognizable architectural landmarks.
Reading the Streets
Visual archaeology does not stop at building walls. Streets and sidewalks also preserve traces of earlier infrastructure.
In the block surrounding Reynolds Square, cast-iron utility covers and drainage structures date to the nineteenth century, when Savannah modernized its urban services. As sidewalks expanded and roadways were altered, additional layers of pavement and infrastructure accumulated.
In front of the Olde Pink House Restaurant are two manhole covers. This archeological feature remembers when the curb was closer to the building. Some time in the mid-twentieth century the city’s easement was extended, making the street more narrow. When the curb was moved it was necessary to add another storm drain. The original drain was simply built around, leaving it in the slate sidewalk.
Changes in curb lines or paving materials sometimes indicate earlier street alignments. In cities with long histories of transit systems, subtle undulations in the roadway can even reflect buried rails or foundations left behind after trolley lines were removed.
Although such features require confirmation through documentary evidence or excavation, they illustrate the principle of visual archaeology: even everyday infrastructure can preserve physical evidence of the past.
The Value of Looking Closely
Cities like Savannah often appear timeless, but their landscapes are products of constant change. Buildings rise and fall, property boundaries shift, and transportation systems evolve. Each transformation leaves physical marks behind.
For historians, these marks provide invaluable evidence. Architectural ghosts reveal how buildings were expanded or repurposed. Street seams expose earlier urban layouts. Even the color variations in brickwork can tell a story about repairs, additions, or lost structures.
Reynolds Square offers a particularly vivid example of this layered history. Within a single block, one can see the legacy of colonial settlement, the growth of nineteenth-century commerce, and the preservation movement that saved many historic buildings during the twentieth century.
Savannah as an Open-Air Archive
Perhaps the greatest lesson of visual archaeology is that history is not confined to archives or museums. It exists all around us, embedded in the built environment.
In Savannah, the city itself functions as an open-air archive. Each square, each facade, and each lane preserves fragments of earlier eras. The challenge is learning how to read them.
Visitors who slow down and examine the details — brick seams, bricked-up windows, irregular sidewalks — often discover stories invisible at first glance. These features may not be dramatic like a buried artifact, but they offer something equally valuable: evidence of how real places evolve over time.
Reynolds Square, with its colonial houses, nineteenth-century commercial history, and subtle architectural ghosts, demonstrates that the past rarely disappears completely. Instead, it remains etched into the landscape, waiting for careful observers to notice it.
Footnotes
John Wesley resided in Savannah as an Anglican missionary from 1736–1737; see Frederick V. Mills Sr., Bishops by Ballot: An Eighteenth-Century Ecclesiastical Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978).
Deirdre Stanforth, Restored America: Old Towns and Cities in the United States (New York: Praeger, 1975), 173–175.
William Harden, A History of Savannah and South Georgia, vol. 1 (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1913), 406–408.
Frank Osborn Braynard, S.S. Savannah: The Elegant Steam Ship (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1963).
Historic American Buildings Survey, “Hiram Roberts House (Oliver Sturges House), Savannah, Georgia,” Library of Congress.
Whip Morrison Triplett, Savannah: A Photographic Portrait (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2006).
National Register of Historic Places, “Oliver Sturges House,” U.S. Department of the Interior.
Jedidiah Morse, American Gazetteer (Boston: S. Hall and Thomas & Andrews, 1797).
Telfair Museums, 200 Years of William Jay Architecture (Savannah: Telfair Museums, 2019).
Robert S. Davis Jr., Civil War Savannah (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2004).
Alida Harper Fowlkes preservation activities documented in local preservation records; see Historic Savannah Foundation archives.
Visit Savannah, “Why the Olde Pink House Is Pink,” Savannah Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Sav
AFFILIATE LINKS for touring and learning:
Guided Segway Tours - at Adventure Tours In Motion (Use LOH for 10% discount at checkout)
Guided Bike Tours - at Savannah Bike Tours (Use LOH for 10% discount at checkout)
AFFILIATE LINKS for products I use making our videos:
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Below is the equipment I use all the time:
Nikon D7200 for still images
Nikon DR-6 Right Angle Viewfinder. Great for low shots with the D7200
Panasonic Lumix G7 for stills and video
Panasonic LUMIX GH4 also for stills and slow motion video
Newer 77 inch Tripod. Light weight for walking around town
Godox AD200 Pro Pocket Outdoor Flash Strobe, 200Ws 2.4G TTL 1/8000s HSS
Godox X2T-N Flash Trigger for Nikon
Godox X2T-O TTL Wireless Flash Trigger for Olympus Panasonic
DJI Osmo Mobile SE, 3-Axis Gimbal for iPhone, Android. (I use this all the time)
RØDE Wireless ME Ultra-compact Wireless Microphone System , Georgia, history, archaeology, photography, travel, architecture, historic, Reynolds, square, colonial, American, heritage, tourism, landmarks, preservation, urban, museum, culture, Lowcountry visual archaeology Savannah, hidden history Savannah Georgia, Reynolds Square Savannah, story, Olde Pink House history, Oliver Sturges House Savannah, Savannah ghost architecture, Savannah historic district tour, things to do in Savannah history lovers, Savannah colonial, history sites, Savannah architecture photography, historic Savannah travel guide, Savannah, squares history, urban archaeology Savannah, Savannah trolley history, historic landmarks in Savannah Georgia, Lens on History Savannah, Savannah hidden landmarks, Savannah brick ghost buildings, how to find hidden history in cities, Savannah Georgia travel history #SavannahGeorgia #SavannahHistory #ReynoldsSquare