Upon founding the colony of Georgia and the city of Savannah in 1733, General James Edward Oglethorpe imposed his neatly organized city plan on the swath of wilderness south of Yamacraw Bluff. Taking inspiration from the order of ancient Roman military encampments, a grid of streets was created and divided up into four equal wards. Featuring a square at its center for military drilling and community gatherings, each ward also has four trust lots for civic buildings and churches with four larger tithing lots for homes and businesses.

As Savannah expanded, city planners added more wards, most, but not all, matching the original wards with a square at the center. Eventually, areas outside the gridded portion of the city were deemed as wards though they do not resemble the classic ward set up. Currently, Savannah’s National Landmark designated historic district consists of forty-four wards.

An 1818 map of Savannah showing many of the wards and their squares.

By 1851, the city had twenty-four squares. Most wards were named for people who were significant in the city or the country’s development. While many squares bear the same name as their ward, others do not. Progress has led to the destruction of three squares, though in 2010, Ellis Square at the center of Decker Ward was partially restored, bringing the number of “surviving” squares to twenty-two.

Due to the tremendous number of hauntings in this historic district, like the number in Charleston, South Carolina and New Orleans’ French Quarter, I have found this division makes it easier to cover Savannah’s piece by piece. It also makes it easier for readers to work their way through the city visiting its haunted locales.

The following list of wards only includes those wards with at least one haunting.

Sources

• Historic Preservation Department of the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission. Historic Building Map, Savannah Historic District. Amended and adopted 17 November 2011.
• Oglethorpe Plan. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 27 August 2025.
• Savannah Historic District (Savannah, Georgia). Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 27 August 2025.

Savannah City Wards

• Anson Ward (Oglethorpe Square)
• Berrien Ward
• Brown Ward (Chippewa Square)
• Calhoun Ward (Taylor Square)
• Charlton Ward
• Chatham Ward (Chatham Square)
• Columbia Ward (Columbia Square)
• Crawford Ward (Crawford Square)
• Currie Town Ward
• Decker Ward (Ellis Square)
• Derby Ward (Johnson Square)
• Elbert Ward (Elbert Square)
• Forsyth Ward (Forsyth Park)
• Franklin Ward (Franklin Square)
• Greene Ward (Greene Square)
• Heathcote Ward (Telfair Square)
• Jackson Ward (Orleans Square)
• Jasper Ward (Madison Square)
• Lafayette Ward (Lafayette Square)
• Liberty Ward (Liberty Square)
• Middle Oglethorpe Ward
• Monterey Ward (Monterey Square)
• New Franklin Ward & Wharf Lots (River Street, Factor’s Walk, & North Side of Bay Street)
• Percival Ward (Wright Square)
• Pulaski Ward (Pulaski Square)
• Railroad Ward
• Reynolds Ward (Reynolds Square)
• Stephens Ward
• Troup Ward (Troup Square)
• Trustee’s Garden Ward
• Warren Ward (Warren Square)
• Washington Ward (Washington Square)
• Wesley Ward (Whitfield Square)