Site of Fort Wayne - Savannah, GA
N 32° 04.738 W 081° 05.029
17S E 492089 N 3549191
Fort Wayne was built in 1762 to defend Savannah. The fort was not of military importance until the Revolutionary War. Today, the only remnants of the fort are the buttressed brick walls that made up the base of the fort.
Waymark Code: WM4HQ8
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 08/27/2008
Views: 58
24. The SITE OF FORT WAYNE, NE. corner E. Bay and E. Broad Sts., is now occupied by the municipal gas plant. Though built in 1762, the fort was not of great military importance until the Revolutionary period, when it was named for the fiery patriot General "Mad Anthony" Wayne. The British strengthened it in 1779 after the city had fallen into their hands, and the Americans rebuilt it for defense during the War of 1812. Encircling a high bluff and overlooking what was once a marshy plain are the massive buttressed brick walls, built during the second alteration; they still appear redoubtable with their old black cannon, relics of the fort pointing seaward.
The fort was built on the original site of the Trustees' Gardens, which covered ten acres. In these gardens mulberry trees were planted and experiments conducted with various exotic plants in the days when it was hoped that the Georgia colony could produce silk, wine, and drugs. In 1735 eight pounds of silk was sent to England and woven into a dress for Queen Caroline. But the silk industry did not prosper for long, and soon more practicable products replaced the mulberry trees.
---Georgia, a Guide to its Towns and Countryside, 1940
Today the site looks much as it did in 1940, except that there are no longer any cannons here. There are still gas pipelines through the site and the Flint House still marks the southern boundary of the Fort.