Free previewStop 7 of Savannah Walking Tour: City Hall to Forsyth Park
The Colony That Banned Catholics
You're standing on East Harris Street, beside Lafayette Square, in front of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Tip your head back and find the two spires. They climb about 214 feet, and they are the point of this stop. Hold on to that height, because the colony that built this city once wrote people like the builders out of it.
The 1732 charter that created the colony of Georgia, the same project that gave Savannah its squares, explicitly prohibited Catholics from residing in the colony. Oglethorpe's town was planned down to the last square, and for Catholics the plan had no room.
Now jump forward to the building in front of you, and to a small, strange embarrassment. The cornerstone was laid in 1873, and in 1876 the church was dedicated under a new name: the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 7 of Savannah Walking Tour: City Hall to Forsyth Park (2 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
