Greenwich Plantation facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Greenwich Plantation |
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The Greenwich Plantation mansion, pictured circa 1910, about halfway through its existence. The fountain still stands today
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| Alternative names | Greenwich Place |
| General information | |
| Location | Colonial Savannah, Province of Georgia |
| Address | Greenwich Road |
| Coordinates | 32°03′05″N 81°02′23″W / 32.0513°N 81.0396°W |
| Completed | 1900 (mansion only) |
| Destroyed | 1923 (mansion only) |
| Owner |
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| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 3 |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 40 |
Greenwich Plantation, also known as Greenwich Place, was a large estate founded in 1765 in Savannah, Georgia. It was located in what was then the Province of Georgia, one of the Thirteen Colonies. Today, the land where it once stood is home to Greenwich Cemetery.
The plantation covered about 100 acres (0.4 square kilometers). It featured a grand main house, which was finished in 1900, and a private cemetery. The estate was situated along the Wilmington River, about 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) east of the Savannah colony. It was very close to another famous estate, Bonaventure Plantation, which is now Bonaventure Cemetery. The long driveway of Greenwich Plantation can still be seen today, next to the main gates of Bonaventure.
Contents
History of Greenwich Plantation
Founding and Early Days
Greenwich Plantation was started in April 1765 by Samuel Bowen. He bought 450 acres (1.8 square kilometers) of land in Thunderbolt, Georgia, and named his new property Greenwich. On his estate, Bowen began growing soybeans, which were then called "Luk Taw" or "Chinese vetch." From these beans, he made soy sauce and vermicelli noodles.
Bowen believed that the sprouts from his plants could help prevent scurvy, a serious illness that often affected sailors in the British Royal Navy. His research was very important. In 1766, he received a gold medal from the Royal Society of Arts and a gift of £200 from King George III. The next year, the British government gave him a special patent for his new way of making sago, vermicelli, and soy from American plants. These products were said to be as good as those from the East Indies. Samuel Bowen also brought tea plants from China to Georgia. Because of his work, he was chosen to be a member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia in 1769.
Changes in Ownership
When Samuel Bowen passed away in 1777, his wife, Jeanie (Jane) Spencer, became the owner of Greenwich Plantation. Jeanie was the daughter of William Spencer, who worked as a customs collector in Savannah. During the Second Battle of Savannah, she hosted two officers from the French fleet led by Charles Hector, comte d'Estaing. She also oversaw the burial of Polish General Casimir Pulaski, who died during the battle. He was buried "between her mansion and the river."
In 1797, Jeanie Bowen sold the plantation to Samuel Beechcroft. Later, Captain F.C. Threadcraft owned the property until 1874. After him, a German rifle club called Savannah Schutzen Gesellschaft took over the estate.
The Grand Mansion Era
In 1887, the Greenwich Park Association became the new owners. Its director, Spencer Proudfoot Shotter, bought the property completely in 1896. Mr. Shotter was a wealthy businessman who dealt with naval supplies.
In 1898, Shotter began building a magnificent new mansion in the Beaux-Arts style. This grand house had double colonnades (rows of columns) with 28 columns on three sides. Each column was 28 inches (71 centimeters) wide and over 20 feet (6 meters) tall. The estate also featured beautiful gardens with large lawns, boxwood hedges, plants brought from other places, and decorative pools. Shotter renamed the property Greenwich Place.
However, Mr. Shotter later faced financial difficulties and had to sell the property. In 1917, Doctor Henry Norton Torrey, a brain surgeon from Detroit, bought Greenwich Place. Dr. Torrey and his family, including his wife Nell and their two children, William and Eleanor, spent their winters there. They also had eighteen staff members living on the estate.
Life at Greenwich Place
When the Torreys bought Greenwich Place, it was a very impressive estate. It had a beautifully furnished main house, a garage for six cars, a laundry building, and offices and homes for the superintendent and chauffeur. There were also other living quarters for servants, an artificial pond, and formal gardens.
Inside the mansion, there were 40 rooms. These included a ballroom, a library, a billiards room, a reception room, a drawing room, a music room, and a butler's pantry. There were also 12 master bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. Outside, the estate had stables (some of which are still standing), a dairy farm, a 200-foot-long (61-meter) greenhouse, a bath and pool house, and a dock for yachts. Greenwich Place was considered one of the most luxurious estates in the Southern United States, even rivaling the famous Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.
The house and grounds of Greenwich Place were even used as filming locations for several silent movies, including Mice and Men (1916) and Stolen Moments (1920).
The Fire and Aftermath
On January 27, 1923, tragedy struck when the three-story, 40-room brick and marble mansion burned completely to the ground. Ten-year-old Eleanor Torrey had to jump from the second floor to escape the fire. Dr. Torrey bravely rescued his grandmother, Mrs. M.T. Garrison.
Instead of rebuilding Greenwich Place, the Torrey family decided to move to Ossabaw Island. There, they built a new house between 1924 and 1926. They even took the two large iron gates from Greenwich Place with them to their new home.
In 1933, the City of Savannah bought the land where the plantation once stood for $75,000. They named it the "Greenwich Addition to Bonaventure." The purchase included fourteen statues that Spencer Shotter had bought during a trip to Rome in 1912. These statues had arrived in Savannah by boat that July. The city stored them until 1965, when they were loaned to Savannah's Telfair Museums.
In 2020, the City of Savannah approved the sale of these statues for a total of $400,000. One statue was kept because it was part of a pair, and the other part was already on display at the Telfair Museums.
Today, the original fountain at Greenwich still stands, marking where the mansion once was. The butterfly lake, which used to have an arched bridge over it, also remains.
Images for kids
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The Greenwich Plantation mansion, pictured circa 1910, about halfway through its existence. The fountain still stands today
