#124: Savannah's Visitor Center on Martin Luther King Boulevard

"The Atlanta Campaign of 1864 would have been impossible without this railroad…

the Western & Atlantic Railroad of Georgia should be the pride of every true

American because by reason of its existence, the Union was saved."

—William Tecumseh Sherman

Savannah's Visitor Center on Martin Luther King Boulevard

All of the nineteenth-century Georgia-based railroads are long gone. Naturally, some buildings that once housed vital railroad infrastructure have been preserved, like this one on the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Liberty Street found on the west edge of Savannah's Historic District.

This northside view faces the parking lot entrance that most visitors use when scheduling local bus tours of Savannah. Aside from the Visitor Center is the Savannah History Museum located inside the attached Central of Georgia Railway shed. It is a National Historic Landmark dating to the 1850s.

Just north on Martin Luther King Boulevard are two former Central of Georgia Railroad historically preserved buildings (see PFS-91 and PFS-106). Both William Washington Gordon (see PFS-65) and Hugh Moss Comer (see PFS-40) served as president of this Savannah-based railroad company.

The Savannah History Museum contains more than 10,000 artifacts to guide you through the city's history since Oglethorpe's anchored his ship Anne below the bluffs on the Savannah River in 1733.

Across Liberty Street, on the south side of the Visitor's Center, you'll find Battlefield Memorial Park. On October 9, 1779, over 8000 troops from three different armies fought the Battle of Savannah during the Revolutionary War. It was the second most bloody battle of the American Revolution.

In this losing fight against superior British forces, fallen heroes like Casimir Pulaski (see PFS-68) and William Jasper (see PFS-59) led the colonials, joined by five-hundred French-led Haitian forces called the Volunteers of Saint-Domingue (see PFS-50).

It was once possible to hop aboard a passenger train from virtually anywhere in Georgia and visit nearly anywhere you wanted in the state of Georgia. The only passenger rail service offered today in Georgia is Amtrack, which serves five train stations: Atlanta, Gainesville, Jesup, Toccoa, and Savannah. However, you can no longer ride the rails from Savannah directly to Atlanta.

The fall off of passenger rail service resulted from the complex economic realities of running railroads. Railroads have always been challenging and expensive to build, operate and maintain.

About ten railroads were running in Georgia on the eve of the Civil War. With Savannah as Georgia's primary port, most rail lines found a way to connect to the city. The Central of Georgia began in Savannah in 1838, with the first twenty-six miles of track laid from Savannah west to Eden, Georgia. The following year another fifty-two miles of track extended the line to Millen, Georgia.

In addition to the Central of Georgia railroad, four other Georgia railroad companies played significant roles in major Civil War military campaigns: Atlanta & West Point Rail Road, Georgia Railroad & Banking Company, Macon & Western Railroad Company, and the Western & Atlantic Railway.

All five of these major rail lines were either captured or directly or indirectly destroyed by the military forces of William Tecumseh Sherman. Confederate troops destroyed some rail lines to stop Yankee forces from using them. Sherman's army destroyed everything it could, burning its way from Atlanta to Savannah. Fortunately for Savannahians, Sherman's army left the city almost entirely intact.