That's so Savannah: Tomochichi's boulder a monument to a man integral to Georgia's founding

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Visitors and locals who pass through Wright Square may wonder why there is a huge boulder resting in the corner of the square. The boulder bares a bronze tablet encircled with Cherokee roses and arrowheads, and reads, "In Memory of Tomochichi - the Mico of the Yamacraws - the companion of Oglethorpe - and the friend and ally of the Colony of Georgia."

But why a boulder, and why in this spot?

Chief Tomochichi was integral to the founding of Georgia and Savannah. Without Tomochichi's strong leadership and artful mediation between Lower Creek chieftains and English settlers, General James Oglethorpe may never have successfully established the Georgia colony.

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When Tomochichi died in 1739 at the age of 95, he wanted to be buried in Savannah, the city he helped create. To honor him, Oglethorpe, acting as a pallbearer, had Tomochichi buried in the center of Wright Square under a pyramid of stones.

In 1883, The City Fathers of Savannah wanted to erect a monument to William Washington Gordon, builder of Georgia’s first railroad (and grandfather to Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low). By this time Tomochichi’s pyramid of stones was no longer in the square — a dirt mound with a decorative planter in its place was all that remained.

The mound and planter were often misidentified as a monument to Tomochichi. The pyramid’s stones had been missing since as early as the 1830s, likely removed intentionally when relations with Native Americans soured after the American Revolution.

If that was the case, then what happened next shouldn’t come as a surprise. The city plowed over Tomochichi’s grave and plopped a towering monument to William Gordon on top. A historical marker next to the monument indicates that Tomochichi’s remains still lie under the Gordon Monument.

Gordon’s daughter-in-law, Nellie Gordon, felt so awful about the desecration of Tomochichi’s grave, a man who had been so important to Savannah, that she and her cohorts in the Colonial Dames of America wrote to the Stone Mountain Company in Atlanta to request a suitable piece of granite for a monument. Stone Mountain offered a boulder, free of charge, but Nellie wanted the donation to be from the Dames.

According to the Colonial Dames’ website, Stone Mountain sent a bill for $1, “payable on judgement day.” Nellie paid the dollar with the reply, “the other ladies would be too busy attending to their own duties on that momentous day.” The boulder monument to Tomochichi was placed in the southeast corner of Wright Square and dedicated on April 21, 1899.

Let’s see somebody try to move this one.

As a side note, local “legend” says that if you walk around the boulder three times, saying Tomochichi’s name, you’ll hear him say ... nothing.

Christopher Berinato is the author of “Secret Savannah: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure”

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: That's so Savannah: Tomochichi's boulder a monument to a man integral to Georgia's founding