GEORGIA'S BEST-KEPT SECRET

J.C. Sullivan

The town can best be described as 'The Way A City Oughta Be', a visually delicous city in the process of downtown preservation and restoration, where history is a living presence. Brick-lined pathways are lined with azaleas while her streets are widely divided with rows of Cypress and Elm trees sweep above the sidewalks, lending them an elegant shading.

Her architecture abounds with wrought-iron balconies, fences and ornamental work, that lend her buildings a reflection of Southern grace, gentility and craftmanship, the latter being a missing ingredient in many cities' and government structures, North and South. In the Historic District one cannot drive two blocks without encountering a park through which motorists must slowly negotiate. But Georgia's best-kept secret is her large Irish

community in Savannah, a town with long links to Wexford.

Beginning in the mid-1830's a mass of Irish came in direct response to work opportunities. Ill-fated canal projects and the 1830 Central of Georgia Railroad project, completed in 1843, contributed to a fifteen year expansion of the regional economy. The majority of Savannah's Irish came from only six of Ireland's thirty-two counties, Wexford, Cork, Mayo, Tipperary, Cavan and Kerry. A strong link was established between Savannah and Wexford which provided "acquaintenance, kinship and remittances." By 1850 nearly half of

the foreign-born and 55% of the Irish born were living in the middle Atlantic states; 13% of the foreign-born and 10% of the Irish-born were living in the South.

Settling in Savannah, the Irish found two communities to make an adjustment to - the black community and the white one, the former being quite a complicated relationship. While living in the same parts of the city, they had a limited socialization; it is reported they were extremely complicated. They lived in the same parts of the city where they engaged in

a underground economy (black market) in which alcohol was reportedly the most important commodity. Tobacco, linens, foodstuffs and the like were undoubtedly bartered as well. The upper class Irish, most of whom arrived much earlier than the working-class Irish, apparently shared the racial outlook of their social/economic peers among native-born Southerners.

The Irish working-class were a bit closer to the earth. They departed from the their church's pro-slavery teachings and seemed to willingly "punch holes in the restrictions of the law & custom that separated white from black." Because the Irish 'knew their place' as they moved in this social structure, they suffered no successful, extensive nativist backlash. However, they were condemned for "trading with slaves and for fighting with

freed blacks."

Savannah grew in the quarter century before the Civil War. "The relative shortage of free black or slave labor in the city created employment opportunities in which the irish immigrants eagerly took up thus in some respects they did not have to fully compete with slave labor.

By 1860 the southern share of foreign-born actually declined to 12% while the proportion of Irish-born in the South increased to 11%. 1840 to 1852 were peak years of immigrant arrivals. By 1850 Irish-born were 10% of Savannah's population and 19% of it's white population. By 1861 the Irish were 'neither masters nor slaves in most cases but no longer strangers either.'

A Hibernian Society had been established and on March 17, 1813 they marched in a procession to the Independent Presbyterian Church. Speaking of their St. Patrick's Day Parade, Don Fallin said, "In Georgia we've never had enough Pipe Bands to make it a happy a parade as we wish it to be; we could use a few more," he said. "In the local area we don't have participation of units in the area like there are in the North and the Northeast." Fallin knows that many available pipe bands want to go to New York City or other large cities on St. Patrick's Day but feels that "if we can entice people to come down and go to another Southern parade, there are three; one within 35 or 40 miles, one within 125 and another within 250 miles; if we can get 'em to come down and participate in two parades, maybe that would be an enticement for them to come down." Any other enticements for pipe bands to come to Savannah for St. Patrick's Day? Fallin smiled and said, "It's

sportcoat weather here on St. Patrick's Day."

History is alive in Savannah and the "War of Northern Aggression" is never far from the conscious. Those with family members who fought with the Army of Northern Virginia or with the Western Army are fully aware of their family's contribution and loss during this momentous event. The 'Jasper Greens' were named after Irish-American Sgt. William Jasper, mortally wounded during the 1778 siege of Savannah. When the Civil War began they went off to fight. The 'Montgomery Guards' became a part of the First Volunteer Regiment of Georgia. One third of this unit were Irish.

John Mahoney, originally from Shelby, N.C., has resided in Savannah for twenty years. "My dad, a lawyer and a judge, was a 'Southie' from Boston. We were the only Mahoneys in North Carolina. From 1962 to 1971 he actually ran a St. Patrick's Day Parade in Savannah that consisted of the Mahoney family." Working as a volunteer at the 1995 Savannah Irish Festival, Mahoney said, "It's brought together the eleven Irish groups in Savannah. We're

doing this to bring the Irish culture to the community." Like many other areas of the country everybody drank green beer and wore plastic green hats. "That's not the case here," said Mahoney. "Traditional Irish music is brought in regularly at Kevin Barry's Irish Pub on River Street and the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) sponsors 'The Thistle and Shamrock' radio show. That takes a good deal of our effort to do it but we think it's really important to bring the culture to the community." The show is heard in Savannah every Saturday at 8pm, 9l.1. "Anybody reading the Irish Echo is invited to next year's Festival. Southern hospitality and a friendly Irish community here will make anyone feel comfortable."

As Part of the Savannah Festival the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians sponsors a poster contest for schoolchildren, awarding prizes and honorable mention in several categories. It involves youngsters in their Irishness as well as current events in the Irish community, and provides festival-goers with an art exhibit, all of which is colorful and impressive. It's the first time this writer has seen anyone do this and I certainly encourage other festivals to do likewise.

Robert Buttimer (Bobby) was the Chairman of this year’s Festival committee. He is quoted in Savannah's 'Scene' magazine: "The Savannah Irish Festival focuses more on the arts, on educating people in Irish culture.

The parade committee has made great efforts in the past four or five years to stop the commercialization of the parade. What we would like to be is a complement to the parade, never to compete. We open the St. Patrick's Day season the third weekend in February. Every weekend from then on is filled with local Irish events."

Kevin Barry's is definitely the center of the traditional music scene in

Savannah. Owned and operated by Queens, N.Y. native Vic Powers, we were treated to his rendition of 'Kelly, the boy from Killane.' After each evening's Festival performance the crowd gathered at Barry's for impromptu performances by musicians that included the Makem Brothers.

A new act (for this writer) was the Dady Brothers, John and Joe, from Rochester, N.Y. Their musical talent is spread between fiddle, guitar, tin whistle and bodhran but it's their on-stage antics that freshen a stage and bring smiles you young and old like. We'd love to see them at an Ohio Irish festival. While there were many talented performers, honorable mention goes to the Buddy O'Reilly Band, who put in a fine performance of traditional Irish music.

And, of course, it's always fun to meet one's namesake. John and Mary Ellen Sullivan reside in Savannah. And then there was the lively and talkative Jack Sullivan, proprietor of a Lafayette, N.J. Irish import store. Introducing myself he said, "I knew you were a Sullivan. You can tell a Sullivan by the eyebrows." I guess he was referring to those new, black curly strands growing from mine. Hmmm, they say when I reach puberty that'll

stop. I also saw Jack at the Dublin, Ohio festival. When I said, again, I was John Sullivan, he repeated the same line he’d said in Savannah.

As our Irish luck would have it, we didn't see sunshine from Friday through Monday. When we left on Tuesday the sun peeked through the clouds. However, it certainly didn't dampen the Irish spirit in the least. The Irish community is large, active and spirited. And John Mahoney is right. Between Southern hospitality and Irish friendliness we felt right at home in Savannah.

SOURCES FOR SAVANNAH-IRISH HISTORY

History of the Hibernian Society of Savannah, 1812-1912, Savannah, Braid

& Hutton, 1912.

Hibernia America, Dennis Clark, The Irish and Regional Cultures,

Contributions in Ethnic Studies, Westport, CN, Greenwood Press, 1986.

"The South's Irish Catholics, A case of cultural confinement", Catholics

in the Old South, Editor Randall N. Miller & Jon L. Wakelyn. Macon Mercer

University Press, 1983.

'Strangers & Citizens, Irish Community in Savannah, 1837-1861', UMI

Disseration Information Service, a Bell & Howell Information Company, 300

North Zeeb, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 313 761 4700,