Savannah burial survey finds likely graves under Whitefield Square

By AI, Created 10:13 AM UTC, May 20, 2026, /AGP/ – A city-commissioned radar survey in Savannah identified more than 80 possible burial anomalies beneath Whitefield Square, intensifying calls to memorialize a long-overlooked Black burial ground. The findings are fueling local plans for further surveys and wider debate over how the city remembers its history ahead of America’s 250th anniversary.

Why it matters: - The Whitefield Square findings give scientific support to long-standing claims that Black burial grounds remain beneath one of Savannah’s busiest historic spaces. - The discovery is pushing renewed calls for memorialization, historical correction and public reckoning in a city built in part by enslaved and free Africans whose burial sites were largely unacknowledged. - The case is becoming part of a broader national conversation about memory, democracy and whose histories get preserved as the U.S. approaches its 250th anniversary.

What happened: - The LAMAR Institute released results of a ground-penetrating radar survey commissioned by the City of Savannah. - The survey identified more than 80 potential burial anomalies beneath Whitefield Square, plus two larger burial clusters that could not be counted precisely. - The study was designed to inform historical-marker planning and to assess whether burials connected to Savannah’s historic Negro Burial Grounds likely remain beneath the square. - The report found some anomalies as shallow as about 12 inches below the surface. - Other anomalies extended roughly 2 to 3.5 feet deep under an active public square used by tourists, wedding photographers and daily pedestrian traffic. - Mayor Van Johnson called Whitefield Square “sacred ground.”

The details: - The findings have been welcomed by residents, historians and descendants as confirmation of a history that was overlooked in public accounts of Savannah’s Black community. - The square is connected to generations of enslaved and free Africans whose labor helped build the city. - The results follow years of advocacy tied to Rest With Honor Savannah, a research and petition campaign launched in 2020 by New York-based artist and journalist Lauri Lyons. - Lyons conducted archival research, launched public petitions and pressed questions about the link between Savannah’s public squares and the city’s documented Negro burial grounds. - Early reporting by Tina Brown of the Savannah Tribune increased public attention. - Dr. Maxine L. Bryant added historical context in the Savannah Morning News. - Savannah African Art Museum staff, including Lisa Jackson, helped advance community outreach and petitions. - Community organizer Patt Gunn also played an early local advocacy role. - In 2023, Savannah City Council voted to rename Calhoun Square, formerly named for pro-slavery politician John C. Calhoun, as Taylor Square. - The new name honors Susie King Taylor, an educator, Civil War nurse and freedom advocate born into slavery in Georgia. - The rename was the first Savannah city square renaming in about a century. - City officials have announced plans to fund a future GPR survey of Taylor Square. - Lyons is urging officials to make Whitefield Square an official memorial site and rename it for W.W. Law, a Savannah civil rights leader.

Between the lines: - The Whitefield Square debate is no longer only about archaeology. It is also about civic identity, public memory and whether city landmarks should keep honoring figures tied to slavery. - Scrutiny of Reverend George Whitefield has grown because historical records show he advocated for legalization of slavery in colonial Georgia to help sustain orphanage and plantation operations tied to Bethesda Orphanage, now Bethesda Academy. - Whitefield died in 1770 without emancipating the enslaved children and adults he controlled, instead bequeathing them to Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon. - The current conversation reflects a broader shift toward treating burial sites as spaces of evidence, mourning and political meaning rather than invisible historical footnotes.

What’s next: - Savannah officials plan further radar work at Taylor Square to determine whether more burial sites remain there. - Advocates are likely to keep pressing for memorialization and formal recognition at Whitefield Square. - The findings will probably remain part of Savannah’s public discussion as the city weighs how to mark and interpret sites tied to the Negro burial grounds.

The bottom line: - Savannah has fresh archaeological evidence that long-buried histories still sit beneath its most visible civic spaces.