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| Jewish Cemetery Marker -- Oglethorpe Avenue
In the median of Oglethorpe Avenue, at Bull Street, a marker commemorating the original 1733 burial plot allotted by James Edward Oglethorpe to the Savannah Jewish community, was placed in 1983 by the Trustees of the Mordecai Sheftall Cemetery Trust.
The marker is an Elberton Blue Granite die 5 feet by 2 feet by 2.6 feet on a granite base 7 feet by 3 feet by 1 foot. Also mounted on the die are two 24 inch by 20 inch bronze tables, inscribed, and one 36 inch by 18 inch bronze plaque, inscribed, and a menorah cut into the granite by means of sandblasting through a rubber stencil.
This was one of several ethnic monuments erected in connection with the 250th anniversary of the founding of the city and the colony of Georgia. One hundred and forty Jewish emigrants, most of them refugees from the Inquisition of Spain and Portugal, arrived on the second ship to reach Savannah. Despite the wish of the trustees, Oglethorpe allowed them to stay, as Charleston lawyers gave the opinion that only Catholics were barred from settlement, by law. |