Publication: Georgia Journal of Science
Publication Date: 22-DEC-06
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Author: Edwards, Elliott O., Jr.
Article Excerpt
ABSTRACT
Factors Walk Retaining Wall is a stone ballast retaining wall built during 1855-1869. The wall was built of stone (mostly limestone) brought over on cargo ships to help reduce the eroding, forty-foot high sandy bluff from further erosion and to make use of the many tons of stone stacked along the river front. Erosion of the stone and mortar has been occurring for many years and the cause was investigated. It was concluded that salt intrusion is the main source of erosion and acid rain is the secondary source of erosion. The author recommends a course of action to rehabilitate the wall and also points out the need to educate the public about the increasing negative effects of acid rain in the southeastern United States.
Key words: Retaining wall, Acid rain, Salt intrusion, pH, Russack Test, Dray, Factors Office, Stone ballast, Tie-back System, National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
INTRODUCTION
Factors Walk Retaining Wall is an attractive series of stone gravity retaining walls that average 19 feet in height and are less than three quarters of a mile in length. The walls begin at the East Broad Street ramp to the east and continue westerly along the Savannah River bluff where they terminate at the foot of Montgomery Street to the west. The walls were built between 1855-1869 into the river bluff as a measure to protect Factors Walk, a narrow paved roadway where factors (business owners) once displayed their cargo. The retaining walls that protect Factors Walk are built into the upper portion of the 40-foot high river bluff and are constructed primarily of stone ballast brought over on cargo ships during the middle of the nineteenth century. The bluff is tiered. The upper 20 feet is protected by these retaining walls, and the lower 20 feet is protected by a continuous line of buildings that have retaining walls as part of the building structure. The retaining walls are a series of walls interrupted by several cobblestone ramps, streets paved with cobblestone that begin on the Bay Street level and traverse down to River Street, which parallels the Savannah River. Figure 1 shows Factors Walk and the retaining wall looking west.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
Oglethorpe Establishes Georgia Colony
It was February 13, 1733 when Oglethorpe and 115 colonists landed at the base of the 40-foot high river bluff overlooking the Savannah River, thus establishing the last colony on the North American mainland. Oglethorpe prepared a report for the trustees in England notifying them of the selection of a site for the town, a report which read, in part:
"I went myself to view the Savannah River. I fixed upon a healthy situation about ten miles from the sea. The river here forms a half moon, along the south side of which the banks are about forty foot high, and on the top flat, which they call a bluff. The plain high ground extends into the country five or six miles, and along the riverside about a mile. Ships that draw twelve foot water can ride within ten yards of the bank. Upon the river side in the center of this plain, I have laid out the town ..." (1). Figure 2 shows a young town situated on the sandy 40-foot high bluff as it appeared in 1734.
[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]
Factors Walk
Factors Walk is where Georgia's foreign trade began and Savannah's Mercantile prospered. Around the middle of the 18th century, the flat riverfront...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.
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