Community History, Neighborhoods & Cultural Legacy
Savannah, Georgia, boasts one of the oldest and most prominent Irish-American communities in the American South. Beginning in the 1820s, a steady stream of immigrants from County Wexford and County Galway arrived to build the Central of Georgia Railroad and work the bustling cotton wharves.
In 1824, Savannah’s Irish citizens formed the Hibernian Society of Savannah, which organized the city’s first public St. Patrick’s Day parade in 1825. Today, Savannah hosts the second largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the United States, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to watch the green fountain waters of Forsyth Park and celebrate deep Celtic-Southern heritage.