Wright Square: Tomochichi's Boulder and The Hanging Tree

Why is it significant?

Step into Wright Square and pause beside the massive, rough-hewn granite boulder resting in the grass. This primitive boulder honors Chief Tomochichi of the Yamacraw tribe, the indigenous leader who welcomed Oglethorpe and ensured the peaceful survival of Georgia's first settlers.

Key Facts

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Step into Wright Square and pause beside the massive, rough-hewn granite boulder resting in the grass. This primitive boulder honors Chief Tomochichi of the Yamacraw tribe, the indigenous leader who welcomed Oglethorpe and ensured the peaceful survival of Georgia's first settlers.

When Tomochichi passed away in seventeen thirty-nine, he requested burial among his English friends in this square. Decades later, when railroad magnate William Washington Gordon's monument was erected directly over Tomochichi's grave, civic outrage eventually prompted the placement of this ancient granite stone from Stone Mountain to restore honor to the chief.

Wright Square is also renowned in Savannah ghost folklore as the site of the town gallows, where early convicted felons, including Alice Riley in seventeen thirty-five, were executed. Visitors frequently report inexplicable chills beneath the weeping moss.

Continue south down Bull Street into Chippewa Square.