Savannah's squares were laid out in the early eighteenth century as part of one of North America's earliest and most celebrated urban plans, conceived by James Oglethorpe and used as a template for the city's steady expansion over more than a century. The result is a grid of small, tree-filled public spaces woven into the neighborhood fabric, each one a gathering point for the surrounding streets and buildings. That original design has been recognized as a landmark of American city planning, and the historic district it shaped is one of the largest in the country.

Late afternoon in spring or autumn brings this kind of low, honeyed light to the squares at its most intense, when the heat softens and the long shadows stretch across the brick just as they do here.