New Savannah monument honors women who saved a piece of local history

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - A brand-new monument unveiled in Savannah on September 20, 2025, honors the seven ladies who saved a prominent part of the hostess city’s history - The Davenport House.

WTOC spoke with a descendent of one of those women, Lucy Smith Brannen, who’s continuing her family’s legacy of change here in our city.

“I’m the granddaughter of Lucy McIntyre, one of the seven ladies,” Brannen says.

“In 1955, Savannah was at a turning point and many of the older homes were being torn down for the artifacts that were in them,” Brannen says. “The Davenport House was about to be torn down and turned into a parking lot.”

Her grandmother, along with six others, organized in their community and saved the house in 1955. After that, they formed the Historic Savannah Foundation.

Collier Neeley, President and CEO of the Historic Savannah Foundation, says, “The fact that they were able to organize, you know, build the historic Savannah Foundation, save the Davenport House, get the revolving fund moving and going... we’re standing on their shoulders and we have a legacy that we’ve got to live up to.”

This new Savannah monument is historic for many reasons, but one factor sticks out among the rest.

“It’s the first monument to women in the Preservation Movement in the country,” Neely says.

With this monument now a permanent fixture of Savannah, descendants of the seven ladies and the Historic Savannah Foundation hope more people will take the time to learn about all that these seven women did for the hostess city.