Prior to World War II, the open land south of East President Street Extension and east of Pennsylvania Avenue was remarkable only for a rosin yard and an abundance of pine trees. However, by the time the war ended, three defense housing developments for shipyard workers had been built in close proximity to each other in Pine Gardens neighborhood. Of the three, Deptford Place was demolished in 1968, followed by Oaktree Townhomes in 2001, leaving only the single-family dwelling subdivision known as Pine Gardens intact today.
The original subdivision, located in the western part of the neighborhood, consisted of rental homes built from pre-fabricated sections for quick construction. Although the homes all had hardwood floors, fireplaces, and asbestos siding, they were not identical, thanks to three different floor plans. Renters at Pine Gardens during the war had the option of becoming homeowners after the war ended, and many former shipyard workers took advantage of the opportunity, as did veterans with financing from the G.I. Bill. In 1951, the construction of affordable homes in Pine Gardens Annex, adjacent to the original subdivision on the east, brought in many more residents to the neighborhood.
After the shipyard closed in 1945, Pine Gardens breadwinners took industrial jobs at companies such as Union Camp or Continental Can Company. Others started small businesses in the neighborhood. The Penn Store, a shopping center dating from the 1940s, housed shops long after the war years. Among the longstanding tenants were the Pine Gardens Beauty Shop and the Penn Variety Store. Along Pennsylvania Avenue, the Pine Gardens Grill and Mack’s Five-and-Ten-Cent Store were just two of the many stores that catered to eastside residents. Bill Mullis, who operated a grocery in Pine Gardens, perfected a method of breading and freezing fantail shrimp. To expand the operation beyond the one-room shed in back of his grocery, Mullis partnered with Thunderbolt shrimping magnate Henry Ambos. Their collaboration established the Trade Winds Company in 1948 and created a seafood empire.
The economic environment that favored home ownership, small business development, and full employment waned in recent years. Pine Gardens saw the proportion of rental properties in the neighborhood outnumber individually-owned homes. Nonetheless, the Pine Gardens Neighborhood Association (PGNA) has been pro-active in dealing with absentee landlords and drugs, and providing wholesome activities for children. In its most ambitious project, the PGNA, in collaboration with the Savannah College of Art and Design, submitted an application in 2010 to place Pine Gardens’ historic core on the National Register of Historic Places. The wartime housing development that has survived intact almost seventy years is a deserving candidate for such recognition.
Pine Gardens homes
Cordray-Foltz Collection, MS 1360, Box 8, Folder 3.
Courtesy of the Georgia Historical Society.
Pine Gardens homes in 1946 looked out over sandy streets.
Hatfield brothers on Hawthorne Street
Courtesy of Ray Hatfield.
Rufus Hatfield, a Southeastern Shipyard welder until he was drafted into the army in 1943, stood with his brothers in 1946 on the front lawn of his new home on Hawthorne Street. From left to right, the veterans were, Rufus, Joel, George, and Tyndal Hatfield.
Joe Page on Causton Bluff Road
Courtesy of Joe Page.
In the early 1950s, Joe Page, on the right, entertains his nephews, Eddie and Ronald Page, in front of his family home on Causton Bluff Road.
Penn Store
“Oglethorpe was Right . . . A Tale of Two Centuries” (Savannah: Housing Authority, 1946), 4.
Courtesy of the City of Savannah Municipal Research Library.
Located at the intersection of Capital Street and Pensylvania Avenue, the Penn Store was an early example of a shopping center. Shipyard workers and their families, often without personal transportation, shopped for groceries, got a haircut, and dropped off their shoes for repair, all under the same roof.
Pine Gardens Grill
Courtesy of Ray Hatfield.
The blue plate special at the Pine Gardens Grill offered good Southern cooking, such as fried chicken, meat loaf, and barbecue, along with the best of country music and blues played on the juke box. Proprietor Lizzie Hatfield stands in front of the grill flanked by Clifford Crabb and John Crabb about 1947.
Ruth Riner in work clothes
Courtesy of Daisy Harrison.
Mildred Hatfield from Pine Gardens, a key figures from the earliest days at Trade Winds, hired and trained white women from her neighborhood to work in Thunderbolt. In 1953, Ruth Riner of Hawthorne Street, who breaded shrimp at the Thunderbolt plant, pauses in front of Eli Whitney Elementary School, still in her green and white work clothes.
