Description
Factors Row and Factors Walk are located on a bluff just above the River Walk. Factors Row is a unique collection of red brick buildings, formerly a center of commerce for Savannah’s cotton factors, or brokers. Factors Row was also home to the original Cotton Exchange, where cotton factors, or brokers, set prices worldwide.
Running from east to west above the river, these vast brick buildings rise two or three stores above the bluff and descend for three or more stories to the river front. The topside contained the offices of the cotton brokers and the building on the lower River Street side were used as warehouses. A series of iron and concrete walkways, known as Factors Walk, connected the buildings to the bluff. Ramps leading from Bay Street down the bluff to River Street are paved with cobblestones, brought as ballast and abandoned on the riverbanks by departing sailing ships.
The buildings on Bay Street have been renovated into antique shops, historic inns and office. The old cotton warehouses on the River Street level have been converted into pubs, restaurants and specialty shops popular with tourists and locals alike.
The Historic Savannah Foundation is presenting the City of Savannah with a Historic Preservation Award for Factors' Walk. This award recognizes the City's efforts to help the Historic Savannah Foundation save buildings, places, and stories that define Savannah's past, present, and future.
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