The Wymberly Garden Club of the Isle of Hope dedicates a memorial stone to the visionary developer
Over three decades ago, a loyal reader of this column suggested I interview James S. Richmond, the driving force behind the development of the Wymberley housing development on the Isle of Hope (IOH). Richmond lived in Savannah Square and proved to be a wonderful addition to the Polly’s People archive.
Among other interesting anecdotes, he told me that in 1946, when he hired men to clear the 150 acres of land at IOH that he had purchased from logger Bill Flinn, the trees and underbrush were so dense that heavy equipment operators had great difficulty breaking up the soil.
“It was so wild that we couldn’t even get a bulldozer in there,” he recalls the groundbreaking ceremony in 1946.
Wymberley is located at the most south-eastern point of IOH. Adjacent to the south is the historic site of Wormsloe, which extends partially across the southern end of the island.
Richmond was a generous man and many years after developing Wymberley he deeded a small piece of marshland at the end of Richmond Drive to the Wymberley Garden Club. Recently members of the Garden Club and other interested parties came to see a bronze memorial stone unveiled on the property. The small plaque commemorates Richmond’s generosity.
Kathy Shields, president of the garden club, said Richmond donated the property to the club in 1987 to be “managed and maintained for the benefit of all property owners in Wymberley.” One of the homeowners who attended the ceremony was one of Richmond’s daughters, Wymberley, who was awarded a lifetime membership to the garden club.
During the development of the Wymberley area, Richmond sold many of the houses he built for $8,000. Today’s property prices would certainly surprise him.
Placing a plaque on the small piece of land Richmond donated to the club had been discussed for years, Shields said. When she became president in 2023, the idea took shape and a committee was formed, chaired by Nancy Tamarack. The money to purchase the plaque was raised through bake sales and other fundraising efforts, Shields said.
“It’s a wonderful community space,” she added. “We’re proud of it.”
A few years ago, club members Jim Sickel and Marilyn Tarver bought a bench for the property and installed it, Shields said. Coincidentally, Sickel’s late mother was a past president of the garden club, as was Jim Mintz’s mother.
“Everyone says life on the Isle of Hope is like heaven,” Shields said. “This is our little piece of heaven,” Shields said.
Richmond named the settlement after the eldest son of Noble Jones, who lived in Wormsloe. Jones received title to Wormsloe from King George II of England in 1756. Today, all but about 50 acres of Wormsloe is owned by the State of Georgia. The private house on the property is still the home of Jones’ descendants.
Richmond named many streets in Wymberley after family members, including two of his other daughters, Nancy and Diana. Other streets were named after former residents, such as Col. John Estill, former owner and publisher of the Savannah Morning News.
The 1946 sales brochure for the new Wymberley housing development advertised it as “a modern version of the traditional estate: a housing development designed to suit the taste and discretion of a group of several owners.”
“Many tasteful homes have been built, and many more are under construction… Each home is designed to capture the beauty of Wymberley. This one captures the glint of the sun on the water, or the yachts sailing the Florida Passage, or the wonder of the trout breaking the surface in winter. This one listens to the sound of oysters cracking at night – the enticing cackle of the moorhen. Another marvels at a flock of white herons against a low sunlit sky.”
A message from Richmond, president of Wymberley Estates Inc., stated that “country living on the water awaits you, but with all the amenities of a community… the architects and engineers have designed a plan for Wymberley that allows for spacious living. No lot is less than 100 feet wide – the average is 125 feet – and on the main driveway the average frontage width is 150 feet.”
Richmond also mentioned the Wymberley Yacht Club, which offered membership to property owners.
In the early 1950s, Richmond developed the Fairway Oaks development at Waters and DeRenne Avenues. He also built the white brick house on the northeast corner of Washington Avenue and Habersham Street and the two-story house with the curved staircase on Victory Drive between Paulson and Harmon Streets.
Richmond died in 1993 at the age of 86.
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