St. Vincents Academy

St. Vincents Academy was founded on June 23, 1845, when Father Jeremiah Francis ONeill brought six Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy from Charleston, South Carolina, to educate Savannahs young women in the finest tradition of a Catholic educational institution. St. Vincents opened on the corner of Abercorn and Liberty Streets in Savannah as a private school and orphanage, with boarding facilities added a few years later. The early curriculum included Penmanship (both plain and ornamental), Astronomy, Composition of Fiction, Sacred and Profane History, Ancient Geography, Chronology, Mythology, and Embroidery. The early history of St. Vincents is intertwined with that of Savannah and the South. During the Civil War, eight year-old Maggie Davis, whose father Jefferson Davis was President of the Confederate States of America, became a student at St. Vincents. Her brother also came to the convent daily to recite his lessons. In 1919, St. Vincents became exclusively dedicated to educating y...