Dibs! We Call Jingle Bells!

February 25, 2026

Dear Medford, and Boston. And whoever else wants to fight us on this. We’re going to say this one time. Jingle Bells was written in Savannah.

And if you are wondering why this even needs saying, here is the short version. People have been arguing for years about where Jingle Bells was written. Medford claims it. Boston claims it. A couple of other towns try to join the fight. Everyone wants the bragging rights. But we’re hear to call it.

Maybe not published here. Maybe not performed here first. But you know what? That song was born here. In spirit. In sweat. In Southern humidity and homesick imagination.

Because here’s what we do know:

James Lord Pierpont was living in Savannah in 1857. He was the organist at the Unitarian Church on Troup Square. He married into a Savannah family. He is buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery. And right around the time he was missing New England winters and probably watching the moss sway in the breeze while praying for a cold front he wrote a little ditty called The One Horse Open Sleigh.

That melody? That chorus? That catchy little thing that now lives in the bloodstream of every Christmas playlist since the dawn of Spotify? Yeah. That came from here.

We know it. Our grandmas know it. The marker in Troup Square says it. And if you’re looking for the spirit of the song, you’ll find it right here in Savannah. Probably near a porch. Probably with someone humming it a little off key, holding a drink with too much bourbon and just enough cinnamon.

So no, we’re not going to argue about this anymore. We’re just going to go ahead and claim it.

You want to fact check us? That’s fine.

We’ll be over here singing Jingle Bells and walking to lunch in short sleeves.