Historic Houses of Savannah

December 08, 2009

In order to "absorb the atmosphere of Savannah" before our mini-vacation there, we reread Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and viewed the movie. The first historic house we were interested in touring was the Mercer Williams House in which Jim Williams shot Danny Hansford. Construction was begun in 1860 for the great-grandfather of songwriter Johnny Mercer.

Jim Williams, an antiques dealer who restored many Savannah homes, bought and restored the house as his residence in 1969 after it had been vacant for 10 years.

In 1981, Williams was arrested for the shooting of his assistant, Danny Hansford. He was acquitted 4 trials later in 1989 but, after spending years in prison, he died the year after his release. The tour of the house permitted us only to see the ground floor. We were told that fire insurance regulations would not let us see the upstairs because there is only one staircase. [The Andrew Low house which Norma and I toured the next day has only one staircase but we could tour the upstairs. When I asked the tour guide there about the discrepancy, she said that it might be because Jim Williams' sister lives there now.]

Two blocks from the Mercer Williams house is the Armstrong House. It was also owned briefly by Jim Williams who used it as an antique shop. He later sold it to the law firm which now owns it. Sonny Seiler, the senior partner in this firm, was the lawyer who defended Williams in his last three trials and finally had him acquitted.

In the film version of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Seiler played the trial judge.

The Armstrong House was also featured in the original 1962 version of Cape Fear.

Norma and I also toured the Andrew Low House which was designed by the same architect who designed the Mercer Williams house. Andrew Low was a wealthy cotton merchant.

Norma at the back entrance of the Andrew Low house. Andrew Low was married twice. Both women died in childbirth.

This was William Tecumseh Sherman's headquarters during the Ciivil War. He was persuaded not to burn Savannah as he did Atlanta but instead, "presented the city of Savannah to Abraham Lincoln as a Christmas present" in December 1864.

These two "mirror image" semi-detached houses were built for twin sisters by their father.

Victorian era houses...

Joe Odom, the piano player who hosted a never-ending raucous party in Midnight briefly took over this house as one of his enterprises. It is now the Hamilton-Turner Inn.

The Forsyth Park Inn where we stayed is a beautiful bed and breakfast which, like many of the houses in Savannah, has its own ghost story.

The house had been owned by a wealthy, childless, couple, Andrew and Lois Churchill. They adopted a young girl named Lottie who called them Aunt Lois and Uncle Andrew. Years later Lois' sister, Anna came to live with them. Anna and Lottie became close friends, almost like sisters. However, one day Lottie came home to find Andrew and Anna in a passionate embrace. Deeply worried that this affair would break up her family, Lottie hatched a plan to poison Anna, which she did the next afternoon as they were having tea.

As Anna lay dying, Lois tearfully told Lottie that Anna was, in fact, her mother. This horror was too much for Lottie to handle. Her mind snapped and eventually she had to be confined to an institution.