This Second Empire home was built at a cost of $16,000 by local contractor Francis Grimball for Henry Brigham (1811-1883) in 1879. Brigham was a native of Southborough, Massachusetts, who came to Savannah in 1835 and established himself as a merchant. As his wealth increased he was associated with several banks, eventually becoming president of the Merchants National Bank. He was also a city alderman from 1860-1876.
Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places
The Harper Fowlkes House was built by prominent architect Charles B. Cluskey as a Greek Revival townhouse for Savannah shipping magnate Stephen Gardner on Orleans Square in 1844. Financial difficulties soon compelled Gardner to sell the house to his brother, who then sold it to Aaron Champion (1792-1880). Champion’s daughter, Maria Sophia McAlpin (1832-1890), used the house for in-town entertaining while living at the Hermitage Plantation. Her husband James McAlpin was a trustee of that property. By 1895, Maria’s son, Henry McAlpin (1860-1931) and his second wife, Isabel, were living in the house, and Isabel was responsible for the addition of a third floor and mansard roof, to accommodate servants. Alida Harper Fowlkes (1908-1985) purchased the home, which today bears her name, for $9000 in 1939. Mrs. Fowlkes, who owned the Georgian Tea Room in the Olde Pink House in the 1930s and 1940s, later became an antiques dealer and preservationist, restoring ten houses in Savannah. In her will, she left the house to the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Georgia and stipulated it never be sold. It is operated as a house museum today by the Coastal Heritage Society.
Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places
Orleans Square was laid out in 1815 to commemorate General Andrew Jackson’s victory in the Battle of New Orleans. A nice open square located adjacent to the Savannah Civic Center, its centerpiece is the German Memorial Fountain, installed in 1989, by the German Heritage Society, German Friendly Society, and the Georgia Salzburger Society.
Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places
The Telfair family’s Regency townhouse, which after a bequest to the city became the first art museum in the American South, was designed by architect William Jay, and stands as one of his few surviving designs.
Alexander Telfair, portrait, public domain image via Find a Grave
Originally designed for Alexander Telfair (1789-1832), a bachelor son of early Georgia governor Edward Telfair (1735-1807), the house eventually passed to his sister Mary Telfair (1791-1875), who was known for her outstanding art collection.
Mary Telfair, contemporary photograph, public domain image via Find a Grave
Mary, who never married and was the last of the Telfairs, left the home to the Georgia Historical Society to be operated as an art museum. It was remodeled for use as a museum in 1886 by architect Detllef Lienau. It is one of three properties that now make up the Telfair Museums. Her bequests also included the Mary Telfair Women’s Hospital, now a part of St. Joseph’s Candler Hospital.
In front of the building are sculptures of Phidias, Rembrandt, Rubens, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Perhaps the most famous piece inside the museum is Sylvia Shaw Judson’s Bird Girl sculpture, known for its appearance on the cover of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
This imposing house, located on Orleans Square, was built with the labor of enslaved men for John Henry Morel (c. 1780-1834) circa 1818. Morel was a member of one of early Savannah’s most prominent families. His grandfather, John Morel, was born to Swiss immigrant Peter Morel, in the year Savannah was established. By the 1760s John Morel owned Ossabaw Island, where he established a large plantation, cultivating indigo and harvesting vast amounts of timber, through the forced labor of enslaved men and women. He eventually acquired and resided at Beaulieu Plantation, on the Vernon River. He served on Savannah’s Council of Safety, which was central to the patriot cause during the American Revolution and was active in local government. His myriad agricultural pursuits made him one of the largest slaveholders in 18th-century Savannah, owning 155 human beings at the time of his death in 1777.
John Henry Morel married Catherine Millen Waldberg, the widow of Jacob Waldberg, in 1803, and Waldberg’s plantation Cottonham, on the Great Ogeechee Neck in Bryan County, was transferred to Morel upon their marriage. Catherine presumably died circa 1811 and Morel married Sarah Martha DeVeaux Alger. In the first two decades of the 19th century, legal proceedings indicate that Morel didn’t have his family’s economic sensibilities. He was sued multiple times for unpaid taxes and other charges, though his vast inheritances appeared to protect him from the worst of outcomes.
In 1816, he purchased the lot on which the Morel-Gilbert House was built. That same year (1818), he was appointed U. S. Marshal for Savannah. In that position, he presided over the case of the slave ship Antelope. Considering that his family’s prosperity was wholly dependent upon the institution of slavery, he was ill-suited for the case, but that was to be its trajectory. The Antelope was brought to Savannah in June 1820 after being seized by the revenue cutter Dallas off the coast of Florida for being Spanish-flagged. The 280 Africans on board were placed in Morel’s custody for seven years as the case languished in the courts. Ultimately, the United States Supreme Court heard the case but with four slave-holding members on the bench at the time, was ambiguous in its ruling. They deferred to the 1808 act prohibiting the importation of slaves, but only to a point. 93 of the captives, who had already been accounted for, were condemned to slavery, while 120 were freed and sent to Liberia, establishing the colony of New Georgia. The disposition and handling of the case brought criticism from Francis Scott Key, John Quincy Adams, and Savannah’s own Richard Habersham and was an early national debacle regarding this vile institution.
After Morel’s death, the house was sold at public auction. I haven’t been able to document other owners until 1869, when it was purchased by Gilbert Butler (1797-1875). Butler, a prominent Savannah builder and architect, also served as a city alderman and fireman, and in 1853 crafted the iron fence that still surrounds Johnson Square. The house was extensively renovated during Butler’s ownership and remains an icon of Orleans Square.
Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places
This townhouse was built in 1844. A date plate on the house states it was built in 1854 for Lavinia Low, but I believe this may indicate the time she took possession of the property. An earlier date plate identified as the John Low House, built in 1844, and historical sources consulted confirm this.
Lavinia Amelia Myers Low (c. 1786-1865) was married to Captain John Low (c.1784-1876), presumably circa 1814-1817. They had at least four children. Low, a native of Northern Ireland, was a successful entrepreneur who served as Savannah harbormaster and a member of the board of health. He was an investor in several steamboats, including the St. Matthews and the schooner Georgia Ann, and a marine railway on Hutchinson Island. He was also involved in real estate and owned numerous houses in Savannah. Further pursuits included shares in the Savannah Insurance and Trust Company and the Central Rail Road and Banking Company of Georgia. Genealogists infer that he was not related to the better-known Andrew Low.
The marriage ended in public scandal in the 1840s due to John’s adultery. Lavinia successfully sued him for adultery and assault and battery, and also brought a lawsuit against his paramour. A judgement ordered Captain Low out of their home and Lavinia and her daughters received a sizable fortune, including four houses in Savannah. Ownership of Low’s enslaved people, including Charlotte, Dick, Bella, Sally, Jane, Kent, and Julianna, was also transferred to Lavinia. A divorce was not obtained, though John left Savannah and eventually settled in Griffin, where he remained very successful, with a net worth at his death of over $325,000 (approximately $11 million in 2026). Notably, he was buried beside Lavinia in Laurel Grove Cemetery, despite their marital discord and separation.
Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places
Dee Dailey, whose family has deep connections to the history of Scarboro, recently contacted me with the sad news that the iconic Frawley’s Store building had collapsed. She noted that the area experienced a thunderstorm with strong winds the week before.
From any angle, it’s obvious that the store is beyond repair. It’s an unfortunate, but not completely surprising fate, considering how long it has been abandoned. It is believed that the store was built by G. E. Burns in the early 1900s, though it is most associated with Mr. Hazel Frawley, a beloved local legend. Frawley’s was a favorite bait and snack stop for fishermen putting in at Scarboro Landing for generations, and according to Betty Jean Kirkland, hosted musicians and dances in later years.
I feel lucky to have documented the landmark on many visits to Scarboro over the years.
This home was built for Stephen B. Williams, a merchant in early 19th century Savannah, circa 1834. He was born circa 1805. His date of death is not known at this time, but it was after 1859. In The Georgia Catalog, John Linley suggests the Federal townhouse was originally one room deep and was enlarged and remodeled circa 1853.
Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places
The Bird-Baldwin House, as this Federal style landmark is also known, is considered the oldest house in Savannah south of Liberty Street. Construction of the left side began in 1838 and the stuccoed right side was completed in 1860. The house was built for attorney Lewis Bird (1810-1838), a native of Effingham County, but he and his entire family were killed on 14 June 1838 in the explosion of the Steamship Pulaskioff the coast of North Carolina and never occupied the house. Bird’s mother, Sarah Zant Bird (c. 1777-1854), sold it to his law partner, a Mr. Baldwin.
The house was seized and occupied by General William T. Sherman’s staff in December 1864 during the Union Army’s occupation of Savannah.
Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places
The Old Sorrel-Weed House, also known as the Francis Sorrel House, was an early symbol for historic preservation in Savannah. It was designed and built between 1835-1840 in the Greek Revival style, with strong Regency influences, by Charles Cluskey for Mathurin Francois “Francis” Sorrel (1793-1870). Sorrel was an immigrant of French descent, born in the Dominican Republic. He was a longtime enslaver and transporter of enslaved people and a guardian of several free women of color. He married into the wealthy Moxley family of Virginia, first to Lucinda J. Moxley (1805-1827) in 1822. After her death from yellow fever, he married one of her sisters, Matilda Aminta Douglass Moxley (1806-1860). Their son, Gilbert Moxley Sorrel (1838-1901), was a Brigadier General for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Robert E. Lee was a good friend of Francis Sorrel’s, dating back to the 1830s, and was a guest in the home during late 1861 and early 1862.
The home was sold to prominent Savannah merchant Henry Davis Weed (1803-1875) in 1862 and his family retained ownership until 1914.
Savannah retailer A. J. Cohen, Sr., bought the home in 1941 and it remained in the family until the early 1990s. The first scene of Forrest Gump was filmed from the rooftop of the Sorrel-Weed House, and numerous ghost hunter programs have filmed here, as well. It is considered one of the most haunted places in Savannah. It is now a house museum.
Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places
