Long before Paula Deen, before Elizabeth Terry, even before Mrs. Wilkes, there was Williams Seafood. This rusted old sign is all that remains of a longtime Savannah institution once so regionally famous it sold its deviled crabs and other signature items in grocery stores and supermarkets throughout the South. Many still miss those deviled crabs. The restaurant was destroyed by fire in 2004.
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 
Loved eating there when we would visit our cousins in Savannah. Wish I had their deviled crab recipe, does anyone know where I can find it?
My grandmother is the one that created the deviled crab recipe and sold it to Williams years ago. I have the recipe and make the deviled crabs for my family and close friends
You have a treasure hold on to it it was wonderful. I worked out there in the sixties building the new Bull River bridge and helped to demolish the old wooden bridge. Even though the prices were a little over my my head at the time I ate there now and then.
I grew up in Savannah and now live in Charlotte, NC I ate there often. I would love to have that recipe. I dated Tmmy Williams and since he worked there, he wouldn’t take me there to eat. lol
Would you share the recipe ?
❤
Loved Williams! Still miss it . My favorite seafood restaurant !
Occasionally on Sunday after sunday school
we would leave Thomson and drive all the way down to Savannah to eat lunch at William’s. It was so wonderful.Nothing will ever be as good to me.
Oddly…it’s sister restaurant in Albany was destroyed by a flood in 1994.
Hipster doofi have taken over Savannah.
Such a shame.
You are spot on with that comment!
I’m 65 and I miss the old days in Savannah. Williams was my all time favorite! I lived in Savannah 10 years.
Good times! ( this was before “the book”)
Your hyperlink to the story of Williams Seafood is broken.
They served Williams deviled crab in the original shells !
I now live in Missouri and this info reminds me why you can not come home again. But memories will always be safe guarded. Me, Larry my brother, Brother Paul Ward such memories. saddened by the news.
Williams originally had a stand at the road where we bought deviled crabs on the way home from the beach. Umm good! This was in the 40’s
I ate there every Sunday in the summers of ’72 & 73 when I lived in Savannah working my way through college at Stafford Construction Company out in Garden City. Fried shrimp were cooked to perfection!
M0ved to Georgia in 1965 never heard of seafood food much less wanted to eat it ,when I first seen shrimp, crab legs, with in a few months a couple took us to Williams Seafood Resturant !! AND OH MY GOD!! IT WAS TO DIE FOR AS THEY SAY HERE IN THE SOUTH!! WENT MANY, MANY TIMES .WOULD DRIVE THE 75 MILES JUST TO EAT THERE. TOOK MANY FAMILY MEMBERS THERE WHEN THEY WOULD COME FROM KY, IN ON VACATION TO OUR HOME. Yes, was so sadden when it burned thought for sure they would build back but I guess they were tried of never being able to close very often to enjoy something besides cooking but oh! How so many missed those crab cakes and the best fried shrimp around!!
We would get up early on some Sunday mornings to ride all the way there from Fayetteville to eat there. It was THAT GOOD. We were heartbroken when we learned it burned.
My brother went there with my aunt and Uncle when they came to visit in the early to mid-sixties. Imagine their surprise when he asked for a mustard sandwich!
i’ve dined at williams many times since i was a child. i’m now in my sixties; very good memories.
Love this old sign, I’ve been the the place a few times upon recommendation by a friend who lives on Tybee Island. Their food was the BEST… too bad the place burned down. BTW, I’m from Michigan
Love your photo of the sign. I remember going there as a little girl (we moved away when I was 12) and had hoped to return one day. Thank you for sharing the photo.
Glad to share with you. Sounds like you had great memories of the place!