The Mysterious Pirate's House in Old Savannah

Savannah, Georgia is a city that was founded in February 1733 by the British - a characteristic that continues to be reflected in the city today. Situated on the site of the old Trustees Garden, which was established around 1734 as an impressive experimental garden which is also said to have become the first location in North America where cotton was grown for commercial use, the old Pirates House has a very colonial and interesting history to say the least. On the very grounds of the Trustees Garden stood the home of the gardener, known as the Herb House, and it is out of this structure where the history of the site grew. On the site of the Trustees Garden also stood early fortifications due to its vicinity to the river. As the city of Savannah grew, by 1753 the former Trustees Garden lost much of its significance and the area instead developed as a residential area of the city.

Remnants of the Trustees Garden in the Pirate's House parking lot. © Christian G. Martinez, 2024.

The Herb House today (likely a later build atop the earlier British Colonial Period structure) as part of the restaurant. © Christian G. Martinez, 2024.

Due to Savannah’s role as a seaport city and the Trustees Garden site being near the river, the original Herb House was replaced with an inn and tavern for visiting sailors. The Savannah area does indeed carry some association with early piracy. On Blackbeard Island just south of the city, stories of a reported buried treasure left by the notorious Edward Teach, known by his more famous name Blackbeard, prior to his death in 1718 abound but to date no evidence has been found verifying such claims. Even before that, it is documented that British pirates such as Andrew Ranson and Thomas Hinckley, whom the Spanish called Tomás Jingle, both of whom had left irreparable damages on Spanish missions and property roamed the southern Atlantic seaboard. Even French pirates such as the infamous Michel de Grammont, whom the Spanish called Agramon, participated in attacking Spanish settlements in the southeast coast. With Blackbeard’s early association with the area, it should thus come as no surprise to folks that pirates once did frequent the seaport city of Savannah. Although the Golden Age of Piracy came to an end in the 1720s prior to the establishment of Savannah and of the Pirates House inn and tavern, it is said that it is still possible that pirates roamed the Atlantic seaboard at the time.

A view of the historic inn building. © Christian G. Martinez, 2024.

While it is said that the current Pirates House was built beginning around 1794, several years after the end of the early British Colonial Era, by then the site was associated as a place frequented by sailors. By the 1830s and 1840s, the former Trustees Garden area became known as a disreputable slum and by that time, stories began to emerge of the sketchy occurrences that are said to have taken place at the Pirates House. Beneath the facade of the wooden inn building with its haint blue shutters, legends of a rum cellar connecting to a tunnel leading to the Savannah River where ships waited offshore and instances where these pirates reportedly smuggled rum and shanghaied visitors to the tavern. In one particular legend, a local police officer once stopped by the tavern for a drink. It is not known what happened afterwards, but the legend apparently shows him falling asleep and then awaking onboard a four-masted schooner headed to China. This legend ends with the police officer eventually making his way back to Savannah two years later.

A mysterious chamber was also reportedly built underneath the tavern as well and to this day it is not known what purpose this chamber served. Considering the location’s reputation and history, one can perhaps speculate what type of illegal purpose it possibly served. Around 1853, the current Herb House was constructed of wood and bricks manufactured under the bluff by the Savannah River. On the first floor of the Herb House, it was outfitted with an office and tool room in the front half of the ground floor, a stable in the back half, and a hayloft where the gardener slept in the second floor. This Herb House was likely built on the site of, and/or associated with the former 18th Century Herb House that stood on the site dating back to the days of the Trustees Garden. This new Herb House is said to have also housed a gardener that worked on the site at the time as well. Not too long after returning from a trip to the United States, inspiration struck Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson around 1881 and it was then when he began to work on his famed novel, Treasure Island. It is rumored that Stevenson visited the Pirates House when it was still an inn and the Pirates House is even mentioned in his book, Treasure Island, and Savannah was also written as the death place of one of its characters, Captain John Flint. Eventually, the inn was turned into a maritime museum and later neglected. By 1945, the property was acquired by the Savannah Gas Company, and due to its neglect, was slated to be demolished. Mary Hillyer, the wife of Savannah Gas Company’s president, saw the area’s historical significance and instead decided to coordinate the conservation of the structure which was successful.

A View of the old inn building with a marker noting its association with the city's maritime history and Stevenson's "Treasure Island". Note: the current structure is said to have been built in 1794, not 1754. © Christian G. Martinez, 2024.

A close-up of the historical marker on the historic inn structure. © Christian G. Martinez, 2024.

In 1953, businessman Herbert Smith Traub Jr. and his business partner, Jim Casey renovated the property and turned the former structure into a tea room called The Pirate’s House. This new establishment grew into a southern dining restaurant which it continues to be to this day. I had the fine honor of dining at The Pirates House on my two visits to Savannah so far - the first with my mother in May 2024 and the second with my wife in September 2024 where we ate delicious southern biscuits and were treated to the amazing historical surroundings. Today, the restaurant attracts visitors who are fascinated by the establishment’s colorful history and the rumors of ghosts that are said to hurl glasses and bottles from shelves, figures wandering the many dining rooms, footsteps echoing on the floors, sailors in the rum cellar, a mysterious little boy in front of the Herb House, which is attached to the restaurant, and even an 18th Century woman in a blue dress. Nevertheless, if you are ever in Historic Savannah, pay a visit to the Pirates House and enjoy some good southern cooking and soak in its early history going all the way back to the days of the Trustees Garden founded during the British Colonial era.

For more information on this place, pay a visit to The Pirate's House and experience this place for yourself. I guarantee that you won't regret it. Visit https://thepirateshouse.com/