Owens-Thomas House - Regency Mansion and Slave Quarters
Photo: Adam L. Clevenger, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
A stop on Savannah, a free self-guided tour.
On the corner of Oglethorpe Square stands one of the finest houses in the South. A young English architect, William Jay, designed it in 1819 in the English Regency style, with curving walls, a columned porch and smooth stucco made to look like stone. Look at the cast-iron side balcony on President Street. In 1825 the Marquis de Lafayette spoke to the crowds from there during his famous tour of America.
Behind the mansion is the part of the story that was overlooked for years. The carriage house holds quarters where enslaved people lived and worked, among the oldest and best-preserved urban slave quarters in the South. Their ceiling is painted a pale blue known as haint blue, a Gullah tradition rooted in the belief that the color kept spirits away.
Today the house is run by Telfair Museums, and the tour tells the stories of everyone who lived here. Check the website for current hours.
Getting here: Walk east on State Street two blocks to Abercorn Street. The house stands at the corner of Oglethorpe Square.
Did you know?: The house was first known as the Richardson House, after its first owner, Richard Richardson. The Owens family bought it in 1830 and kept it for more than a century.
Photo op: From Oglethorpe Square, frame the house's curved porch and columns head-on.
More on Wikipedia: Owens-Thomas House · William Jay · Telfair Museums · Gullah
Stops on this tour
- Johnson Square - Where the Plan Began
- River Street and Factors Walk - Built on Cotton
- City Market and Ellis Square - A Square Won Back
- First African Baptist Church - A Congregation's Own Bricks
- Wright Square - Tomochichi's Resting Place
- Owens-Thomas House - Regency Mansion and Slave Quarters
- Chippewa Square - Oglethorpe Stands Guard
- Madison Square - Battle Lines and a Christmas Gift
- Cathedral of St. John the Baptist - Twin Spires
- Taylor Square - A New Name for an Old Square
- Monterey Square - Pulaski and the Mercer House
- Forsyth Park Fountain - The Grand Finale