The Pirates' House

The story

The Pirates' House sits on the site of the Trustees' Garden, established in 1733 as the first public agricultural experimental garden in America. The oldest part, the Herb House, was built in 1734 to house the gardener, and it is said to be the oldest standing structure in Georgia. Around 1753 the area was developed for housing and an inn was among its first buildings, built for visiting sailors and known as a rendezvous for pirates and visiting sailors.

Accounts differ on how the building was saved. By one telling the Savannah Gas Company acquired the property in 1948; by another, the building was saved in 1945 when the gas company planned to demolish it, through a restoration led by Mary Hillyer. Herbert Traub and James Casey opened The Pirates' House as a tea room in 1953.

Today the restaurant has about fifteen dining rooms and is one of Savannah's popular tourist attractions.

What's There Now

It is still a restaurant, a popular tourist attraction with about fifteen dining rooms serving Southern dishes.

Everything that was here

• 1953–present · still open

  The Pirates' Houserestaurant

  The restaurant opened as a tea room in 1953, built around the 1734 Herb House that housed the gardener of Georgia's Trustees' Garden.

  See the map in 1954 →
• 1753–1950

  Herb House / Seamen's Taverntavern

  Built in 1734 to house a garden's gardener, the Herb House is said to be Georgia's oldest standing structure, though that claim is disputed as spurious.

  See the map in 1754 →
• 1908–1933

  Prohibition Rum-Running CellarSpeakeasy / Smuggling

  During Prohibition, the Pirates' House rum cellar tunnel — originally built for 18th-century rum smuggling — was reactivated by bootleggers. The tunnel running from the cellar to the Savannah River provided a perfect…

  See the map in 1909 →

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Connected places

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Nearby history