Pirate House - Savannah, Georgia
N 32° 04.701 W 081° 05.038
17S E 492075 N 3549123
The Pirate House has been a Pirate hangout since 1753 since opened as an inn for seafarers, and fast became a rendezvous for blood-thirsty pirates and sailors from the Seven Seas.and was said to have been featured in Treasure Island.
Waymark Code: WM5W37
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 02/18/2009
Views: 21
The following information comes from the restaurant's & museums website: (
visit link)
Around 1753, when Georgia had become firmly established and the need for an experimental garden no longer existed, the site was developed as a residential section. Since Savannah had become a thriving seaport town, one of the first buildings constructed on the former garden site was naturally an Inn for visiting seamen. Situated a scant block from the Savannah River, the Inn became a rendezvous of blood-thirsty pirates and sailors from the Seven Seas. Here seamen drank their fiery grog and discoursed, sailor fashion, on their adventures from Singapore to Shanghai and from San Francisco to Port Said.
These very same buildings have recently been converted into one of America's most unique restaurants: The Pirates' House. Even though every modern restaurant facility has been installed, the very atmosphere of those exciting days of wooden ships and iron men has been carefully preserved.
In the chamber known as the Captain's Room with its hand hewn ceiling beams joined with wooden pegs, negotiations were made by shorthanded ships' masters to shanghai unwary seamen to complete their crews. Stories still persist of a tunnel extending from the Old Rum Cellar beneath the Captain's Room to the river through which these men were carried, drugged, and unconscious, to ships waiting in the harbor. Indeed, many a sailor drinking in carefree abandon at The Pirates' House awoke to find himself at sea on a strange ship bound for a port half a world away. A Savannah policeman, so legend has it, stopped by The Pirates' House for a friendly drink and awoke on a four-masted schooner sailing to China from where it took him two years to make his way back to Savannah.
Hanging on the walls in the Captain's Room and The Treasure Room are frames containing pages from an early, very rare edition of the book Treasure Island. Savannah is mentioned numerous times in this classic by Robert Louis Stevenson. In fact, some of the action is supposed to have taken place in The Pirates' House! Tis' said that old Captain Flint, who originally buried the fabulous treasure on Treasurer Island, died here in an upstairs room. In the story, his faithful mate, Billy Bones, was at his side when he breathed his last , muttering "Darby, bring aft the rum". Even now, many swear that the ghost of Captain Flint still haunts The Pirates' House on moonless nights.
The validity of The Pirates' House has been recognized by The American Museum Society which lists this historic tavern as a house museum. The property was acquired by the Savannah Gas Company in 1948 and the buildings soon fell under the magic of Mrs. Hansell Hillyer, wife of the president of the company, who with great imagination, and skill transformed the fascinating museum into its present use as a restaurant. Today, it is a mecca for Savannahians and tourist alike who come to enjoy its many delicious Southern specialties served in the original setting of yesteryear.
While you are here we invite you to visit all of our 15 fascinating dining rooms.