Owens - Thomas House & Slave Quarters
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Info & Amenities
Visitors to the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters are guided through one of the finest examples of Regency architecture in America as well as the original slave quarters designed to house the enslaved men, women and children who maintained it. The tour includes an exploration of the lives and complicated relationships of the most and least powerful people in 19th century Savannah—such as the wealthy Owens family who owned the property for 121 years and the many enslaved people who labored to support and maintain the household.
The house was designed by architect William Jay and completed in 1819. Now a National Historic Landmark, the property boasts a carefully curated mansion with a formal parterre garden and an original carriage house, which includes the only intact urban slave quarters open to the public in Savannah. The Owens-Thomas House slave quarters is complete with the nation’s largest expanse of slave-applied haint blue paint, made from indigo and thought to ward off evil spirits.
The tour also provides an exploration of the home’s remarkable features, including Savannah’s earliest system of indoor plumbing, an indoor bridge and the balcony from which the Marquis de Lafayette is said to have addressed a crowd of locals in 1825, as well as insight about how each room was used in that time and by whom.
Tours of the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters are given daily at fifteen-minute intervals. The last tour begins at 4:15 pm.
I don't like to be yelled at
I had a very unpleasant experience at the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters tour. I didn't realize there were stairs (steep stairs) on the tour and after a long day of sightseeing in Savannah I ...
Interesting Tour
Guides do a very good job of describing what life was like during the time the Owens Family lived here. They work hard to bring alive the lives of the slaves as well as the enslavers. ...
Dook the tour guide treated customer horribly
Dook served as the tour guide. During the tour, there was a lady who struggled to ascend the stairs, so she opted to sit at the bottom on a bench. At the conclusion of the tour upstairs, Dook ...