Information
Landmark: Sorrel-Weed HouseCity: Savannah
Country: USA Georgia
Continent: North America
Sorrel-Weed House, Savannah, USA Georgia, North America
Overview
The Sorrel-Weed House stands among Savannah, Georgia’s finest antebellum mansions, with grand columns and a past steeped in history.Built between 1835 and 1840, it’s a striking blend of Greek Revival and Regency styles, where crisp white columns meet the warm grace of Southern grandeur.You’ll find the house at 6 West Harris Street, right on Madison Square, a spot rich with history in Savannah’s meticulously planned city grid, where the oaks cast long afternoon shadows.First.The Sorrel-Weed House was the work of Charles B., a distinguished architect from Ireland, whose designs could catch the afternoon light in a way that made the brick glow.Cluskey, the architect who brought Greek Revival design to the American South, left his mark in grand white columns and sunlit porticos.Cluskey earned a reputation for crafting elegant, perfectly balanced buildings, and the Sorrel-Weed House-its tall windows catching the afternoon light-is often hailed as his masterpiece.The mansion sprawls across roughly 16,000 square feet, its echoing halls and high ceilings making it one of Savannah’s largest private homes of its time.The house’s exterior is brick beneath a smooth layer of stucco, painted to look like pale stone blocks-a classic touch from Greek Revival style.Tall, imposing columns rise along the symmetrical façade, while wide verandas wrap around several sides, casting cool shade and offering airy spots to linger in the warm climate.Columns and Verandas: Tall, two-story Doric columns rise at the front, their pale stone catching the afternoon sun and giving the house the stately presence of a classical temple.The low-pitched roof sits out of sight behind a parapet, while tall windows-spaced like clockwork and topped with ornate lintels-pour warm sunlight into the rooms.Step inside and you’ll find the home built around a wide central hallway stretching from the front door to the back porch, a classic Southern layout that lets the breeze drift straight through.In the hallway, a grand staircase curves upward in a graceful sweep, its polished banister catching the light-one of the mansion’s most admired architectural treasures.Oval Library: The home features a striking oval-shaped library, its curved walls echoing the elegance of European Regency style.You’ll notice delicate plaster patterns, graceful classical moldings, and a mix of carved wooden accents that add character to every room.Number two on the list.Francis Sorrel, the first owner, was a wealthy Savannah merchant with French-Haitian roots, known for the crisp white cravat he wore on market days.He had the house built as a bold statement of his place among the city’s elite planters and merchants, its tall white columns meant to impress at first glance.The mansion sits on a stretch of land near Madison Square, a place steeped in history as part of the 1779 Siege of Savannah during the Revolutionary War, where the air once rang with musket fire.Henry D. bought the property in 1859, its gates creaking as the deal was sealed.Weed, a well-known businessman whose family lived in the house until 1914, gave it the name “Sorrel-Weed.” Over the years, the old brick walls have seen both neglect and careful restoration, and today the home survives as a cherished historic museum.Number three.The Sorrel-Weed House stands out not just for its grand architecture, but for the stories woven into its walls-it welcomed Savannah’s elite in the mid-1800s, where silk dresses rustled across its marble floors.The house belonged to General Robert E.’s close friend, with a worn brass knocker that caught the afternoon light.Lee visited the home several times, even stopping by shortly before his death in 1870, when the garden still smelled of late-summer roses.This was the boyhood home of Brigadier General Moxley Sorrel, the young Confederate officer remembered for leading his men with steady resolve through the smoke and chaos of the Civil War.These ties root the house firmly in Savannah’s past-antebellum days, the Civil War, and the uneasy years that followed-like bricks worn smooth under a century of footsteps.Number four.The Sorrel–Weed House has a chilling reputation as one of Savannah’s most haunted places, in a city already steeped in ghost stories and candlelit tours.Whispers of the house’s ghost stories now weave through its charm, drawing curious visitors like moths to a dim porch light.One of the most enduring stories tells of Matilda Sorrel, Francis Sorrel’s wife, whose name still lingers like a whisper in the old house.Legend has it, when Matilda learned her husband was involved with a young enslaved woman named Molly, she leapt from a second-floor window, ending her life in heartbreak.Stories like this-along with accounts of shadowy figures, creaking floors in empty rooms, and air turning icy in seconds-have turned the Sorrel-Weed House into a magnet for ghost tours and paranormal investigators.The house has appeared on countless TV shows and magazine spreads about hauntings, its creaking floors and shadowed halls helping cement Savannah’s status as a must-visit spot for ghost lovers.Number five.The Sorrel-Weed House now welcomes visitors as a working museum, its rooms polished and restored to the rich, antebellum beauty of dark wood and high, sunlit windows.Step inside and wander through the house, taking in its striking architecture, the rich period furnishings, and the vivid tales of those who lived here-along with the eerie legends that still whisper through its halls.Through its interpretive programs, the museum weaves history with vivid storytelling, letting visitors feel the home’s cultural weight while catching hints of the secrets still tucked behind its old wooden doors.By preserving the house, every detail-the sweeping staircase, the wide verandas, the richly furnished rooms-stays true to its original form, offering visitors a vivid glimpse of 19th‑century life in Savannah.Number six.In Savannah’s historic district, the Sorrel-Weed House stands among shaded squares and graceful buildings, part of a cityscape carefully laid out with green spaces framed by timeless architecture.It captures the wealth and ambitions of Savannah’s antebellum elite, blending the crisp lines of European design with the warm, storied traditions of the South.Today, it stands as both a striking feat of architecture and a layered historical relic, echoing stories of wealth, race, family, and memory in the American South-like sunlight catching on worn brick.The Sorrel-Weed House, a stately antebellum mansion, blends Greek Revival grace with Regency flair, its white columns catching the warm Savannah sun in a style that’s both refined and unmistakably local.Its importance grows from ties to famous names, a spot long marked by history, and a curious mix of Southern life and whispered ghost stories that seem to linger in the air.As a museum, the house invites visitors to slip into the 19th century, wandering through rooms heavy with the intertwined stories of wealth, loss, and mystery that shape this beloved Savannah landmark.
