The Story of Our Cottage

Welcome to our home!

We are glad that you have chosen our little cottage as a home away from home while you visit the beautiful and charming city of Savannah. We love this city, and we are still exploring all of the nooks and crannies ourselves. It is so full of life. No one here is a stranger, and everyone waves and says hello, or “hi y’all”! Be sure to sample the food, the history, the night life, and everything that Savannah has to offer. Stop by the Visitor Information Center on East Bay Street and they’ll give you maps and brochures and much more information.

A little history about our cottage. We have recently purchased this home after my husband’s mother, Lillian, passed away suddenly. This was her cottage; we can feel her love in every room. Her hands have touched every piece of furniture, painted every bit of trim, hung every picture, and sewed every bed cover and pillow sham. She bought this cottage in the early ‘90s, as an empty deteriorated shell of what was once a grand home. She saw the potential, and worked diligently for 11 months, restoring it using authentic materials and restoration techniques. Once she had it standing tall, she decided to open it up to family and travelers to use so that more people could enjoy what Savannah has to offer. She had hoped that some day she could sell everything that she owned, buy a silver Jaguar, pack all of her belongings into an alligator suitcase, and live in this little cottage on Saint Julian. She never did get to live here full time, but she stayed many afternoons and weekends. We have kept it in the family, and we hope to continue what she started.

We don’t know who owned the cottage before Lillian, but one of our first projects is to work on tracing its history and ownership. We do know that it was built in 1905 for Mary Jones. Who was Mary Jones, and who built this cottage for her? We don’t know that yet, but it’s been fun imagining who she might have been and what her story was. If you look in the guest book, you will notice that one guest who signed the book had actually lived here from 1919 – 1940. We hope to find her and learn more about our cottage. We will be working with the Savannah Historic Society, and we have volunteered to be a part of the Savannah College of Art and Design’s historic architecture project. Maybe we’ll have the answers to our questions soon.

We do know that it is part of Washington Ward, on Washington Square, one of the most historic squares in Savannah, named after our first president. If you take a tour, or walk around a bit, you’ll see that Savannah was designed in a grid pattern around a series of squares. The squares were the centers of life in colonial times. The residents of the squares socialized, cooked and took care of business around the squares. Churches, homes, schools and places of business were built around the squares so that people could reach them easily. They were also structured this way for protection. Stores of ammunition were housed in each square, so that if one fell under attack, residents could retreat to another one, if needed, to retrieve fresh ammunition and fight back. Washington Square was famous for the New Year’s Eve bonfires that often rose higher than the roofs of the houses. We figure the residents of our square really knew how to celebrate!

My husband and I live nearby. My husband is a local; his roots grow deep in the coast. He is a charter captain and I am a physician assistant and a teacher. We have two children who have visited this cottage with their grandma (“Ne Ne”) for many, many years. We truly hope that you, too, enjoy the love and generosity of Lillian, in her little cottage on Saint Julian.