Pirates' House

Pirates House (8062128383)

The Pirates' House is a historic restaurant and tavern established in 1753 located in downtown Savannah, Georgia in the Southern United States. It is thought to be the oldest standing building in the state of Georgia. The restaurant is one of Savannah's most-popular tourist attractions.^[1]

History

Pirate's House restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, US. One of the oldest buildings in Georgia.

The Pirates' House was built on a plot of land located on the east side of James Oglethorpe's original plan of the city of Savannah. The plot of land was assigned to become a botanical garden that modelled the Chelsea Botanical Garden in London, England. The garden was dedicated to Oglethorpe's Trustees. Oglethorpe recruited botanists from around the world to acquire plants for the project such as cotton, spices, indigo, and medicinal herbs. The garden was hoped to bring success in the wine and silk industries, and was centred on growing mulberry trees. The soil and weather conditions of Georgia were not compatible with the mulberry trees and it was not successful with wine or silk. However, it did distribute peach trees which Georgia is currently renowned for. The garden was also highly successful in growing cotton which later became a staple of Georgia's economy.

A small building which later became the starting structure of the Pirates' House was built on the plot of land in 1734 to house the gardener who worked there. This building was deemed the Herb House and is said to be the oldest building in the state of Georgia (see List of the oldest buildings in Georgia).

In 1754, the people of Savannah decided the need for the botanical garden was no longer relevant. Savannah was quickly becoming a port town and The Herb House was transformed into an Inn and tavern for seaman visiting from abroad.^[2] The Pirate's House Inn constantly hosted seaman, pirates and the underbelly of the society; in time, it earned a reputation of being a place the general public avoided.

It did not earn this reputation by rumour. Many drunken sailors have gone missing from the Pirates' House. Captains that were in need of men often came to the Pirates' House to find drunken, vulnerable sailors. Many of these sailors travelled here from distant lands on merchant ships. If they went missing in Savannah it would be difficult to find what happened to them. Savannah is home to many underground tunnels and the Pirate's House is the entrance to one of them.

These tunnels are thought to have been built for different times for different purposes. A portion of the tunnels are said to have been built during the yellow fever epidemic that took place in Savannah during the 1800s to hide the bodies of the dead from the general public. The other tunnels were possibly used as hideouts in the underground railroad system. Another section of tunnels found under a hospital in Savannah is thought to have been used as a morgue.^[3] In the cellar of the Pirates' House there is a tunnel, now sealed off, that, purportedly, leads to the Savannah River. According to a tour guide (by the name of Chris) with Old Savannah Tours, hard liquor had been prohibited by law in Savannah and the cellar of the Pirate's House was originally used to smuggle barrels of rum into the city. City officials were, supposedly, aware of the presence of the contraband, but were given free access to the libation in exchange for their silence on the matter.

The tunnel is also said to have a more notorious purpose. The captains would wait until an unsuspecting sailor was drunk and flog them over the head. The unconscious sailors would be taken through the tunnel by crew members led by the captain. The sailors would then awake to a life of bondage on the pirate's ship. The people of Savannah soon coined the term shanghaied because the sailors were thought to have been taken off to China, never to be seen or heard from again.

It was also explained, by the same tour guide with Old Savannah Tours, that many tortures and murders occurred in the cellar of the Pirate's House. The story goes that trap doors were installed in the floor of the tavern and that drunk sailors who had passed out were chained and dropped into the cellar below. Should they sustain an injury in a fall and were unable to work on a ship, then they were murdered in the cellar and their bodies later disposed of.

The Pirates' House is home to some rare early edition pages of Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. The pages can be seen hanging on the walls of the Captain's room and the Treasure room in the Pirates' House.

The current owners of The Pirates' House claim that Captain Flint, a pirate mentioned in the book Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, died in the upstairs bedroom at the Pirate's House.^[4]^[5] However, as Flint is a completely fictional character, this story cannot be historically true, and the additional claim that Flint haunts the place as a ghost^[6] suggests that these claims are not intended to be taken seriously. Moreover, although the novel states that Flint died in Savannah, nothing in it states or suggests that The Pirates' House is the location of his deathbed.

Renovation and ownership

In 1948, the Pirates' House and the surrounding land was acquired by The Savannah Gas Company. The building soon caught the interest of Mrs. Hansell Hilyer, wife of the president of The Savannah Gas Company. She renewed the house museum into the restaurant of present day. The Pirates' House has 15 dining rooms, can hold up to 120 guests and serves a variety of southern dishes.^[7] Many of its recipes can be found in "The Pirate's House Cook Book" by Frances McGrath.^[8]

Murder mystery dinner theatre

The Pirates' House plays host to the Savannah Community Theatre on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights at 7:30. The Savannah Community Theatre was founded by Tom Coleman III. The Theatre performs several shows throughout the year, including "Marriage Can be Murder", "Deathtrap", "Hands of the Spirit", and "Savannah's Got Talent II". The Murder Mystery Show is performed at the Pirates' House. The show includes a three course dinner and the comedy skit "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". The Hostess of the night plays an uptown, social butterfly, and repetitive widow. Her husbands all die under mysterious circumstances. The actors also double as the wait staff. In time, a few of the actors who play the contestants, end up dead. The participants are then needed to solve the murder mystery to win a prize. The shows format was written by Lee H. Adams. Lee H. Adams is the founder of The Mystery Café located in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis. The Pirates' House was recently featured on "Weekends with Samantha Brown", the Charleston and Savannah episode, hosted by Samantha Brown on the Travel Channel. The show features the Murder Mystery skit, which Samantha Brown participates in.^[9]

References

↑ Hustmyre, Chuck. "The Pirates' House." Crime and History. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 September 2010. <http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/classics/pirates_house/1_index.html>.
↑ "History of the Pirate's House." The Pirate's House official site. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 September 2010. <http://www.thepirateshouse.com/index.htm>.
↑ Hustmyre, Chuck. "The Pirates' House". Crime and History. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 September 2010. <http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/classics/pirates_house/1_index.html>.
↑ "History of the Pirates' House." The Pirates' House official site. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 September 2010. <http://www.thepirateshouse.com/index.htm>.
↑ Cory, Laurie. "The Pirate's House." Ghost Watch. N.p., 2004. Web. 13 September 2010. <http://historicghost.com/PirateHouse.html>.
↑ "The Pirate's House." Savannah Ghost . N.p., n.d. Web. 13 September 2010. <http://www.ghostinmysuitcase.com/places/pirate/index.htm>.
↑ "History of the Pirate's House." The Pirate's House official site. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 September 2010. <http://www.thepirateshouse.com/index.htm>.
↑ "Hollis Harvard Library ." The Pirate's House Cook Book. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 September 2010. <http://discovery.lib.harvard.edu/?q=The%20Pirate's%20House>.
"Hollis Harvard Library ." The Pirate's House Cook Book. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 September 2010. <http://discovery.lib.harvard.edu/?q=The%20Pirate's%20House>.
↑ "Savannah Community Theatre." Murder Mystery at the Pirates' House. Web. <http://www.savannahcommunitytheatre.com/mysterysavannah.html>.

External links

Official Pirates House website

Coordinates: 32°04′41″N 81°05′03″W / 32.0781°N 81.0843°W / 32.0781; -81.0843

Piracy

Periods	Ancient Mediterranean Golden Age Republic of Pirates Libertatia 21st century

Types of pirate	Privateers Buccaneers Corsairs Sindhi corsairs Timber pirate River pirate Brethren of the Coast Barbary pirates Moro pirates Wōkòu Vikings Ushkuiniks Narentines Cilician pirates Confederate privateer Baltic Slavic pirates Uskoks Cossack pirates Sea Beggars Sea Dogs Fillibusters

Areas	Caribbean Lake Nicaragua British Virgin Islands Strait of Malacca Somali Coast Sulu Sea Falcon Lake South China Coast Anglo-Turkish piracy Port Royal Tortuga Saint-Malo Barbary Coast Lundy Lagos Salé Spanish Main Gulf of Guinea Indonesia Barataria Bay Persian Gulf

Noted pirates	Bartholomew Roberts Hendrick Lucifer Hayreddin Barbarossa Blackbeard Stede Bonnet Anne Bonny Abshir Boyah Laurens de Graaf Michel de Grammont Calico Jack Alexandre Exquemelin William Kidd Edward Low Redbeard William Dampier Black Caesar Henri Caesar Roberto Cofresí Jean Lafitte Henry Morgan Lawrence Prince François l'Olonnais Henry Strangways Charles Gibbs Benito de Soto Diabolito Pedro Gilbert Mansel Alcantra Hippolyte Bouchard Samuel Hall Lord Nathaniel Gordon Albert W. Hicks Eli Boggs Bully Hayes Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalahimah Louis-Michel Aury Shirahama Kenki John Newland Maffitt Joseph Baker Joseph Barss Jørgen Jørgensen Vincenzo Gambi Dominique You Pierre Lafitte John Hawkins Peter Easton Nicholas van Hoorn Moses Cohen Henriques Piet Pieterszoon Hein Charlotte de Berry Samuel Bellamy Benjamin Hornigold Samuel Mason Henry Every Roche Braziliano Gan Ning Liang Daoming Wang Zhi Limahong Zheng Zhilong Zheng Jing Cai Qian Cheung Po Tsai Ching Shih Shap Ng-tsai Chui A-poo Lai Choi San Fūma Kotarō Olivier Levasseur

Categories	Piracy Pirates By nationality Barbary pirates Female pirates Years in piracy Fictional pirates

Pirate ships	Adventure Galley Fancy Ganj-i-Sawai Queen Anne's Revenge Quedagh Merchant Saladin Whydah Gally Marquis of Havana Ambrose Light York

Pirate hunters	Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Angelo Emo Richard Avery Hornsby Robert Maynard Chaloner Ogle Pompey Woodes Rogers David Porter James Brooke Miguel Enríquez (privateer)

Pirate battles and incidents	Jiajing wokou raids Turkish Abductions Chepo Expedition Battle of Mandab Strait Blockade of Charleston Battle of Cape Fear River Battle of Ocracoke Inlet Capture of the William Sack of Campeche Attack on Veracruz Raid on Cartagena Battle of Cape Lopez Capture of the Fancy Persian Gulf Campaign Battle of New Orleans Anti-Piracy in the Aegean Anti-piracy in the West Indies Capture of the Bravo Action of 9 November 1822 Capture of the El Mosquito Battle of Doro Passage Falklands Expedition Great Lakes Patrol Pirate attacks in Borneo Balanguingui Expedition Battle of Tysami Battle of Tonkin River Battle of Nam Quan Battle of Ty-ho Bay Battle of the Leotung Antelope incident North Star affair Battle off Mukah Salvador Pirates Battle of Boca Teacapan Capture of the Ambrose Light Irene incident 1985 Lahad Datu ambush Operation Enduring Freedom – HOA Action of 18 March 2006 Action of 3 June 2007 Action of 28 October 2007 Dai Hong Dan incident Operation Atalanta Carré d'As IV incident Action of 11 November 2008 Action of 9 April 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking Operation Ocean Shield Action of 23 March 2010 Action of 1 April 2010 Action of 30 March 2010 Action of 5 April 2010 MV Moscow University hijacking Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden Operation Dawn 8: Gulf of Aden Beluga Nomination incident Battle off Minicoy Island Quest incident MT Zafirah hijacking MT Orkim Harmony hijacking

Slave trade	African slave trade Atlantic slave trade Arab slave trade Barbary slave trade Blockade of Africa African Slave Trade Patrol Capture of the Providentia Capture of the Presidente Capture of the El Almirante Capture of the Marinerito Capture of the Veloz Passagera Capture of the Brillante Amistad Incident Capture of the Emanuela

Fictional pirates	Tom Ayrton Barbe Rouge Hector Barbossa Captain Blood Captain Crook Captain Flint José Gaspar Captain Hook Don Karnage Monkey D. Luffy Roronoa Zoro One Piece Captain Nemo Captain Pugwash Red Rackham Captain Sabertooth Captain Stingaree Sandokan Long John Silver Jack Sparrow

Miscellaneous	Truce of Ratisbon Piracy Act 1698 Piracy Act 1717 Piracy Act 1837 Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law Child pirate Golden Age of Piracy Jolly Roger Walking the plank Treasure map Buried treasure Pirate booty No purchase, no pay Marooning Pirate code Pirate utopia Victual Brothers Pirate Round Libertatia Sack of Baltimore A General History of the Pyrates Mutiny Pegleg Eyepatch Letter of marque Davy Jones' Locker Air pirate Space pirate

Lists	Pirates Privateers Timeline of piracy Pirate films Women in piracy Fictional pirates Pirates in popular culture List of ships attacked by Somali pirates

Literature	Treasure Island Facing the Flag On Stranger Tides Castaways of the Flying Dutchman The Angel's Command Voyage of Slaves Pirate Latitudes

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