Mercer Williams House & Monterey Square: Midnight Secrets
Why is it significant?
Look up at the red-brick walls and ornate cast-iron balconies of the Mercer Williams House, set behind wrought-iron fences on Monterey Square.
Key Facts
| Place | Mercer Williams House & Monterey Square: Midnight Secrets |
|---|---|
| Address | 429 Bull St, Savannah, GA 31401 |
| Geo Coordinates | 32.07180, -81.09450 |
| Part of Walk | Savannah's Haunted Squares: Spanish Moss, Piracy, and Gothic Mansions |
| Generated | Generated |
Look up at the red-brick walls and ornate cast-iron balconies of the Mercer Williams House, set behind wrought-iron fences on Monterey Square. Begun in eighteen sixty for General Hugh Mercer, great-grandfather of songwriter Johnny Mercer, the house became world-famous through John Berendt's nineteen ninety-four non-fiction book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
Antique dealer and preservationist Jim Williams bought and painstakingly restored the derelict mansion in nineteen sixty-nine. In May nineteen eighty-one, inside Williams's downstairs study, the fatal shooting of his assistant Danny Hansford occurred, leading to four sensational murder trials before Williams was finally acquitted.
In the center of Monterey Square rises the soaring Pulaski Monument, honoring Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski, the Father of the American Cavalry, who gave his life for American independence during the Siege of Savannah. His mortal remains were reburied beneath this monument.
Walk two blocks further south to the great green expanse of Forsyth Park.