On your left, look for the grand, stuccoed brick mansion featuring a crenellated roofline, which looks like the notched top of a medieval castle, along with a delicate cast iron porch and an ornate iron front gate.
What you are looking at is the result of a massive, wildly extravagant promise. Back in 1850, a wealthy English cotton merchant named Charles Green signed a marriage contract with his second wife, Lucy, promising to build her an absolute palace. He spent ninety three thousand dollars on this Gothic Revival masterpiece in 1853, which is roughly three point five million dollars today. The newlyweds actually spent their honeymoon touring Europe just to shop for the house. They shipped back flawless Carrara marble and shimmering gold leaf mirrors from Austria. If you pull up your screen, check out the original freestanding iron staircase they installed inside. It is a stunning piece of mid nineteenth century engineering.
But underneath all that splendor, a massive scandal was brewing. Charles Green was legally a British citizen, but his loyalties were secretly poured into the Confederacy. Early in the Civil War, Green and his business partner were suddenly ambushed and arrested by Pinkerton detectives right after returning from Europe. He was accused of arranging foreign loans to buy Confederate weapons and was locked up in a Boston Harbor military prison for three months. It turns out, his covert activities were incredibly extensive. He even helped secure a blockade running ship carrying one of the most valuable military cargoes to reach the South during the entire war.
When Union General William T. Sherman captured the city in 1864, the war arrived right at Green's doorstep. Fearing his opulent home would be incinerated, Green rode out, found Sherman, and practically insisted the General use the mansion as his headquarters. Look at your app to see a historic illustration of Sherman's troops occupying the grand entrance hall. It was right in this house that Sherman wrote his famous telegram to President Lincoln, offering him the city of Savannah and twenty five thousand bales of cotton as a Christmas gift. The irony? Every single bale of that confiscated cotton belonged to Charles Green. His strategic hospitality saved the building, but ruined his fortune.
This mansion also hosted the Savannah Colloquy, a profoundly historic meeting where Sherman sat down with twenty African American ministers. Their spokesperson, Garrison Frazier, eloquently argued for the independence of newly freed people, directly inspiring Sherman's famous order allocating forty acres and a mule to freed families.
Today, St. John's Episcopal Church owns the property. Miraculously, over a hundred pieces of Green's original antique furniture were recently returned to the house from France by the estate of his grandson. You can tour the interior Tuesday through Saturday from ten to four.
Now, let us leave behind the high drama of nineteenth century billionaires and generals. We are going to trade all this intense, grand wealth for some incredibly humble, heartwarming Southern hospitality. We are heading over to Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, just a four minute walk away, where the food is passed family style and everyone is treated like kin. Let us go!
