Haunted Sites
Summoning the spirits…
Photo: Seasider53 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Taylor Square (formerly Calhoun Square)
Renamed for nurse Susie King Taylor in 2023, the former Calhoun Square sits over one of Savannah's early Black burial grounds. Tours call it a 'lost cemetery found' and use it as the setting for the Espy House and 432 Abercorn stories.
- Address
- Abercorn St between E Gordon St & E Wayne St, Savannah, GA 31401
- Hours
- Check the official website or call ahead for current hours.
- Admission
- Free (public square).
- Access
- open to public (city square)
The real history
About the place
Taylor Square was laid out in 1851 on Abercorn Street, south of Lafayette Square, as one of Savannah's last three squares. For more than 170 years it was named for John C. Calhoun, the South Carolina statesman and outspoken defender of slavery. In 2021 a movement began to rename it, the city council voted unanimously in November 2022 to remove Calhoun's name, and in August 2023 it chose a new one. The square now honors Susie King Taylor, who was born enslaved in Liberty County. She became an educator and memoirist and was the first Black nurse to serve in the Civil War.
Before the square was laid out, the ground was used as a burial ground for Black Savannahians, known as the 'Strangers Burial Ground' and 'Potter's Field.' In 1855 the remains of two enslaved women, Emily and Rinah, were moved to Laurel Grove Cemetery. In 2004 utility workers found a human skull outside the Massie school on the square's southeast side.
The Massie Common School House, built in 1855, gives the square its informal name of 'Massie Square,' and it now operates as the Massie Heritage Center. Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church faces the west side, and the oldest houses on the square date to 1853. It is a public square, open at all hours.
Local legend
The Ghost Story
Told here as local lore, the way guides, books and visitors tell it. These are legends, not established fact.
Ghost City Tours calls this 'a square where innocence lingers,' and few places in Savannah carry such a somber reputation among guides. Much of that feeling comes from what lies underneath. As the tour tells it, workers digging up the sidewalk outside the Massie school in the early 2000s turned up human bones, and the site briefly became a crime scene. Experts determined that the remains came from the old burial ground for enslaved people. Guides ask visitors to remember that they are standing on what is believed to be the largest burial ground for enslaved people in Savannah.
Night visitors and tour groups describe a heavy, sorrowful atmosphere and sounds on the wind. Tour lore speaks of spirits ranging from enslaved people buried here to soldiers. Tour lore also tells of children's spirits around the old schoolhouse. The square is also home to one of Savannah's most infamous addresses, 432 Abercorn Street, whose legend is almost entirely untrue.
What to see
- Mary Demere House
- Adam Short Property
- John Kuck House
- Alexander Bennett House
- Sara Clark House
- Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church
- John B. Berry House
Named in the Wikipedia article cited below.
Tips
- Savannah's squares are public spaces you can walk through at any time.
- Featured on 3 ghost tours; see the links below.
