#8: The William Kehoe House on Columbia Square
“Hominy grits when you waken.
Peaches a breeze has just shaken
Lyin’ around for the takin’
You’re in Savannah.
So if you’re walkin’ through a tree-filled square
Where they say “Y’all come back, y’hear”
Traveler, you’re in Savannah
My home town.
—Johnny Mercer (unpublished lyric)
The William Kehoe House on Columbia Square
This view of the William Kehoe House has me painting from a bench on Columbia Square.
Plein air painting is always a spontaneous study of color. On this day, Columbia Square was saturated with blues. I was virtually sitting in the dark from all the shade of the trees; it was as if I were looking out into the light from a dark tunnel. The columns on the house were kissed in shadows with each window reflecting a hue of blue. The building was glowing orange, enwrapped with complimentary turquoise.
Columbia is the female personification of the United States and gave its name in 1790 to the District of Columbia that encompasses Washington, D.C., our nation’s capital. If you enjoy movies, every time you see a Columbia Pictures film, you’ll see an enrobed woman holding a torch. She is Miss Columbia.
Nine years after D.C. was established, Columbia Square was named and laid out here in Savannah. Of course, this is what is always so much fun about Savannah: Every stride you take in this beautiful city, there are more than a few important markings of American history that you’ll be required to step over.
For example, right in front of me as I paint the Kehoe House is a fountain that once sprayed brilliantly at the Wormsloe Plantation — but not to worry, I’ll paint this gorgeous fountain en plein air soon, as well.
How did this fountain get here? Columbia Square was in poor condition in the 1970s, so Wainwright and Eudora DeRenne Roebling led the renovation of the square in honor of her family; who were direct descendants of Noble Jones, the original owner of the Wormsloe Plantation.
In 1892 an Irish immigrant named William Kehoe built his family a red brick Victorian mansion on the northwest trust lot of Columbia Square. The wonderfully unique attraction of this beautiful home is the ornate cast-iron that is featured throughout the exterior. Kehoe made his family fortune owning a foundry and used the tools of his firm to design his home as a one-of-a-kind construction.
For a long period of time, the house was known as the Kehoe-Goette House when for many years it became the location of the Goette Funeral Home serving Savannah.
The William Kehoe House is now a fabulous Bed & Breakfast Hotel in the Historic District and very popular with the more ‘romantic’ visitors to Savannah. Native-born Johnny Mercer wrote hundreds of love songs, but later in life complained that he never published a great song about Savannah.
Yet, I know what he meant when he affectionately wrote: Traveler, you’re in Savannah…My home town.
Luba’s Kehoe House painting in progress.
