“It is the pride of my heart to have been one  

of the earliest adopted sons of America.” 

—Marquis de Lafayette

The Hamilton-Turner Inn 

First, there was the Marquis de Lafayette. Then, there was the Lord of Lafayette Square. And much later, usually with an alcohol-filled glass in hand, was Joe Odem standing on the rooftop of the storied mansion that so easily attracted attention because: “…it was the only house of its kind in Savannah.” 

Or so wrote John Berendt in 1994 in ‘the book’ that put Savannah at the center on the proverbial map of unique American tourist destinations — Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story. 

If you haven’t devoured ‘the book,’ you must. Let’s let Berendt tell us a little more from Chapter 19: 

“Joe Odem’s new residence was by far the grandest of the four he had occupied in the short time I’d known him…All in all, the Hamilton-Turner House was so imposing and yet so fanciful a structure that passersby often stopped in front of it for no other reason than to marvel at it.” 

To make this much longer chapter of Berendt’s far shorter: Joe Odem was the entrepreneurial sort and created something that was new in the city of Savannah precisely at the time Berendt was visiting and right here at the Hamilton-Turner House: A private house operating as a full-time tourist attraction.  

Of course, Joe’s ‘tours’ were more than a tad of a con job, as the inside of the structure was a mess, which he rented out to friends as a low-end boarding house; and sadly, Joe would die of complications of AIDS in the house three years before John Berendt’s book became a bestseller. But something,indeed, got started at the Hamilton-Turner House by Joe Odem — and today the Hamilton-Turner Inn sits as a bright testament to Joe’s wildest imagined dream for this beautiful house. 

Overall, Lafayette Square might be the most beautiful in Savannah. The Square was created in 1837 and named after the French-aristocratic Revolutionary War hero and friend to George Washington. The Cathedral of St. John’s the Baptist displays an imposing presence, towering over the square as it does.  

In 1873, Samuel Pugh Hamilton, who became known around Savannah as “The Lord of Lafayette Square,” built his four-storied 10,000 square-foot family mansion on the southeastern side. Hamilton was a retired naval officer, prominent businessman and city alderman and mayor who, with his wife Sarah, was known for being the focal point of the Savannah social scene. The house matched the man. 

Due to his association with and eventual Presidency of the Brush Electric Light & Power Company, Hamilton’s house became the first residence in Savannah with electricity in the 1880s. The home would go on to survive fires and hurricanes, among other potential disasters. The house would then be ‘saved,’ as so many in Savannah were, by the Historic Savannah Foundation in 1965, which stopped its demolition deigned to make room for a parking lot for the Cathedral’s parishioners. 

In 1915, Dr. Francis Turner bought the home. 

Today, the house is known as the Hamilton-Turner Inn and is run as one of the most glorious bed and breakfasts in the Historic District of Savannah. Visit the square, marvel at the house…and stay awhile!