Georgia
Oldest Hotels in Savannah
1 Historic Hotel
Savannah was planned by James Oglethorpe in 1733 with a grid of public squares that has never been replicated elsewhere in America. Twenty-two of the original squares survive — surrounded by Federal and Regency townhouses, live oaks draped in Spanish moss, and the kind of streets that still feel like the 18th century when you walk them at dawn.
The city’s oldest hotels are part of its architectural fabric. Most of them occupy buildings that have been something else first — hospitals, warehouses, private mansions, boarding houses for cotton traders. The Marshall House, on Broughton Street since 1851, is the oldest continuously operating hotel in Georgia — a full 70 years older than any hotel we’ve reviewed on this site in Savannah. Its original pine floors creak with a particular authority. During a renovation in 1999, workers found human bones beneath them — remnants of the two stints the building served as a Union Army hospital during the Civil War. The hotel handled this with institutional seriousness, reinterred the remains, and continued serving guests. We don’t yet have a standalone review of the Marshall House on this site — it’s covered in depth in our Savannah haunted hotels guide — but if you want a bookable historic-district base today, the AC Hotel Savannah Historic District, in a 1921 building a block from Chippewa Square, is the property we’ve actually reviewed.
Savannah is called America’s most haunted city, a reputation it maintains with aggressive confidence and genuine historical scaffolding. The ghost stories here have actual documented events behind them. You can believe none of it and still find the history unsettling in the best possible way — our haunted hotels in Savannah guide separates the documented history from the tour-bus embellishment.
The city is also simply beautiful in a way that stops conversations mid-sentence. If you’ve never been, walk from the train station to your hotel instead of taking a cab. The first hour in Savannah is one the better travel experiences in the American South. For full reviews of where to actually stay, see our complete historic hotels in Savannah guide, or our AC Hotel Savannah Historic District review for a modern, well-located base inside the district.
Historic Hotels in Savannah
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the oldest hotel in Savannah?
The Marshall House, on Broughton Street since 1851, is the oldest continuously operating hotel in Georgia. It served as a Union Army hospital twice during the Civil War, and human remains were discovered beneath its original pine floors during a 1999 renovation.
Why is Savannah called America's most haunted city?
Savannah combines an unusually intact 18th- and 19th-century built environment with a documented history of yellow fever epidemics, Civil War hospitals, and burial grounds later built over — real historical events that ghost tours draw on rather than invent.
Did Savannah survive the Civil War intact?
Yes. General Sherman reached Savannah in December 1864 during his March to the Sea and declined to burn it, reportedly considering the city too beautiful to destroy; he offered it to Lincoln as a Christmas gift instead. That decision is why Savannah's historic district looks largely as it did before the war.
