Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist & Savannah's 4 Best Historic House Museums

With over a dozen historic house museums in the Historic District, visitors rarely have time to tour them all. Start at Savannah's French Gothic cathedral on Lafayette Square, then pick one or two of the four standout house museums below based on the era of history that interests you most.

1. The Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist (222 E Harris St)

Founded in 1799 by French Catholic colonists fleeing the Haitian Revolution and aristocratic refugees from the French Revolution, the French Gothic Revival cathedral on Lafayette Square was dedicated in 1876 and rebuilt after an 1898 fire. Entry is free (with a small optional donation welcomed at the door; check the parish website for weekday visiting hours outside Mass). Step through the bronze doors to see Carrara Italian marble, rib-vaulted ceilings painted with Renaissance-style murals, and 81 stained-glass windows crafted by the Tyrolean Glass Works of Innsbruck, Austria in 1900.

2. The 1819 Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters (124 Abercorn St)

Included on the Telfair Museums 3-Site Pass (which also covers the Telfair Academy with the Bird Girl statue and the modern Jepson Center), tours begin inside the preserved 1819 Urban Slave Quarters in the rear courtyard. Its ceiling holds the largest surviving expanse of Haint Blue, an indigo-and-lime pigment used by Gullah Geechee peoples to ward off restless spirits, before the route continues into the main mansion's 1819 indoor rainwater plumbing system, cantilevered bridge, and the cast-iron balcony from which the Marquis de Lafayette spoke in 1825.

3. The 1853 Green-Meldrim House (14 W Macon St on Madison Square)

This ornate Gothic Revival mansion was commandeered in December 1864 by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman as his military headquarters, where he penned his famous Christmas telegram to President Lincoln.

4. Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace (1821) & Isaiah Davenport House (1820)

Tour the 1821 Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace (10 E Oglethorpe Ave), Savannah's first National Historic Landmark where 'Daisy' Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts of the USA in 1912, or the 1820 Isaiah Davenport House on Columbia Square, whose threatened demolition in 1955 inspired seven local women to establish the Historic Savannah Foundation.