Museum Visit
Massie Heritage Center Tour
Self-guided or staff-led visit to the restored 1856 schoolhouse, including the original classroom, the Heritage Classroom programs, and exhibits on Savannah's town plan and architecture.
- Duration:
- 1 hr
Museum / Historical Site
Massie Heritage Center (Massie Common School)
Savannah's first public school, opened in 1856 on what is now Taylor Square — a Greek Revival schoolhouse that sits over a documented unmarked burial ground for enslaved African Americans.
207 East Gordon Street, Savannah, GA 31401
Wheelchair Accessible
Research-Backed · 4sources
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Standard admission for heritage center exhibits; check massie.sccpss.com for current rates.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic schoolhouse with main-level access; some areas reached by stairs.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1856 · Savannah's first public school (opened 1856) · Designed by architect John S. Norris; funded by 1841 Peter Massie bequest · Used as a Union hospital during Sherman's 1864 occupation · Closed as a school in 1974; reopened as heritage center in 1978 · Sits opposite a documented unmarked African-American burial ground on Taylor Square
Peter Massie, a Scottish immigrant who had settled in Glynn County, Georgia, died in 1841 having bequeathed $5,000 to the city of Savannah for the construction of a school 'for the education of the children of the poor.' By 1856, with the trust having grown through interest to roughly $14,000, the city engaged architect John S. Norris — already at work on several major Savannah commissions — to design the schoolhouse. Norris produced a Greek Revival central building on East Gordon Street facing what was then Calhoun Square and is today Taylor Square.
The Massie Common School House opened in 1856 with 150 students and three teachers, marking the establishment of free public education in Savannah. East and west wings designed by architect John Hogg were added in 1872 and 1886 respectively, expanding the campus. When Union General William T. Sherman captured Savannah in December 1864, the school was temporarily closed and converted into a hospital for U.S. Army troops. The occupation caused lasting damage to the building: with the Union blockade preventing coal from reaching the city, soldiers burned the school's furniture for heat, irreparably damaging the building's furnace.
The school operated continuously for more than a century, closing at the end of the 1974 academic year due to declining enrollment and rising costs. Savannah preservationists Emma Adler and Saxon Pope Bargeron formed the Friends of Massie Committee in 1975, and the building was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The Massie Heritage Center opened in 1978 and has since become one of the earliest school-district-operated heritage education programs in the United States, serving more than 10,000 student visitors annually through the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System.
The building also sits in a charged location. Taylor Square, on which the school faces, overlays a documented unmarked burial ground for enslaved African Americans (see Taylor Square entry). A skull was uncovered by utility workers outside the Heritage Center in 2004, prompting renewed historical attention to the burials beneath the square.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massie_School
- https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/massie-heritage-center/
- https://www.georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/massie-common-school-house/
- https://massie.sccpss.com/about/history-of-massie-school
Children's voices and laughter in empty classroomsFootsteps in upstairs rooms after hoursApparitions of children seen near square-facing windowsCold spots and unease near the building's south side
Massie Heritage Center's paranormal lore is closely interwoven with the lore of Taylor Square (formerly Calhoun Square), on which the schoolhouse faces. Ghost City Tours and Savannah Ghost Tours describe a layered set of reports that overlap with the square's broader history: children's voices and laughter heard in classrooms after closing time, soft footsteps in upstairs spaces when no one is on the floor, and figures interpreted as children briefly seen near the windows facing the square.
Tour-circuit accounts sometimes attribute the children's-spirit reports to victims of Savannah's recurring 19th-century yellow-fever epidemics. The epidemic context is historically grounded — Savannah suffered devastating yellow-fever outbreaks in 1820, 1854, and 1876 — though no specific student deaths at Massie are documented in the available sources to anchor these reports. The Union hospital use during Sherman's occupation is sometimes cited in tour scripts as another possible source of residual presence in the building.
The most editorially careful framing of Massie's hauntedness, however, ties it to the documented unmarked burial ground beneath the square. The 2004 skull discovery during utility work directly in front of the Heritage Center brought the burials into public attention, and the schoolhouse's proximity to those graves is the most commonly cited source of unease at the site by both staff and visitors. HauntBound treats these reports with the sensitivity owed to a slavery-era burial site — the lore is a contemporary acknowledgment of an ongoing reckoning, not romanticized antebellum theater.
Notable Entities
Unnamed child spirits (folkloric, sometimes attributed to yellow-fever victims)
Plan Your Visit
1 way to experienceSources & Further Reading
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Similar Destinations
Museum / Historical Site
Telfair Academy
Savannah, GA
The Telfair Academy is the original Telfair family mansion, designed circa 1818 by English architect William Jay for Alexander Telfair. Mary Telfair bequeathed the house and its contents to the Georgia Historical Society in 1875, and after additions by German-born architect Detlef Lienau, it opened in 1886 as the first public art museum in the American South.
$$ All Ages
Family: High
Photo coming soon
Museum / Historical Site
Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati, OH
The Cincinnati Art Museum was founded in 1881 and opened to the public in its current Eden Park building on May 17, 1886. It is one of the oldest art museums in the United States and houses an encyclopedic collection spanning 6,000 years of art history. Reuben Springer led the founding fundraising; the building has been expanded repeatedly into the 21st century.
$ All Ages
Family: High
Museum / Historical Site
Kennesaw House / Marietta History Center
Marietta, GA
The Kennesaw House was built in 1845 as a cotton warehouse on what is now Marietta Square, adjacent to the railroad tracks that would define its Civil War history. Purchased by Dix Fletcher in 1855 and converted into the Fletcher House hotel, it served as both a staging point for the famous Great Locomotive Chase of April 1862 and as a hospital and morgue for Confederate and Union forces during Sherman's Atlanta campaign. Today it houses the Marietta History Center.
$ All Ages
Family: Moderate
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Massie Heritage Center (Massie Common School) family-friendly?
Designed as an education facility for school groups. Sensitivity note: exhibits and the surrounding square engage with Savannah's history of slavery; parents may want to prepare younger visitors for the burial-ground context. Overall family fit: High.
How much does it cost to visit Massie Heritage Center (Massie Common School)?
Standard admission for heritage center exhibits; check massie.sccpss.com for current rates.
Do I need to book in advance?
No advance booking is required, but checking availability is recommended.
Is Massie Heritage Center (Massie Common School) wheelchair accessible?
Yes, Massie Heritage Center (Massie Common School) is wheelchair accessible. Terrain: Historic schoolhouse with main-level access; some areas reached by stairs..