Georgia's oldest standing brick fort, built atop a 1779 Revolutionary battery — the 1809 murder of Lt. George Dickerson by Pvt. Patrick Garrity made it Savannah's original ghost story.
1 Fort Jackson Rd, Savannah, GA 31404
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Admission to the fort museum. Savannah ghost tours that include Fort Jackson are ticketed separately through their respective operators.
Access
Limited Access
Earthworks, brick ramparts, and moat area; uneven terrain near the drawbridge approach
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1808 · Georgia's Oldest Standing Brick Fort · Revolutionary War Battery Site (1779) · Civil War Coastal Defense · Savannah River Defense History
The site of Old Fort Jackson has been a defensive position since 1779, when a Revolutionary War battery was constructed on the eastern approach to Savannah along the Back River. The British destroyed the earthwork during their occupation of Savannah, and the site sat unused until the federal government authorized a brick fortification in 1808.
Construction of the current brick structure proceeded through the early 1810s, and the fort was garrisoned through the War of 1812. Its position on the Savannah River gave it a commanding view of the primary water approach to the city. The fort remained an active military installation through the Civil War — Confederate forces manned it until Savannah fell to Sherman's March to the Sea in December 1864 — and again saw use in World War I as a coastal observation post.
A documented violent incident occurred in the early years of the fort's operation: Private Patrick Garrity, described in period sources as a disgruntled enlisted man, struck his commanding officer, Lieutenant George Dickerson, with his musket in a confrontation inside the fortification. Garrity fled through the moat in an attempt to escape and drowned before capture. Dickerson died of his wounds. The incident was documented in military records and entered local Savannah oral history; multiple independent ghost tour operators cite it as the city's oldest documented ghost story.
The Coastal Heritage Society, the nonprofit organization that runs several of Savannah's major historic sites, acquired the fort in 1972 and opened it as a museum. The site operates daily with exhibits on the fort's full military history and periodic cannon firing demonstrations.
Sources
Old Fort Jackson's ghost story is anchored to a specific, documented historical incident rather than vague paranormal claims. In the early 1800s, Private Patrick Garrity beat Lieutenant George Dickerson to death with his musket inside the fortification. Garrity attempted to escape through the fort's moat and drowned before he could be captured. Both the murder and Garrity's drowning death are documented in military records of the period.
The apparition identified as Garrity by Savannah ghost tour tradition appears most frequently near the moat and drawbridge approach — the physical location of his drowning. Multiple independent tour operators document sightings here across their separate archives of visitor reports. Ghost City Tours, which runs nightly Savannah walking tours, describes the Garrity apparition as one of the most consistently reported figures in their guides' experience. US Ghost Adventures includes the fort in its documented haunted tour itinerary and cites the moat location specifically.
Legends of America, which aggregates historical haunting accounts with verified historical documentation, profiles Fort Jackson alongside its primary source materials for the Garrity incident. The site's position as Georgia's oldest brick fort and its documented violent history have made it a fixture in Savannah's extensive ghost tour ecosystem — a city that has operated commercial ghost tours since the 1980s and is regularly ranked among the most haunted in the southeastern United States.
Notable Entities
Open daily museum operated by the Coastal Heritage Society. Exhibits cover the fort's role in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War, along with the history of Savannah's river defenses. Cannon firing demonstrations are held on select dates.
Multiple Savannah ghost tour operators include Old Fort Jackson in their routes, citing the documented 1809 Garrity murder as the city's oldest documented ghost story. Ghost City Tours and US Ghost Adventures both include the fort in walking tour itineraries.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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