1910 Augusta hotel and the legend of Emily
2110 Walton Way, Augusta, GA 30904
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Hilton Curio Collection rates typically $150-$250 per night, with seasonal premiums during The Masters tournament.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved entry, multi-floor historic hotel with elevators.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1836 · Augusta Winter Resort Era · Curio Collection by Hilton · Southern Hospitality Architecture
The Partridge Inn occupies a hilltop site at 2110 Walton Way in the Summerville neighborhood of Augusta, Georgia. The original structure on the site was a private residence built in 1836. In 1892, Morris Partridge purchased the home and began the conversion to a hotel that would carry his name. The property was officially opened as the Partridge Inn in 1910, the date most commonly cited as the hotel's founding.
The hotel served Augusta's winter resort era, when wealthy northern travelers came south for the mild climate. Its expansive verandahs, characteristic of the Southern resort hotel tradition, ring the upper floors and provide the architectural signature visible from Walton Way. The property has been renovated multiple times across the 20th and 21st centuries while retaining its principal historical features.
Today the Partridge Inn operates as part of Hilton's Curio Collection, a brand portfolio for distinctive independent hotels. Its dining room, The Verandah, occupies the front porch and adjacent indoor spaces. The hotel sits within a short drive of downtown Augusta, the Augusta National Golf Club, and the Savannah River corridor, and its rates rise sharply during The Masters tournament each April.
Sources
The story tells of Emily, a local beauty preparing for her wedding in a bridal suite at the Partridge Inn. She had dressed in a custom-made Atlanta gown when word arrived that her young fiance had been mistaken for a soldier wanted on charges of treason and shot as he rode his horse through town. Emily, the legend goes, would not take off the wedding dress for weeks. She refused subsequent suitors and is said to have died of a broken heart.
Guests and staff have reported seeing a young woman with long dark brown hair walking the halls and staircases of the hotel in a white flowing gown. The fifth floor is the most frequently cited location for sightings. The hotel honors Emily with a signature cocktail named for her, and the staff treat her presence as a friendly part of the property's character rather than an unsettling one.
One specific account that has circulated through paranormal media involved a guest who reportedly saw the words 'Time for you to leave' written on his window; the writing vanished when staff checked the room afterward. The Partridge Inn was named one of the top haunted hotels in the South by NorthPointe Hospitality in 2021, a recognition the hotel has embraced rather than downplayed.
The legend's specifics, particularly the date and the precise circumstances of the fiance's death, are not corroborated by surviving Augusta newspaper or court records that this research could locate. The story carries the structural markers of romantic 19th-century folklore, and the Partridge Inn presents it as such.
Notable Entities
Stay overnight at the 1910 Partridge Inn, part of Hilton's Curio Collection. The fifth floor is most associated with reports of Emily, the legendary bride whose fiance was killed in a case of mistaken identity. The hotel honors her with a signature cocktail and frames its haunted history as part of the property's character.
Dine at The Verandah, the Partridge Inn's signature restaurant, on the wraparound porch and adjacent dining rooms. The restaurant is open to non-guests and offers Southern-leaning American fare in a setting that has hosted travelers since the early 20th century.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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