HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
Roswell's circa-1840 mill commissary turned restaurant
605 South Atlanta Street, Roswell, GA 30075
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Sit-down restaurant in Roswell's Historic Square district; reservations recommended.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic Roswell sidewalks
Equipment
Photos OK
Roswell Mill commissary · Civil War Union hospital · Roswell Historic Square
The Public House at 605 South Atlanta Street in Roswell occupies a commissary building for the Roswell Mill, a major textile operation on Vickery Creek, dated to circa 1840 by Georgia planning records. The mill complex was a target of Union forces during the 1864 Atlanta Campaign, and the commissary building served as a Union hospital after the July 1864 occupation. The building has since been adapted for restaurant use, first as the Peasant Restaurant in the 1970s and currently as The Public House on Roswell's Historic Square.
The building sits within Roswell's Historic Square district, near Naylor Hall (an 1840s King family home damaged by Federal troops in 1864) and other Roswell Mill-era structures.
Sources
Local Roswell tradition holds that the building's upstairs served as a nursing station during its Union hospital period and is associated with a story of a forbidden romance between Michael, a young Union soldier, and Catherine, a Southern nurse who is said to have been from a local family. One Roswell tour account says Michael was hanged for treason in what is now the town square while Catherine watched from the commissary; a separate account instead says Michael was killed by Confederate soldiers. Both versions agree that Michael and Catherine are said to appear at the restaurant.
No Civil War-era court or newspaper records corroborating the specific romance or hanging have been located in publicly indexed sources. The account should be treated as restaurant and tour-guide tradition rather than documented history. The Roswell Ghost Tour includes The Public House as a stop and presents the romance and the soldier's death as folklore tied to the building's hospital era.
Notable Entities
Eat at The Public House on the Roswell Historic Square. The building is a commissary for the Roswell Mill dated to circa 1840, and it served as a Union hospital during the Civil War before later becoming a restaurant.
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