Roswell's 1854 mill commissary turned restaurant
605 South Atlanta Street, Roswell, GA 30075
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Sit-down restaurant in Roswell's Historic Square district; reservations recommended.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic Roswell sidewalks
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1854 · Roswell Mill commissary · Civil War Union hospital · Roswell Historic Square
The Public House at 605 South Atlanta Street in Roswell was constructed in 1854 as the commissary for the Roswell Mill, a major textile operation on Vickery Creek. 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. In 1920 the building was repurposed as the Dunwoody Shoe Shop with a funeral parlor upstairs, and it has subsequently 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. According to the legend retold in Georgia paranormal writing including HauntedPlaces and georgiahauntedhouses.com, Michael was tried for a crime and hanged across what is now the town square, and both 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 was constructed in 1854 as the commissary for the Roswell Mill, served as a Union hospital during the Civil War, and later housed the Dunwoody Shoe Shop and a funeral parlor before becoming a restaurant.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Lawrenceville, GA
Little Gardens is a restored historic Lawrenceville home operating as a wedding and special-event venue in Gwinnett County, Georgia. The property has been adapted across multiple twentieth- and twenty-first-century uses, including a previous tenure as a fine-dining restaurant before its conversion to an events-primary model.
Savannah, GA
The Pirates' House occupies a structure that began in 1734 as the Herb House on James Oglethorpe's Trustees' Garden tract. In 1753 the site opened as an inn for seafarers and quickly became a meeting place for sailors and crew working the Savannah River port. The Savannah Gas Company acquired the property in 1948, and the modern restaurant opened in 1953.
Casa Grande, AZ
Cafe de Manuel's operates as an authentic Mexican restaurant in Casa Grande, Arizona, established in 1995. The building formerly functioned as a furniture store and private residential property prior to restaurant use. The structure harbors historical trauma from its commercial and residential operations.