The Pirates' House
Savannah, Georgia · Colonial America · Est. 1753 · Open today
Since 1753
The oldest part of the complex, the Herb House, was built in 1734 to house the gardener of Trustees' Garden, an experimental botanical garden modeled on London's Chelsea Physic Garden. The restaurant states the site began operating as an inn for seafarers around 1753 as Savannah grew into a port town, and by the 1790s the building near the waterfront was a lively tavern frequented by sailors, with legends of pirate gatherings and shanghaiing; the main building dates to 1794, with adjacent structures added through 1871. The Savannah Gas Company acquired the property in 1948, and Mrs. Hansell Hilyer, wife of the company's president, helped transform it before Herb Traub and Jim Casey founded the modern restaurant in 1953. Today it operates fifteen dining rooms serving Southern cuisine and markets itself as the oldest bar in Georgia, though the city's tourism materials date the tavern era to circa 1794 rather than 1753.
Local legend tied to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island holds that Captain Flint died in an upstairs room and still haunts the house, and that a tunnel beneath the building was used to shanghai drugged sailors onto ships — stories the restaurant embraces as lore.
What to order: Southern fare — fried chicken and hearty Southern cooking served across fifteen historic dining rooms.
How solid is the claim?
Georgia’s oldest bar — the evidence
The Pirates' House in Savannah is our featured pick for the oldest bar in Georgia, with a claimed founding year of 1753. The 1753 'inn for seafarers' date comes from the restaurant's own history page; Savannah's own tourism materials date the tavern to circa 1794, architectural historians question the much-remodeled building's integrity, and continuous bar operation is undocumented — the property was acquired by Savannah Gas Company in 1948 and the modern restaurant only opened in 1953 under Herb Traub and Jim Casey. No stronger named rival emerged in research, but the continuity gap makes the 'oldest bar' title questionable.