You’re walking down Lafayette Square in Savannah, and it’s easy to get distracted by the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. It’s huge. It’s flashy. But right across the street sits a massive brick fortress of a home that actually tells the real story of how this city became what it is today. That’s the Andrew Low House Museum.
Honestly, most people just see a pretty house. They see the stuccoed brick and the ornate ironwork and think "okay, another old mansion." But if you actually step inside, you’re looking at the nerve center of 19th-century global trade and the birthplace of one of the most influential movements in American history. It’s not just a museum; it’s a time capsule of ambition, extreme wealth, and the complicated reality of the enslaved people who actually kept the gears turning.
The Man Who Built the Empire
Andrew Low II didn't just stumble into money. He was a Scottish immigrant who arrived in Savannah around 1829 to work for his uncle. He was sharp. Maybe a little too sharp. By the time he commissioned New York architect John Norris to build this house in 1848, Low was essentially the king of the cotton trade.
Think about the 1840s for a second. Savannah was a powerhouse.
Low was the director of the Central Railroad and Banking Company. He had his hands in everything. When you look at the house today, you’re seeing a massive flex of mid-19th-century wealth. He wanted the best, so he got Norris—the same guy who did the Custom House down on Bay Street—to design a villa that mixed Italianate style with the practical needs of a humid Southern port city. It’s solid. It’s imposing. It’s exactly what a man who owned a fleet of merchant ships would build to show everyone he had arrived.
What Makes the Andrew Low House Museum Design So Weirdly Perfect?
If you’re into architecture, this place is a masterclass in "status." Most houses in Savannah at the time were built right up against the sidewalk. Not this one. Low had the money to set his house back, creating a private garden space that most people in the historic district could only dream of.
The front garden is one of the only remaining original 19th-century garden plans in the city. It’s shaped like an hourglass. Or maybe a bowtie, depending on how much wine you've had at lunch. It was designed to be seen from the parlor windows, a curated bit of nature in the middle of a busy, dirty, industrial port city.
Inside the Walls
The interior is where things get really intense. You’ve got these massive double parlors. The ceilings are towering. The woodwork is all original. But pay attention to the details—the silver-plated door hardware and the crystal chandeliers weren't just for lighting; they were meant to reflect the candlelight and make the room look even more cavernous and expensive than it already was.
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Low lived here with his family, but the house also hosted some of the biggest names in history. We're talking Robert E. Lee. We're talking William Makepeace Thackeray.
Thackeray, the guy who wrote Vanity Fair, actually stayed here twice. He wrote about the house in his letters, basically saying it was the most comfortable place he’d found in America. He liked the wine. He liked the food. He liked the fact that Andrew Low lived like a British aristocrat in the middle of Georgia.
The Juliette Gordon Low Connection
Here is where the history gets a bit more personal for most visitors. Andrew Low’s son, William Mackay Low, married a woman named Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon. You probably know her as "Daisy." Or, more likely, as the founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
Juliette lived in this house after her marriage. It wasn't exactly a fairy tale.
Their marriage was, frankly, a mess. William was a heavy drinker and a philanderer. By the time he died in 1905, they were in the middle of a nasty divorce. But because he died before it was finalized, Juliette ended up with the house.
The Birth of the Girl Scouts
She didn't just sit around and mourn a bad marriage. In 1912, right there in the parlor of the Andrew Low House, she made a famous phone call to a cousin. She said, "I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all of America, and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight!"
She founded the Girl Scouts in this building. The carriage house behind the main mansion became the first headquarters. When you walk through the museum now, you can see her personal items—her artwork, her furniture, even the bed she died in back in 1927. It gives the house a second layer of history that goes beyond just "rich cotton merchant." It becomes a site of female empowerment and social change.
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Facing the Uncomfortable Truths
We have to talk about the part that often gets glossed over in old house tours: the enslaved people.
Andrew Low’s wealth was built on cotton. Cotton, in the 1840s and 50s, was inseparable from the labor of enslaved individuals. While the Low family lived in luxury in the front rooms, a staff of enslaved people lived and worked in the basement and the rear quarters.
The museum has done a lot of work recently to bring these stories to the forefront. You can see the original kitchen. You can see the bells used to summon servants.
- Tom and Betsey: We know some names. We know about the people who cooked the meals Thackeray raved about.
- The Contrast: The hand-carved mahogany banisters exist because of the profit generated by labor in the fields and the forced labor within the house walls.
- The Urban Slavery Experience: Life for an enslaved person in a city like Savannah was different than on a rural plantation, but it was no less restrictive. The museum explores these power dynamics in a way that feels honest rather than performative.
Why You Should Actually Go (And What to Look For)
If you're planning a visit, don't just rush through. This isn't a 20-minute "check the box" tourist trap.
First, look at the furniture. The Andrew Low House Museum has one of the best collections of Richmond and New York federal-style furniture in the South. A lot of it belonged to the Low family. It’s rare to see a historic home where the pieces actually match the provenance of the building.
Second, check out the mourning jewelry. It sounds morbid, but it was a huge thing in the Victorian era. They have pieces made of human hair. It’s fascinating and a little creepy, but it tells you everything you need to know about how these people viewed family and legacy.
Practical Details for Your Visit
The museum is located at 329 Abercorn Street.
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It’s open most days, but they do close for certain holidays. Tours usually run every half hour.
Pro tip: Buy the combination ticket if you’re doing the "Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace" tour as well. They are two different houses. The Birthplace is where she grew up; the Andrew Low House is where she lived as an adult and started the Scouts. Seeing both gives you the full arc of her life.
Also, the garden. Don't skip the garden. Even if you aren't a "plant person," the symmetry of the boxwoods against the weathered brick of the house is one of the most photographed spots in the city for a reason.
Actionable Steps for Your Savannah History Tour
To get the most out of the Andrew Low House Museum, you need a plan. Don't just show up at noon when the crowds are thickest.
- Book the first tour of the morning. The light hitting the front parlor in the morning is incredible for seeing the detail in the plasterwork.
- Read up on the "Cotton Triangle." Understanding how Savannah, Liverpool, and New York were connected will make Andrew Low’s business success make way more sense.
- Contrast the experience. Visit the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters on the same day. It provides a different architectural perspective (Regency vs. Italianate) and further explores the lives of the enslaved people in Savannah.
- Walk the Square. After your tour, sit in Lafayette Square for ten minutes. Look at the house from the outside. Notice the shutter colors and the way the stucco is scored to look like stone blocks. It was a common trick back then to make a brick house look more expensive.
The Andrew Low House Museum isn't just a monument to a wealthy guy from Scotland. It’s a physical record of Savannah’s peak as a global port, the messy reality of the American South, and the spark of a movement that changed the lives of millions of girls. It’s worth the hour of your time. Honestly, it might be the most "Savannah" house in Savannah.
Check the official museum website before you go to confirm current tour times and any special exhibitions regarding the Girl Scout archives. Bring a camera, but remember that interior photography is often restricted to protect the textiles and original finishes. Stick to the garden for your "main grid" photos and just soak in the history inside.