Green-Meldrim House — Attraction in Savannah

We visited the Green-Meldrim house, and we were greeted by a woman who took our payment and asked where we were from. There was no discussion about rules for the tour, etc. A few people arrived after us, and we had 5-10 people in our tour group.

A different woman began the tour. People began taking pictures as we moved into the hallway and first room. As we moved into the next room, the tour guide suddenly barked at a woman in our group that no pictures were allowed, despite pictures being taken until that point. One man in our group had been using a large professional camera that made an audible click with every picture. She further tells the woman that we were told at the beginning of the tour that pictures weren't allowed. We weren't. Neither the woman who took our money nor the tour guide mentioned it.

We eventually reached the stairs to the second floor. A man in our group lingered briefly in the previous room to look at the artifacts. The tour guide admonished the man for not keeping up. It was extremely awkward. A woman said she was the man’s wife, and she began apologizing even though the delay was brief (and the man had, after all, paid to see the house).

A different guide began the tour upstairs. She was drinking water while leaning on beds, desks, etc. She would put the water bottle directly onto the furniture while she was talking.

Throughout the tour, our group would ask the guides questions about the furniture and the house. The answer to almost every question was, "I don't know." Some items apparently had no connection to the house and were donations to the church that owned the property. The guides explained that the church didn't know what to do with the items, so they just stuck them in the house.

We toured several houses in Savannah, and this tour was the only disappointment for us. The guides seemed to make up rules as they went, and then admonished individuals in the group for not following them. We got more information from Google than we did the tour. We are genuinely surprised by the good reviews on Google; perhaps we went on a bad day. Based upon what we saw on the tour, we would not be surprised if this house began to fall into disrepair due to lack of...

The house is absolutely GORGEOUS- some of the most elaborate and lovingly-made plasterwork I have ever seen. There is also tons of history and furniture original to the house or at least the time period. The tour itself, however, was very disorganized and lengthy. The guides struck me more as locals telling stories their grandparents told them about the Civil War rather than the history of the house itself. I understand its significance in regard to General Sherman and all that, but I wish they had spoken more about the house. A few things they said were outright wrong- mostly minor details, but still. It also alarmed me that our guides frequently leaned or sat on the furniture. Perhaps it is the preservationist in me, but I am a very "no-touch" kind of person. It was an extremely reasonable rate- $5 for students- and the house itself was absolutely worth the visit, but I would not recommend the tour to anyone. I would rather wander the house...

Regret to say we must have gone at the wrong time or day. Was there for a 2:30 tour on June 7th, 2022 and don't remember being able to see anything EXCEPT the rude lady who was supposed to be giving the downstairs tour. (There was a tour guide for each floor.) All she did was insist that we stand directly in front of her, facing her at all times, in each room! The upstairs guide was pleasant and informative but by then we only wanted to leave. Unable to add photo since they don't allow them, unlike all the other historical homes we visited. Side note: the review from "bond" has pictures attached but they are from the...