Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters — Attraction in Savannah

The tour guide was very lacking in education and had an agenda based on feelings rather than facts. The human aspect was very lacking in the interjection of opinions trying to get a political point across. Vaughnette Goode-Walker, Director of the civil rights museum, stated that an Owens family letter indicated that the nursemaids for their children were obviously thought highly of. The two women and Diana, the cook, were in the will of the senior Owens, in his 1856 will, he left $100 to both Miss Emma and Diana. This fact was left out of the tour to state that enslaved women were rotated in and out of child rearing duties so that the children could not grow close to their caretakers. The guide also misrepresented the Statue of Liberty which was oddly brought into the conversation. The statue was not a tribute to former black slaves. The original model was intended for the Suez Canal by the artist and French Monarchists rejected the gift to commemorate the U.S. centennial altogether. The chains at the feet were to represent the end of all tyranny and not the abolitionist movement alone. In fact, the original proposal by Laboulaye's request, to emphasize a broader vision of liberty for all mankind came about because Laboulaye disliked the “Radical Republicans” use of federal power to deprive former Confederates of citizenship rights while abruptly extending such rights to all adult Black men. Laboulaye had passed by the time the statue was gifted and Bartholdi was largely apolitical. The statue was self-presentation to advance his career as an artist." The tour is void of facts and useful information. Do not waste your money. The home needs repairs and restoration that are being neglected and is instead used...

My husband and I visited over Memorial Day weekend. We were able to walk up and book a time slot 15 minutes later. They require masks on the property in order to keep everyone safe. The groups are small. This is a self guided audio tour that requires you to scan a QR code with your smart phone. It would be wise to bring headphones. The QR code scanner on my phone would not work, so my husband and I proceeded without the audio. The home and slave quarters were amazing. There is a lot of material to read, so we didn't even miss the audio. One of the employees was not very kind to us and also another couple taking the tour. I believe she was frustrated that we were not following the audio, but we did follow the numbered signs. She was speaking to the other couple about the carpet that used to be in the home, but was replaced by the current flooring. They wanted to move forward, even asking to do so. She said "I'm trying to tell you about the carpet!" so they stayed. We decided to proceed to the next room in order to properly distance, and she yelled "you're not supposed to do that!" which made me pause, but she refused to acknowledge me and just kept talking about the carpet with the other couple. We ran into her later on the tour again, and we weren't sure where the next numbered sign was. She told us we needed to go to the kitchen. We weren't sure how to get there so we asked if it was outside, and she did not acknowledge our question and just kept saying "kitchen, KITCHEN!" so we just walked out. Everything about this tour was great except for this grouchy older lady. If you cannot respond kindly to someone being rude to you, I would advise you to...

One of the worst tours I have ever taken. It appears to be run by well-meaning, guilt-ridden people who want to make you feel guilty instead of bringing the history alive. When you ask the question, "What did all these people do all day?" and the guide can't answer you, that's pretty bad. I'm a fairly progressive person so I won't use the "W" word, but this tour is so burdened with the fact that there were slaves here, that everything else about the experience is vanilla. They tell you who lived visited there and describe the decor, but it is a dead tour. Slavery was and is a horror, but preaching at people to the point that your tour involves little else is not helping anybody. Most historical tours I go on realize this and they tell the story and let history speak for itself. The beginning of the tour is them showing you the names of the slaves on a wall and time is set aside for you to ponder their lives. That was ok, then let it go and tell their story--and the story of the people who owned them. I'm amazed that a tourist center and incredibly historically important place like Savannah has a tour this bad. Other things: you cannot reserve tickets. You have to show up at the window and buy, which means you'll probably stand there for 30 minutes to an hour waiting. There are two other locations for the tour. If they at least let you know about capacity, you could go to one of them. Poorly managed, poorly operated. At $50 it's a ripoff. I've had much, much better tours at less than...