Mansion on Forsyth Park

An opulent hotel overlooking Forsyth Park that was originally a private residence before serving as a funeral home for over five decades. The building's history of processing the dead has left spiritual residue behind.

The Mansion on Forsyth Park occupies one of Savannah's most unusual buildings—a structure that spent over fifty years as a mortuary. Built in 1888 as a private residence for the Lewis Kayton family, the elegant red-brick mansion became home to Fox & Weeks Funeral Directors in 1953, serving as Savannah's finest mortuary until the early 2000s.

During its decades as a funeral home, the building hosted the services of notorious Savannahians, including Danny Hansford, the victim made famous by John Berendt's "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." The beautifully appointed parlors that once served as viewing rooms for the deceased are now opulent dining rooms in the hotel's restaurant.

Perhaps most unsettling, the current restroom down the hall from Casimir's lounge was once the embalming room where bodies were prepared. Guests are advised not to "pass up the spirits on the second floor"—though whether that refers to cocktails or supernatural visitors remains deliberately ambiguous.

The building's half-century history processing the dead, combined with its location beside haunted Forsyth Park, has cemented its reputation as one of Savannah's most intriguing paranormal destinations. In a city considered by many to be the most haunted in America, the Mansion on Forsyth Park's unique past as both home and mortuary gives it a claim few hotels can match.