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Mercer House




It was designed by New York Architect John S. Norris for General Hugh W. Mercer , great grandfather of Johnny Mercer . Construction of the house began in 1860 , was interrupted by the American Civil War and finally completed around 1868 by the new owner, John Wilder. In 1969 , Jim Williams , one of Savannah’s earliest and most dedicated private restorationists, bought the house after a decade of vacancy and began Restoration .

Mercer House was also the unlikely scene of the shooting death of Williams' assistant, Danny Hansford. Events surround this are chronicled in the book " Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil ." The house had already been the scene of two deaths before Hansford's. In 1913 a previous owner had tripped over the second floor banister, fractured his hip and suffered a Concussion , dying 3 days later. In the 1964 a boy chasing Pigeon s on the roof fell over the edge and impaled himself on the iron fence below.