90 Minute Historic Savannah Walking Haunted Bar Pub Crawl

Savannah’s haunted past is best understood on foot, after sunset, when its squares, cemeteries, and old bars take on a different mood. This 90-minute evening walk mixes ghost tales with real stories of yellow fever, war, duels, murder, and life in the city’s oldest buildings.

I like the route’s variety: you get Colonial Park Cemetery and grand historic squares, then move into local watering holes such as The Original Pinkie Masters and McDonough’s. I also like that the tour fits neatly into an evening, though you should know that the advertised 90 minutes can stretch closer to two hours, and the pub portion is lighter than the name may suggest.

The overall rating is 3.5 from 15 published ratings, which points to an experience that can depend heavily on the guide and the day. Craig has received especially warm praise for his storytelling, humor, and personal tales, but one serious booking problem was also reported, so check your confirmation carefully before setting out.

Key points to know before you go

• Savannah after dark: The tour begins at 7:15 pm, when the city’s old squares and cemeteries take on a suitably eerie feel.
• Seven historic stops: Expect Colonial Park Cemetery, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Hamilton-Turner House, Madison Square, Pinkie Masters, Chippewa Square, and McDonough’s.
• History first, drinks second: You buy your own alcoholic beverages, and the route may include only three or four pub stops.
• Craig may be your guide: His storytelling, humor, and personal stories have been a strong part of several departures.
• Walking route through central Savannah: The tour starts at Chippewa Square and ends at 332 Bull Street.
• Small enough to follow, large enough to feel social: The maximum group size is 30 people.

Why this Savannah night walk works

The best feature here is the setting. Savannah does not need much help creating atmosphere. Its old cemetery, tree-lined squares, churches, mansions, and former bars supply the backdrop while your guide supplies the stories.

This is not a theatrical haunted house tour. You are not promised special effects or staged scares. Instead, the mood comes from hearing what happened in places that are still part of the city: epidemics, fires, executions, wartime suffering, family tragedies, and deaths that left a mark on local folklore.

I like that the guide does not treat Savannah’s past as one long ghost story. The walk includes architecture and military history, along with the darker tales. You hear about the Siege of Savannah and Sergeant William Jasper, then shift to stories connected with the Sorrell-Weed House, old taverns, and bodies said to have been hidden in walls.

The atmosphere will suit you best if you enjoy storytelling and a little uncertainty. If you want a serious historical walking tour with detailed dates and museum-style interpretation, the ghost-story format may feel loose. If you want an easy introduction to Savannah after dark, it offers a pleasant mix.

Colonial Park Cemetery and the city built upon the dead

The first stop is Colonial Park Cemetery, Savannah’s last remaining Colonial Period cemetery above ground. You spend about 10 minutes here, with no admission charge.

The stories cover yellow fever plagues, mass graves, duels, tragic romances, and the grim possibility that some people were buried before they were truly dead. The guide also explains how General Sherman’s troops nearly destroyed the landmark and how children once played among the graves.

That range gives the cemetery more weight than a simple haunted stop. You hear about public health, war, burial customs, and local superstition in one place. The warning to watch where you walk is part of the dark humor, since the tour suggests that the modern street level may cover earlier graves.

This is a short stop, so do not expect a long cemetery study. The value comes from the stories and the sense that Savannah’s past remains close underfoot.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

From the cemetery, the route continues to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, one of America’s finest examples of Gothic architecture. The stop lasts about 15 minutes and is free to visit from the outside.

The cathedral adds a change of tone. After burial grounds and plague stories, you get a look at one of Savannah’s most important religious buildings. The tour also notes that Mass begins here each St. Patrick’s Day, a detail that connects the building to one of Savannah’s major annual traditions.

Because the experience is a walking pub crawl rather than an interior architecture tour, your time here is likely focused on the building’s place in the city and its appearance after dark. If you want to see inside, do not assume that this tour includes interior admission. The supplied details identify the stop as free, but they do not promise a guided indoor visit.

Hamilton-Turner House and the story behind the fiction

Hamilton-Turner House brings in a literary connection. The guide explains the home’s relationship to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, then tells stories of accidental deaths, murder, and spirits said to remain in the house.

This stop lasts about 15 minutes. It works well for people who know the book, but you do not need to have read it to understand the appeal. The house links Savannah’s grand residential architecture with the city’s reputation for strange events and lingering legends.

The important point is that the tour uses the building as a storytelling setting rather than offering a formal house tour. You should expect to hear about its associations from the street, not explore every room.

Madison Square, Sergeant Jasper, and the Sorrell-Weed House

Madison Square is one of the more history-heavy stops. The guide discusses the Siege of Savannah and Sergeant William Jasper, a celebrated Civil War hero whose statue is located here.

The square also sits across from the former home of Francis Sorrell and near the DeSoto Hotel. From this point, the storytelling turns toward the three wives of Francis Sorrell, along with tales of suicides, hangings, and voodoo associated with the Sorrell-Weed House.

You spend roughly 10 minutes here. That is enough for a concentrated set of stories, but not enough for a detailed military lecture. I like the contrast between the public history of the square and the private tragedies connected with nearby homes. It shows how Savannah’s most attractive places can carry more troubling stories beneath the surface.

The stop also helps you get your bearings. Madison Square is central, photogenic, and easy to revisit during the day if you want a closer look at the statue and surrounding architecture.

Pinkie Masters, Jimmy Carter, and the pub crawl question

The Original Pinkie Masters is the tour’s clearest bar stop. The guide tells the story of the friendship between former President Jimmy Carter and Pinkie Master, the bar’s owner and founder.

The bar is also tied to Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day tradition. The tour explains that many locals begin the holiday with a Bloody Mary here in the morning. You spend about 10 minutes at this part of the route.

Here is where expectations matter. The experience is called a pub crawl, but the drink purchases are not included, and the route may stop at only three or four pubs. One published assessment specifically found that the number of pub stops felt low, while the tour’s own explanation says the route was designed for 90 minutes and sometimes ran beyond two hours.

I would treat the bars as story settings rather than a full drinking itinerary. You can buy your own drink, but the main product is the guide’s narration and the walk between historic locations.

Chippewa Square and Savannah’s darker reputation

Chippewa Square is listed as the meeting point, yet it also appears as a major storytelling stop. The guide explains why Savannah became known as the City Built Upon The Dead, a phrase tied to the city’s repeated fires, murders, suicides, and wars.

You hear about ghosts and orbs, bodies supposedly buried in the wall of a local bed-and-breakfast, and one of America’s oldest and most haunted theaters. The stop takes about 15 minutes.

This is a good place for the tour’s broad theme to come together. Savannah’s ghost stories are not isolated incidents. They grow from a long record of disasters and conflict, then become part of the city’s folklore. You may find some claims hard to verify, but the guide presents them as local stories rather than dry historical facts.

Since Chippewa Square is the starting point, arrive ready to begin at 7:15 pm. The published meeting information contains some overlap between the start and stop details, so checking the exact confirmation and map pin before the evening is sensible.

McDonough’s and the final stories

The walk ends at McDonough’s Restaurant and Lounge at 332 Bull Street. The building’s history stretches back to 1850, when it served at different times as a bar, restaurant, grocery store, and hospital for the Southern Army during the Civil War.

The guide describes the suffering associated with the hospital, including dying soldiers and blood throughout the building. You also hear about an unhappy grocer and about Billy Lee, who operated the Savannah landmark for 40 years. Even Billy reportedly became frightened after moving into the apartment he built on the third floor.

This final stop gives the tour a strong sense of place. Instead of ending at a generic modern bar, it closes in a building with several past uses and layers of local memory. The stop lasts about 15 minutes, though the entire route may run beyond the stated 90 minutes.

The end point is convenient if you want to continue exploring central Savannah on foot. Keep in mind that the tour does not include a return transfer.

What the guide can add to the night

The guide matters a great deal here. The strongest accounts describe Craig as funny, well-paced, and good at adding personal stories to the official tales. One person found that he could have moved the group along a little faster, while another praised the relaxed pace and his humor.

That difference is useful to know. Storytelling quality can be more important than the route itself, since many stops are viewed from public streets and squares. A good guide can connect a cemetery, a mansion, a war story, and a bar into one evening. A poor match or a slow pace can make the same route feel stretched.

The tour uses trained, certified guides and is offered in English. The maximum group size is 30, so you should not expect a private walk. A group of that size can be lively, especially when drinks are involved, but it also means the guide needs to keep everyone together on city streets.

One published departure had a serious problem when the guide did not appear and the booking could not be found. The guide’s response was described as rude, and the issue was not resolved at the meeting point. That appears to be an isolated but significant service failure, so keep your booking confirmation available and verify the start details before leaving your hotel.

Timing, cost, and practical value

The tour begins at 7:15 pm and lasts about 90 minutes to two hours. That makes it easy to fit before or after dinner, but you should not plan a tight reservation immediately after the advertised end time.

No tour price is provided here, so I cannot judge the exact cost. The value depends on what you want from an evening in Savannah. You are paying for a guide, a structured route, and local stories across several historic areas. Your drinks are extra, and the tour does not include admission tickets because the listed stops are public or viewed from outside.

For a first night in Savannah, the route offers efficient orientation. You see several central squares and major landmarks without arranging separate visits. For a return visit, the appeal is less about seeing every attraction and more about hearing the city’s darker folklore in a social setting.

The walking distance and street conditions are not specified. Most people can participate, and service animals are allowed. The route is near public transportation, but no private transportation is included.

Who should book this walk

I would recommend it to you if you enjoy:

• Ghost stories tied to real buildings and historical events
• Short evening walks with several changes of scenery
• Savannah’s squares, churches, cemeteries, and old bars
• Informal storytelling rather than a formal lecture
• Meeting other people in a group setting
• A tour that combines history with the option to buy a drink

I would be more cautious if you want a long bar-hopping night. The route may include only three or four pubs, and the main focus is the history between those stops.

I would also think twice if you need a precise end time. The tour is advertised as 90 minutes but has run for more than two hours. That extra time may feel welcome if the group is enjoying itself, but it can interfere with dinner plans or other evening bookings.

Should you book the 90-minute haunted pub crawl?

Book it if you want an easy introduction to Savannah after dark, with cemetery tales, Civil War stories, old mansions, church architecture, and a few historic drinking spots. The best version of this tour is relaxed, funny, and story-led, especially when Craig is guiding and the group is in the mood to listen.

Skip it if your priority is a serious architectural tour, a large number of bar stops, or a guaranteed tightly timed itinerary. The mixed 3.5 rating reflects that the experience can be very good with the right guide and group, but it is not entirely consistent.

My practical advice is to arrive at Chippewa Square a little early, confirm the location in your booking, bring a way to show your reservation, and leave room in your evening schedule. If those conditions suit you, this is a reasonably priced-style way to meet Savannah’s past, one uneasy story at a time.

FAQ

Where does the haunted pub crawl begin?

The tour begins at Chippewa Square in Savannah, Georgia.

What time does the tour start?

The stated start time is 7:15 pm.

Where does the tour end?

The tour ends at 332 Bull Street, Savannah, Georgia, at McDonough’s Restaurant and Lounge.

How long does the tour last?

The advertised duration is 90 minutes, but the full experience may take about 90 minutes to two hours.

What places are included on the route?

Stops include Colonial Park Cemetery, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Hamilton-Turner House, Madison Square, The Original Pinkie Masters, Chippewa Square, and McDonough’s Restaurant and Lounge.

Are drinks included?

No. Alcoholic beverages are not included, and participants pay for their own drinks during the tour.

Is the tour conducted in English?

Yes. The tour is offered in English.

Who leads the tour?

A trained, certified tour guide leads the experience. Craig is the guide named in the available tour feedback, though the guide may vary by departure.

How many people can join the tour?

The maximum group size is 30 people.

Can I cancel for a full refund?

Yes. You can cancel up to 24 hours before the experience for a full refund.