Is there a house at Wormsloe?

There is, and you cannot go in it. Wormsloe House is a private residence, still occupied by descendants of Noble Jones, and it has never been open to visitors. Craig Barrow III and his wife Diana have lived on the family property since 1986. The house is visible from the oak avenue and that is as close as anyone gets. What visitors can walk up to instead is the tabby ruin of Noble Jones’s original fortified house, which is a ruin of low walls rather than a building you enter. If you came for a plantation house tour, this is the page that saves you the drive, and I would rather tell you now than have you find out at the gate.

A house?Yes, private

Open to visitors?Never

Occupied byJones descendants

Since 1986Craig Barrow III and Diana

What you can enterNothing; the ruin is a ruin

Visible fromThe oak avenue

Two different buildings, and the confusion between them

The tabby ruins near the end of the avenue are the remains of the fortified house Noble Jones began in 1736. They are low walls with the corner bastions still readable, and they are among the oldest standing structures in the Savannah area. Wormsloe House is a later family residence, a separate building on the same property, and it is somebody’s home. People conflate the two constantly and then feel misled, when in fact both are exactly what the site says they are: the site in walking order.

Please do not approach it

This part is not complicated. It is a private residence with a family living in it. You will see it from the avenue, and that is where the looking stops. Photographing it from a distance as part of the landscape is one thing; walking up a private drive is another, and I have watched visitors try. The property has been in the same family since the 1730s, which is a large part of why any of it survives: the history behind that.

What to do with the expectation instead

Savannah has house museums by the dozen and most of them are downtown, so if furnished rooms are what you want, that is a different morning and an easy one to arrange. Come to Wormsloe for the avenue, the ruins, the museum and the marsh trails, and it will not disappoint you. Come for a mansion and it will, every time: the honest verdict.

Insider tip

If you are travelling with someone whose heart is set on a plantation house tour, tell them before you buy the ticket rather than at the ruins. That one conversation is the difference between a good morning and a sulk under some very fine oaks.

Seeing it with a guide

Even on the guided trip the house stays closed, and it is worth knowing that in advance: one reviewer of the six-hour Wormsloe and Bonaventure tour, from $59 and rated 4.8 across 285 reviews, enjoyed the day and still wrote that he would have liked to tour the house and grounds. Nobody sold him a wrong thing. He just expected a different one.

Check dates for the Wormsloe tour

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure on most tours — book now, decide later.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a house on the Wormsloe plantation?

Yes, but it is a private residence and it is never open to visitors. Wormsloe House is still occupied by descendants of Noble Jones, and it is visible from the oak avenue only.

Who lives at Wormsloe?

Descendants of Noble Jones. Craig Barrow III and his wife Diana have lived on the family property since 1986, and the estate has stayed in the same family since the 1730s — the history in order.

What happened to the Wormsloe plantation?

The state took ownership of the surrounding land in 1973 and it became a state historic site in 1979, while the residence stayed with the family. What you visit is the avenue, the tabby ruins, a museum and the trails — the site in full.

Can I tour the tabby ruins?

You can walk right up to them. They are the remains of Noble Jones’s fortified house, low walls rather than a building with rooms, so there is nothing to go inside — whether that is what you wanted.