The Sorrell Weed House in Savannah, Georgia

The Sorrell Weed House is one of only two homes in Savannah that are designated as Georgia state landmarks and carries a long story of cultural and political history. For those less interested with the academic side of the Sorrell Weed House, it has also been celebrated in main stream culture as a famously haunted building and the sight of a famous Hollywood scene from Tom Hank's Forrest Gump.

Sorrell family

The Sorrell Weed house was originally the home of Francis Sorrell. He was an important social and political figure in antebellum Savannah, and he had many famous parties at the Sorrell Weed House with all of the important family names in town in attendance. Major figures of the Civil War were also invited, including General Robert E. Lee and, prior to the war, General Sherman. Gilbert Moxley Sherman resided here and went on to become the youngest general in the confederacy.

Architecture

The Sorrell Weed House, erected between 1835 and 1838 by Charles Cluskey, is one of the more classic examples of Greek Revival and Regency architecture and has been compared to Jefferson's Monticello. Both the Colonial Williamsburg foundation and the SCAD Vernacular Architectural Committees believe the Sorrell Weed House to be one of the most important architectural structures in Savannah, Georgia.

Ghost Hunters

The Sorrell Weed house was investigated by the Sci-Fi Channel's Ghost Hunters through The Atlantic Paranormal Society, or TAPS during a special Halloween visit in 2005. According to the paranormal research website graveaddiction.com, TAPS did indeed declare to be haunted, capturing a particularly haunting EVP recording of a woman screaming "Get out, Get out...Help me, my God, my God." As for whom actually haunts the grounds of Sorrell Weed House, that's up for debate. The Sorrell Weed House allows for midnight tours of the grounds of the area lasting one and a half to two hours in which there is amply time for recording and photography, as well as a sampling of some of the other evidence on record.

Movie History

Fans of Hollywood cinema will also likely get a charge out of visiting the Sorrell-Weed House. In the opening scenes of Forrest Gump, there is a white feather that is seen wafting around on the breeze, including a shot of the feather twirling up to the top of trees and buildings around Madison Square. This shot was taken from the top of the Sorrell-Weed house. The location where Tom Hanks was filmed narrating the film on a park bench is located at the nearby Chippewa Square, although the bench itself is located at Savannah's historical museum.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorrel_Weed_House
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlantic_Paranormal_Society
http://www.sorrelweedhouse.com/sorrelweedhousetour/
http://www.graveaddiction.com/sorrweed.html