The Candler Hospital

There is perhaps no building in Savannah that has witnessed as much misery and death, as the old Candler Hospital. Founded in 1808 as a seaman’s hospital and poor house, Candler is the oldest hospital in the state of Georgia. Formerly known as Savannah Hospital, the hospital was originally operating out of a private residence. In 1819 it was moved to the current location on Drayton Street, just across from Forsyth Park. This structure, which has been empty for nearly two decades, was once used as a Union hospital, as well as a hospital where hundreds of people died of Yellow Fever. It is purported to have been briefly used as a mental institution as well.

In the summer of 1876, at the height of one of Savannah’s greatest Yellow Fever epidemics, 276 people died in a period of 48 hours. So great were the number of corpses that doctors feared the further spread of disease. They also feared the panic that would ensue should citizens of the fair city witness the caravan of bodies being transported from the hospital. And so they dug a tunnel. Approximately 10 feet beneath the surface of the ground there is a tunnel that stretches nearly the entire width of the current parking lot. This tunnel was known as the "Dead House" and was used as a makeshift morgue for the hospital. Victims of yellow fever were stored in this Dead House awaiting burial in one of several mass graves that litter the City of Savannah. Though the people of Savannah were well aware of the epidemic, as it had claimed nearly 10% of Savannah’s population each year, the “ugliness” of it was kept concealed.

Although there have been several prospects for the old Candler Hospital building, including converting it into condominiums, as of this post the magnificent building sits empty. It's commanding presence off Forsyth Park a reminder of a time of prosperity, as well as death, in the City of Savannah.