17 HUNDRED 90 INN

Located in Savannah at 307 E. President St. it was named for the year in which it opened.

One story is of a man who woke up in the middle of the night because of fingers caressing his face and pulling at the blankets. He rolls over to kiss his wife, thinking it was her, but then realizes that he is not at home but in a room at the 17 Hundred 90 Inn but he is totally alone. As he looks around for the strange lover that woke him up, he sees a thin streak of mist by the window. It seems to turn toward him, and he sees the tear-reddened eyes of a young woman's face, and then it leaps out the window of his room with an ear-splitting scream.

The inn was originally used as a boardinghouse. Because Savannah was a popular fishing and shipping port, rowdy sailors and pirates and their like frequented such places, some of which had less than savory reputations. One such person was a young woman-a girl of seventeen years, really-named Anna Power.

By all accounts, Anna was a woman of questionable moral fiber; in a word, she was loose. Whether fairly or not, her family felt she was a disgrace and turned her out on the streets. Miserable, she came to the boardinghouse, attempting to make her way in the world. It was there Anna found the man she believed to be the love of her life.

There are no records that state the name of the young sailor with whom Anna fell in love-and by whom she became pregnant. For the first time in her life, she felt happy. When she revealed to the sailor that she was with child, she fully expected him to quit the seafaring life and marry her. After all, they were in love, weren't they?

The sailor, it seemed, had other plans, and they didn't involveAnna Power. He set sail one evening with the tide, letting her know that he would probably never come back. From the third floor Anna watched as the sails of her love's ship faded into the horizon. She then lept from the window, ending her life and her suffering. Or so it would seem. Shortly thereafter, the room from which she jumped to her death became the site of some truly strange goings-on.