
North Carolina native Eliza Ann Jewett was among the most successful entrepreneurs in antebellum Savannah. Widowed three times, she became one of the city’s leading slave traders and real estate developers, building at least twenty-two residential units in nine different building projects before her death in 1856. Most are nearby, including the handsome row of four Savannah elevated town houses (1855–1856, 18–24 E. Macon Street) behind her own house. Jewett owned the entire north-east trust lot of Jasper Ward. Her tall, three-story, side-hall house once had a walled side- and backyard with a narrow, two-story carriage house running across the rear. A bookstore and garage now fill these spaces. The stucco surface, bracketed cornice, curved stair leading to a covered porch, tripartite windows, and iron balconies make this house a model of refinement and decorum facing Madison Square and Macon Street. Inside, elegant Greek Revival decorative details and early built-in closets attest to Jewett’s taste and innovation.