Charles H. Morris Center

10 E. Broad in downtown Savannah (Trustees Garden)

Charles H. Morris Center is a new performance venue for the 2008 Savannah Music Festival. It is located in Trustees Garden, the original 1733 site of a 10-acre experimental garden, modeled after Chelsea Gardens in London. The first colonists of Savannah hoped to produce silk and wine, however the climate proved better for the peach trees that were planted in the garden and became important in the beginnings of Georgia's peach industry.

Throughout the years, the garden was difficult to maintain and fell into disrepair. By the 1940s, Trustees Garden was in danger of being leveled for more modern projects. When many of the old buildings on the site, including the Pirates House, were slated for demolition by the Savannah Gas Company, Mrs. Mary Hillyer, wife to the company's CEO, led a drive to restore the buildings and to remake Trustees Garden into a viable neighborhood. Fortunately for Savannah, Mrs. Hillyer succeeded, and Trustees Garden, maintained and refurbished, thrived, with the Pirates House becoming a popular restaurant.

The entire property, recently purchased by Charles and Rosalie Morris, will become a public use space. Charles H. Morris Center, which was originally named The Hillyer Building, is now an exciting new venue that the Savannah Music Festival is proud to include in their use of historic theatres and houses of worship throughout Savannah. For the first time in many years, the public will have access to this important piece of historic Savannah.

Charles H. Morris Center was a tremendous success during SMF 2008.