History Of The Home

This Victorian style Bed & Breakfast in the heart of historic Savannah, Georgia was built for a gentleman named John Puder and his family in 1888. A lovely example of Queen Anne architecture, the home became a Bed & Breakfast Inn in 2005 when it was purchased and lovingly restored by Bryan and Janet Roussell. This stately home, located in Savannah's Victorian District, boasts intricate scroll brackets under the eaves, a side porch open to the gardens and decorative shingles. Guests are welcomed to Roussell's Garden by an intricate iron fence, which once graced a Savannah Catholic cemetery.

It is easy to imagine yourself living in the Victorian era, with it's more graceful way of living as you enter the foyer of Roussell's Garden B&B and your eyes gaze upward at the elegant staircase with it's gracefully curved wooden banister. Victorians lived by the words "Home, Sweet Home' and designed their homes for beauty, warmth and security. From the living room with it's bank of tall bay windows of handmade glass, a stately chandelier once lit by gas that highlights the 12-foot ceilings to the hardwood floors stained glass, the visitor is appreciative of the Victorians' respect for craftsmanship. Many features of this Victorian treasure were built as much for function as for beauty, such as the generous wooden moldings that line the walls at the floor. These were both decorative as well as practical - covering the places where the walls met the floor and keeping out drafts!

Records show that previous residents of Roussell's Garden B&B ranged from Railroad & Real Estate Magnate (J.C. Puder, 1st owner) to blacksmith( the Canty's, 1917/1981); to dentist, Phyllis Mack,(1982/1996); to realtor, Sherrill Smiley, (1995/2005). We hope you too will want to be part of the Victorian experience of home as comfort, home as security and home as pleasure.