Savannah: Alex Raskin Antiques

One of the stops on our very excellent ghost tour in Savannah was the Noble Hardee Mansion on the corner of Bull and Gordon Streets, on the edge of Monterey Square. Our guide mentioned that it was completely unrestored on the inside (as well as the outside) and filled to the brim with antiques. It was creepy enough at night that we decided to see if it was open the next day, and thankfully it was. The mansion is located right across the street from the Mercer House, so we stopped by after our tour.

We spent a lot longer inside than I thought we would, after realizing that we could wander at our leisure. The house is definitely the star, although there were so many amazing (and completely out of our price range) antiques that you could spend days inside and never see it all. We wandered from room to room, and then from floor to floor (and balcony to balcony), dreaming about what it would be like to live in and decorate the incredible house.

The paint is peeling, and everything is in some state of disrepair but it's just the right amount of decrepit that you can imagine how breathtaking it once was—and could be again. I loved placing the furnishings around the house in my mind, and decided that I would definitely leave most of the creepy old photographs and empty frames hanging up the stairwell (along with a mannequin or two).

Alex Raskin has been filling the house with antiques for more than 25 years, which still seems like it's not enough time to amass such a crazy collection. The house was definitely one of our favorite stops during our short but perfect trip. It's a grand house tour with free admission and a museum where you can touch (and buy!) the exhibits. I'm sure there's also more than a few ghosts—if I had a house this beautiful, I wouldn't want to leave either.