After Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Read Online Free Page A

overseas. As socialism became entrenched in Europe and the U.K., taxes on the wealthy were increased to confiscatory levels, especially inheritance taxes, to pay for the social welfare state. Rather than make it publicly known that they had to sell valuable antiques to pay their taxes, wealthy families concluded transactions with Jim that ensured confidentiality for the sellers. Joe said that he would get an exclusive arrangement on a house that was being sold to pay “death taxes” and then buy all the furniture in the house at a bargain price. He would then ship over only the most valuable antiques to his shop in Savannah and arrange for sale of the less valuable pieces in country. Other bargains could be found as formerly wealthy citizens of Russia and other Eastern European countries were forced to flee and live on whatever treasures they were able to take with them.
     
    In quick succession, Jim was able to secure and restore some of the most important historic houses and buildings in Savannah.
     

     
    Armstrong House
     
    First was Armstrong House, an opulent palazzo with an exterior in the Italian Renaissance style on Bull Street near Forsyth Park. It was built for George Ferguson Armstrong, his wife, Lucy, and a daughter. Armstrong’s Strachan Shipping Company had made him a substantial fortune. Construction was finally completed after several years in 1919 at the then-astronomical sum of $680,000, or so goes the legend.
     
    Armstrong’s widow eventually donated the exquisite property to house Armstrong Junior College. The house remained a college for the next three decades until it was acquired by the Historic Savannah Foundation in 1966, when the growth of the school required a move to a larger location. Over time, Armstrong Junior College expanded greatly and became Armstrong University, a state university.
     
    Jim bought Armstrong House from Historic Savannah Foundation in 1967, restored it and moved his antique shop there for a couple of years. In 1970, Jim sold it to the law firm of Bouhan, Williams & Levy. One of the law firm’s senior partners was Frank W. “Sonny” Seiler, who bred the famous Uga bulldog mascots for the University of Georgia.
     
    For those who have seen the
Midnight
movie, the early scene between writer John Kelso and the actor who played Williams’ attorney, was filmed inside the magnificent Armstrong House. Jim’s real attorney, Sonny Seiler, appeared in the movie as Judge White.
     

     
    The Pink House
     
    No sooner had Jim restored Armstrong House in 1967 than he moved on to his next project, the Pink House, in 1968. The Georgian home was made of red bricks and then covered with white plaster. However, the color of the bricks kept bleeding through the plaster and white paint, creating a pink house. No matter how many times the house was painted white, it eventually turned pink again. Finally one of the owners gave up and painted the exterior pink.
     
    The pink mansion on Reynolds Square was built by James Habersham Jr., who was from one of Savannah’s founding families. It was saved from demolition by Alida Harper Fowlkes, who bought it and turned it into a tearoom. Later, the Georgian Tea Room closed and the house fell into a serious state of dilapidation—that is, until Jim undertook its restoration. After a contentious time with the city government on granting a liquor license, Jim finally sold the building, which was turned into a popular Savannah restaurant called The Olde Pink House.
     
    All of this was a warm-up for the pinnacle of his restorations, his personal residence, the now-famous Mercer House.
     

Chapter 7: Jim’s Gay Savannah
     
    “Savannah, like New York, had its own queer counterculture,” blogger Jack Miller wrote. “The community was much smaller than New York, but in proportion to the population of Savannah, just as essential to the city’s society, if not more so … Savannah was arguably more tolerant of gays than New