Telfair Museums is the oldest public art museum in the South. The legacy of one visionary Savannahian, it was founded in 1883 through the bequest of prominent local philanthropist Mary Telfair, who left her home and its furnishings to the Georgia Historical Society to be opened as a museum.

Today, Telfair Museums consists of three unique buildings: the Telfair Academy and the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters, two National Historic Landmark sites built in the early 19th century, and the contemporary Jepson Center for the Arts. Each of the museum’s three buildings represents an innovative expression of its time and houses a collection corresponding to the era in which it was built. Together, these three unique buildings and three distinct collections bridge centuries of art and architecture, illustrating the continuum of art and history in Savannah.