Designed by the English architect, William Jay, for Richard Richardson, the Owens-Thomas House began construction in 1816, and was completed in 1819. By 1824, the Bank of the United States owned the home, which they leased to Mary Maxwell as a boarding house. In 1830, lawyer, landholder, and enslaver George Welshman Owens purchased the property at auction for $10,000. Over the next 121 years, the home would continue to be owned by the Owens family until the last descendent, Margaret Gray Thomas, George Owens’s granddaughter, bequeathed the property upon her death in 1951 to the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The house is reputedly haunted by Margaret Thomas. Others have reported sighting the apparition of a female wearing a veil, large hat and gray shawl. The apparition of a male has also been reported in an upstairs apartment. Other phenomena include items of furniture being moved moved, a pool of water mysteriously appearing, the sounds of piano music echo through the house at night, and hearing the sound of a match being struck and the smell of cigar smoke.