The Hermann Grima House

Posted: 02.16.2021 | Updated: 01.15.2025

Most haunted houses can be daunting. Unfriendly ghosts lurk within. New Orleans houses tend to be harbor some of the most hostile souls of them all. here is a house in New Orleans where the ghosts are said to be some of the friendliest in New Orleans. Its place where you’ll get more than just a dose of that iconic Southern hospitality.

The Hermann-Grima House was built in 1831 for the Hermann family, Jewish-German immigrants who moved to America to capitalize on the cotton industry. They were initially prosperous until the cotton market collapsed, and the family was forced to sell the home to recoup their losses.

The Grima family bought the house in 1844. The Grimas were a large family and were known for being well educated and influential, but they sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Like many others, they were forced to flee when Union soldiers occupied the city, unable to return their home until after the war. The Hermann house was sold to the Christian Women’s Exchange in 1924 and served as a women’s shelter for 50 years.

The house was restored and converted into a museum in 1971, which it remains as today. The ghosts of the Grima family still inhabit the it, and are said to do nice things for guests and staff.

They’ve been known to warm up things on a cold Winter day or fill the room with the pleasant smell of lavender. The ghosts of the occupying Union soldiers are also present, though not as friendly.

Find out what other ghosts are friendly or unfriendly on a walking French Quarter ghost tour with NOLA Ghosts!

Who Haunts The Hermann Grima House?

The 1831 French Quarter mansion is said to still be haunted by its second owners, the Grima family today. But they are not alone. With them are aggressive and angry Union soliders, protecting their makeshift barrack.

Samuel Hermann

Looking to make it in the cotton trade, Jewish immigrant Samuel Hermann came to Louisiana from Germany in 1804. He initially lived in Des Allemands, also known as the German Coast.

Hermann became a broker for plantation owners and merchants, becoming very successful. Samuel got married in 1806, and he and his wife Marie had four children. The family then moved to New Orleans in 1813, where Samuel expanded his business to brokering real estate, mortgages, and stocks.

In 1831, he hired architects to design and construct a home for his family. He had bought a plot of land on Saint Louis street sometime earlier and decided it was time to build his mansion.

The Federal-style mansion quickly became known throughout all of New Orleans, being one of the finest homes in the city.

Disaster struck in 1837 when the cotton market in England collapsed. The cotton industry collapsed worldwide. Samuel Hermann’s prosperity depended on cotton, and so his business suffered as well. After filing bankruptcy, Hermann was forced to sell his home to make up for his losses.

Hermann sold the New Orleans house in 1844, just over ten years after having it built.

The Grima Family & The Civil War

The Hermann house was purchased by Felix Grima, a prominent judge and scholar. Felix had a massive family; he and his wife Adelaide had nine children.

As custom for Catholics at the time, they also had several extended relatives living in the house, many of which were elderly.

The Grimas were known to be well-educated and connoisseurs of fine arts. They had thousands of books in the home. The Hermann-Grima House Museum is still in possession of over 2,000 of these books today.

As slave owners and supporters of the Confederacy. the family fled when New Orleans was captured by Union forces in 1862.

They went to stay with relatives in Augusta, Georgia while two of their children had gone off to fight for the Confederacy. Meanwhile, the home was used as barracks for Union Soldiers.

They had target practice sessions in the Hermann house, destroying much of the walls and furniture.

Even today, some of the bullets remain lodged in the walls, and you can probably find some bullet holes here and there.

Considering the life of an average slave in the South, The Grimas’ treated their sixty-something slaves relatively well. Historical letters show that many of the family members had some affection for them. Whether that equates to a sense of kinship or humanity remains unclear.

However, Felix Grima’s mother freed one of her slaves, Sophie, then living in the house as a paid servant. Felix later released most of Sophie’s children as well. Felix’s sister, Franciose, later freed another family of slaves in her will when she died in 1856.

Women’s Shelter & Museum

Upon returning to the home after the war, the Grimas began rebuilding. The Herman-Grima House had sustained much damage over the course of the war.

The family continued to live in the house until the 1920s, when they decided to move. They were careful as to who they sold the house to. In 1924, the Hermann-Grima House was sold to the Christian Women’s Exchange.

The Christian Woman’s Exchange was a non-profit, providing a safe place for women to sleep, but also had a consignment shop and a tea house.

In the 1960s, the Women’s Exchange began to focus more on history and preservation, as more government agencies took on the role and decided to turn the Hermann-Grima House into a history museum. The odl house was fully restored to its original state, as it existed while the Grima family lived there.

The New Orleans house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971. The antiquated state of the it seems to invite the old spirits that now live in the Hermann-Grima Museum.

Hauntings of the Hermann House

The Grima family may be long gone, but their spirits are still alive and well in the Hermann Grima House. They’re surprisingly nice, displaying an aura of southern hospitality.

Since they were a cordial group in life, they remained so in the afterlife. They’ve been known to heat up the old and drafty house on cold winter days. Mama Grima is often known to leave behind a scent of roses or lavender.

Guests often compliment the smell. One guest, even though there were no roses on display, was overwhelmed by the smell of roses. The ghosts of the enslaved people are said to reside here as well. The head house slave has been seen walking around, still forced to care for the home.

Every October, the people of the Hermann-Grima House put together a memorial and reenactment of Mama Grima’s funeral.

She’s pleased to know that people who didn’t even know her pay her tribute. She returns the favor by filling the room with her perfume and appearing over her coffin.

A couple dressed in clothing from the 19th century also shows up from time to time. Though many guests think that they are simply a quirky couple or actors hired by the museum, the staff knows that they are ghosts.

The only unfriendly ghosts in the Hermann-Grima House are the spirits of Union soldiers. Considering the Grimas were a family of slave-owning aristocrats, who can blame the soldiers for being mean?

The soldiers tend to swat at guests who enter the wine cellar and walk up the grand staircase. There are still bullet holes in some of the walls and under the stairwell, leftover from when the soldiers practiced their marksmanship inside the home.

Ghosts in the Big Easy

The cultural melting pot of New Orleans makes for a unique culture that can’t be found anywhere else. African, Native American, French, Spanish and Southern culture all come together to make the spicy dish that is Louisiana.

The long and unique history also brings lots of ghosts, spirits, and folklore. Read about Marie Leveau and her mastery of Voodoo, but don’t get caught by her secret spies! Swing by Saint Roch’s Chapel and leave behind a limb as an offering to the spirit of the dog.

Crash at the Omni Royal Hotel once your day is over, and experience the haunted side of the French Quarter. You can also read about the top ten most haunted spots in New Orleans right here!

 Learn about all of the many New Orleans ghost stories on our blog and keep up with us on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.

Sources:

• https://neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/1385
• https://hgghh.org/exhibitions/creole-motherhood
• https://hgghh.org/hermann-grima-house/hermann-family
• https://www.explorelouisiana.com/hermann-grima-gallier-historic-houses