The King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation - Home of the Beach Institute African American Cultural Center and The King-Tisdell Cottage

The Beach Institute was founded in 1865 by the Colored Education Committee at the dawn of the Reconstruction Era, as the first school built specifically for the education of emancipated African Americans in Savannah, GA. Built by Free and formerly Enslaved Negroes, the Institute was completed in 1867 with a generous contribution by philanthropist and inventor Alfred Ely Beach of New York, editor of Scientific American Magazine. For nearly 50 years, The Beach Institute was operated by the American Missionary Association, an integrated organization of abolitionists and education advocates. Today, the original historic building is home to The Beach Institute African American Cultural Center, and owned by The King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation, Inc. The Beach Institute is Savannah's flagship museum for African American arts, history & cultural preservation.