What the Lemp Brewery Left Beneath Its Bottle Works
Mark Farley leads up to fifteen people through three basements under the Lemp Brewery Bottle Works, and reviewers mostly come away talking about history.
The Lemp family's brewery on Cherokee Street stopped brewing long ago, and the shoe company that took it over later left as well. This tour starts in the operator's office inside the complex and goes down into the basements of Bottle Works buildings 2, 3 and 3A.
Tickets are per person: USD 25 for adults and USD 19 for children aged six to nine. One booking holds up to four travelers, and it needs an adult on it.
The Haunted Lemp Brewery Bottle Works TourFridays and Saturdays at 10 PM · from USD 25www.viator.comThree Basements Under the Bottle Works
The listing tells the building's story in two steps: International Shoe Company bought the complex after the Lemp brewing business fell, and the plant closed in the 1960s and sat abandoned for decades. The operator calls that stretch the Bottle Works' thirty years of silence and says the tour's stories come from it. Its booking page lists the Bottle Works basements as what is included and says the tour has no access to the Cherokee Caves.
The complex's current owner tells the shoe years differently. Its history page says International Shoe bought the complex at a 1922 auction and owned it until 1992, that shoemaking there declined through the 1960s and 1970s and had largely stopped by the 1980s, and that in the 1990s the company, by then called Interco, began leasing the buildings out as warehouse and industrial space, which is how they are still used.
The operator's photos show concrete columns, old pipes, a fire notice still pinned to a post, and stairs between levels. Two travelers describe the basements as damp, and one advised bringing a sweatshirt even in summer.
More Brewery History Than Ghost Hunting
The listing introduces Mark Farley as a local paranormal investigator with more than 25 years on the city's haunted sites. Reviewers mostly come away talking about history: how the buildings ran, where the old tunnel entrances were, how the streets rise and fall overhead, and true-crime stories tied to the area. One remembered him showing photos on an iPad.
An October 2026 reviewer put the mix at five percent paranormal and three quarters building layout, and said architecture fans would enjoy it most. Others found it genuinely eerie, and one called it creepier than two ghost tours they had taken in Savannah.
Stairs, Health Rules and Ages
The listing asks for walking, standing, the ability to climb stairs and at least a moderate level of fitness, and does not recommend the tour for travelers with spinal injuries or poor cardiovascular health. The operator's own booking system goes further: it tells guests with asthma, heart conditions, seizures or other medical problems not to enter.
The youngest ticket on the booking form is for age six. The form prices adults 18 to 59 and children 6 to 9, with no separate price for ages 10 to 17 or for travelers over 60. A stroller-friendly mark elsewhere on the listing does not fit that age floor or the stairs. Service animals are allowed, and one traveler wrote that their service dog was treated with respect.
Ten O'Clock, Fifteen Places a Night
Tours run Friday and Saturday nights at 10 PM. The listing and the operator's own tour page both give the length as about seventy-five minutes, and that page lists the tour as 10 to 11:30 PM. Its booking system releases fifteen places a night.
As of October 25, 2026, the booking calendar shows four nights left this year: November 13, 14, 20 and 21. October 30 and November 6 and 7 are sold out, October 31 has no tour, and no 2027 nights are bookable yet. A full refund applies if you cancel at least 24 hours ahead, and the operator can cancel a night if too few travelers book.
Check-in is at the operator's first-floor office at 1820 Cherokee Street, inside the brewery complex, and the door is unlocked 30 minutes before the tour. The operator says the tour stays indoors apart from a short walk outside to the entry point. Check in and sign the release waiver at least 15 minutes before 10 PM; late arrivals may not be accepted. Parking is on the street. The listing warns that rideshares are slow to pick up from downtown and suggests allowing at least an hour if you rely on one. Wear comfortable shoes, bring a flashlight if you have one, and note that alcohol is not included. Then follow Farley down the stairs.