The Torrey West Mansion at 100
Touring a “Southern Palace” on Ossabaw Island
Elizabeth DuBose
10:00 am – 3:30 pm | Monday, May 18
Check in at Delegal Creek Marina by 9:40 am
Program Price: $175 | Members Only
Off limits to the public for decades, the 100-year-old Torrey West estate on Ossabaw Island is a 20,000-square-foot home completed in 1926 as a winter retreat for the Torrey West family of Grosse Pointe, Michigan. The mansion later became the home of the renowned Ossabaw Island Project, and eventually the full-time home of Ossabaw matriarch Eleanor “Sandy” Torrey West.
Tour Highlights with Elizabeth DuBose
+ Two-and-a-half mile round-trip walk through a maritime forest en route to the Torrey West Mansion
+ Visit inside the unfurnished residence and appreciate its $7.2 million rehabilitation in 2025
+ Detailed descriptions of the Torrey family’s way of life from Thanksgiving through Easter each year during the mansion’s heyday
+ Narration about the servants who kept the home going year-round
+ Exposition about the Ossabaw Island Project (1961-1982), Sandy and Clifford West’s cutting-edge interdisciplinary retreat for international creative thinkers
+ Group lunch on Ossabaw
Elizabeth DuBose has served as Executive Director of the Ossabaw Island Foundation since 1998, planning visits for more than 2,500 visitors each year and overseeing the stabilization or restoration of twelve historic structures on Ossabaw Island. In 2024, she received the Governor’s Award in the Arts and Humanities.