It was built in memory of William Gaston, a prominent merchant in Savannah who died in 1837.

The tomb was built seven years later, initially in Savannah's Colonial Park Cemetery.

[1][2] Standing immediately inside the cemetery's gates, one of the tomb's vaults was used as a temporary resting place for visitors to Savannah who died while in the city.

It allowed time for the relatives of the deceased to make arrangements for their burial.

[2][3] Gaston, nicknamed The Perfect Host, was initially interred in New York Marble Cemetery in Manhattan, but was later removed to the tomb at the request of William Ker, Gaston's nephew.