Little Gracie Watson was born in 1883, the only child of her parents. Her father was manager of the Pulaski House, one of Savannah's leading hotels, where the beautiful and charming little girl was a favorite with the guests. Two days before Easter, in April, 1889, Gracie died of pneumonia at the age of six. In 1890, when the rising sculptor John Walz moved to Savannah, he carved from a photograph this life-sized, delicately detailed marble statue, which for almost a century captured the interest of passersby.