Eddie Owens Martin’s Pasaquan
Buena Vista, Georgia
Eddie Owens Martin (1908-1986) ran away when he was 14 years old, and ended up in New York City, where he made a living as a street hustler, bartender, and fortune teller. Martin was visited around this time by a “spirit guide” who described the faith of the “Pasaquoyan.” In 1957, Martin began construction of his utopia in Georgia on seven acres of land which he inherited. This imaginative world of temples, totems, and shrines blended Martin’s vision for the future with his belief in Atlantis and the mythic continent of Mu, as well as his conceptions of Africa and pre-Columbian Mexico. Pasaquan became a refuge for Martin as well as a rebuttal against the society which had rejected him. Donning colorful robes, jewelry, and headdresses, Martin became Saint EOM, serving as Pasaquan’s first priest and resident fortune teller until his suicide in 1986.
In 2008, after 30 years of effort by the nonprofit Pasaquan Preservation Society (PPS), Pasaquan was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2014, the Kohler Foundation partnered with PPS and Columbus State University to restore the site for public visits.
Martin’s name appears outside underneath the sculpture garden arch by the pine tree and in PMG’s Middle Gallery.
Resources:
Biography and photos
Virtual tour
Video The Restoration of Pasaquan by Bob Andres for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Book St. Eom in the Land of Pasaquan: The Life and Times and Art of Eddie Owens Martin by Tom Patterson (2018)