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Hamilton Plantation, ideally
situated on the southwest side of St. Simons Island along the
bluff overlooking the Frederica River, is the history of Coastal
Georgia in microcosm: Indian occupation, Spanish exploration,
British settlement, the Plantation era, Civil War, the lumber
industry and today, tourism.
In 1733, James Edward Oglethorpe
founded the Colony of Georgia in Savannah. Later, in 1736, he
established Fort Frederica to defend the colony against a
Spanish invasion. The Spanish were forced to withdraw after the
decisive British victory at the Battle of Bloody Marsh.
Hamilton Plantation, owned by
James Hamilton, a native of Scotland, was located on Gascoigne
Bluff near Fort Frederica. The Bluff was named for Capt. James
Gascoigne, commander of the British sloop “Hawk”. The Bluff
became a storehouse for marine supplies, ship repair facilities
and in effect, was Georgia’s first naval base. Hamilton
Plantation was a working plantation, producing long staple Sea
Island cotton and oak and pine timbers.
Of the several tabby slave
cabins built on the plantation, two remain today. They were
constructed of tabby, which is a concrete-like mixture of lime,
sand, water and oyster shells. The mixture is poured into
wooden frames to harden. The cabins were divided in the center
by a fireplace, thus creating two rooms that housed two
families. Glass windows and wooden outside doors indicate that
these cabins were probably living quarters of slaves that were
high in the privilege hierarchy.
Cassina Garden Club began
meeting in these cabins in 1932 and was deeded the property in
1950. As owner of this beautiful historic site, the Cassina
Garden Club has carefully restored and preserved the integrity
of the cabins and has on display many artifact and graphical
histories. Archeologically, the grounds of the cabins are
undisturbed and offer the potential of former middens, providing
untold quantities of artifacts, the keys of life of earlier
days.
The cabins are located adjacent
to Epworth-by-the-Sea, a Methodist Conference Center. General
Oglethorpe’s secretary, Charles Wesley and his famous Anglican
clergyman brother, John, considered by many the founder of the
Methodist Church, trod these grounds. All of this property was
formerly part of Hamilton Plantation.
Not surprisingly, this beautiful
historic property was placed on the National Register of
Historic Places by the United States Department of Interior in
1988.
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