Gascoigne Bluff is a bluff next to the Frederica River on the western side of the island of

St. Simons, Georgia St. Simons Island (or simply St. Simons) is a barrier island and census-designated place (CDP) located on St. Simons Island in Glynn County, Georgia, United States. The names of the community and the island are interchangeable, known simply as ...

which was a Native American campground, the site of a

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

named San Buenaventura, and the site of the

Province of Georgia A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

's first naval base. It was named for Captain James Gascoigne of the

sloop-of-war In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' en ...

, HMS ''Hawk'', which led some of the first

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

settlers to the coast of Georgia. Timber harvested from 2,000

Southern live oak ''Quercus virginiana'', also known as the southern live oak, is an evergreen oak tree endemic to the Southeastern United States. Though many other species are loosely called live oak, the southern live oak is particularly iconic of the Old South. ...

trees from Gascoigne Bluff was used to build the USS ''Constitution'' and the five other original US Navy frigates, under the

Naval Act of 1794 The Act to Provide a Naval Armament (Sess. 1, ch. 12, ), also known as the Naval Act of 1794, or simply, the Naval Act, was passed by the 3rd United States Congress on March 27, 1794, and signed into law by President George Washington. The act ...

. The ''Constitution'' is known as "Old Ironsides" for the way the cannonballs bounced off the hard oak planking. This area was one of several St. Simons Island plantations owned by John Couper (father of

James Hamilton Couper James Hamilton Couper (March 5, 1794 – July 3, 1866) was an American planter and slaver who at his peak controlled more than 1,500 slaves.Bagwell, James (2002). ''Rice Gold: James Hamilton Couper and Plantation Life on the Georgia Coast''. Macon ...

, see below) who lived at Cannon Point, St. Simons Island, and who donated his library of 20,000 volumes to the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

. File:Gascoigne Bluff view, St. Simons, GA, US.jpg, View from the bluff File:Gascoigne bluff marker, St. Simons, GA, US.JPG, Historical marker File:Gascoigne Bluff marker, St. Simons, GA, USA.JPG, Marker

Hamilton Plantation

The remains of this antebellum-era

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

contain two surviving slave cabins, which were part of a set of four built before 1833. Among the better examples of surviving slave cabins in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

, they are composed of

tabby A tabby is any domestic cat (''Felis catus'') with a distinctive 'M'-shaped marking on its forehead; stripes by its eyes and across its cheeks, along its back, and around its legs and tail; and (differing by tabby type), characteristic striped, d ...

, a cement consisting of lime, water, and crushed oyster shells. The cabins have built-in windows and a central chimney.

, namesake of the owner and manager of the plantation, was an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and a builder. He designed and built the cabins to house the slaves who served in the plantation's main house. Utilizing a duplex plan to house more than one family, the cabins were originally part of a planned community of slave dwellings. The Hamilton Plantation and Gasciogne Bluff were sold after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

Anson Dodge Anson Greene Phelps Dodge (August 25, 1834 – May 28, 1918) was an Americans, American-Canadians, Canadian lumber dealer and political figure. He represented York North in the House of Commons of Canada from 1872 to 1874 as a member of the C ...

and the Georgia Land and Lumber Company of New York in 1874 to erect lumber mills. The Cassina Garden Club owns the cabins and offers tours on Wednesday mornings in June through August. The cabins are near Arthur J. Moore Drive.

References

External links

Cassina Garden Club
owns the Hamilton Plantation slave cabins and provides tours.

*The

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

maintain
a web page about Hamilton Plantation.Cassina Garden Club slave cabinsCassina Garden Club Houses
historical marker
Hamilton Plantation
historical marker * {{coord, 31, 10, 01, N, 81, 24, 41, W, type:landmark_region:US-GA, display=title Slave cabins and quarters in the United States Landforms of Glynn County, Georgia Landforms of Georgia (U.S. state) Cliffs of the United States Plantations in Georgia (U.S. state) St. Simons, Georgia

Hamilton Plantation

See also

Further reading

References

External links