The Wormsloe Historic Site, informally known as Wormsloe Plantation, is a state historic site near

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

, in the southeastern United States. The site consists of protecting part of what was once the Wormsloe Plantation, a large estate established by one of Georgia's colonial founders,

Noble Jones Noble Jones (1702 – November 2, 1775), an English-born carpenter, was one of the first settlers of the Province of Georgia and one of its leading officials. He was born in Herefordshire. As part of Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe's 42nd (old) Regi ...

(c. 1700-1775). The site includes a picturesque oak

avenue Avenue or Avenues may refer to: Roads * Avenue (landscape), traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees, in the shifted sense a tree line itself, or some of boulevards (also without trees) * Avenue Road, Bangalore * Avenue Road, ...

, the ruins of Jones' fortified house built 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, ...

, a museum, and a demonstration area interpreting colonial daily life. In 1736, Noble Jones obtained a grant for of land on the

Isle of Hope An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms. Isle may refer to: Geography * I ...

that would form the core of Wormsloe. He constructed a fortified house on the southeastern tip of the island overlooking the Skidaway Narrows, a strategic section of the Skidaway River located along the

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following t ...

roughly halfway between downtown Savannah and the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. The fortified house was part of a network of defensive structures established by

James Oglethorpe James Edward Oglethorpe (22 December 1696 – 30 June 1785) was a British soldier, Member of Parliament, and philanthropist, as well as the founder of the colony of Georgia in what was then British America. As a social reformer, he hoped to r ...

, founder of Georgia, and early Georgia colonists to protect Savannah from a potential Spanish invasion. Jones subsequently developed Wormsloe into a small plantation, and his descendants built a large mansion at the site which they used as a country residence. The State of Georgia acquired the bulk of the Wormsloe Plantation in 1973, and opened it to the public as a state historic site in 1979.

Geographic setting

The Isle of Hope is an island (or peninsula, depending on marsh water levels) situated approximately southeast of downtown Savannah in Georgia's Lower Coastal Plain region. The island stretches for approximately from its northern tip to its southern tip and for roughly from its eastern shore to its western shore. The

Skidaway River The Skidaway River is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 26, 2011 tidal river in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is located in Chatham County southeast of Savannah. ...

, which is part of the

Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following t ...

, forms the island's eastern shore. The island's southwest shore is formed by the Moon River, and the island's northwest shore formed by the

Herb River The Herb River is an tidal river in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is located in Chatham County, near the southeastern edge of Savannah. It connects with the Wilmington River to the north and the Moon River to the south, and it separates the mai ...

. Typical of Georgia's inshore coastal islands, the Isle of Hope is completely surrounded by a tidal

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

. Skidaway Island is located opposite the Skidaway River to the east and the Georgia mainland is located opposite the Moon River to the west. Wormsloe occupies most of the southern half of the Isle of Hope. A small island known as Long Island lies between Skidaway Island and the Isle of Hope and splits the Skidaway River into two narrow channels, the main (navigable) channel of which is known as the Skidaway Narrows. The main channel of the Skidaway River presently flows between Long Island and Skidaway Island, although in colonial times the main channel flowed between Long Island and the Isle of Hope, giving Wormsloe its historically strategic importance. When traveling by water, the Isle of Hope is just over from the

(via the Skidaway, Vernon, and Ogeechee rivers) to the southeast and just over from the port of Savannah (via the Skidaway, Wilmington, and Savannah rivers) to the northwest. Skidaway Road connects Wormsloe and the Isle of Hope to U.S. Route 80 near downtown Savannah. The Isle of Hope is located entirely within Chatham County. Wormsloe Historic Site is managed by the

Georgia Department of Natural Resources The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Georgia. The agency has statewide responsibilities for managing and conserving Georgia’s natural, cultural, and historical resources, and has fiv ...

History

Early history

Native Americans have probably inhabited the Isle of Hope on at least a semi-annual basis for thousands of years, as indicated by oyster shell deposits excavated in the vicinity. By the time European explorers arrived in the area in the 16th century, the island was claimed by the

Yuchi The Yuchi people, also spelled Euchee and Uchee, are a Native American tribe based in Oklahoma. In the 16th century, Yuchi people lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley in Tennessee. In the late 17th century, they moved south to Alabama, G ...

and the

Creek tribe The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsYamacraw, a detached branch of the Creeks, although the island was apparently uninhabited at the time.

, the leader of these English colonists, maintained a friendly relationship with the Yamacraw chief

Tomochichi Tomochichi (to-mo-chi-chi') (c. 1644 – October 5, 1741) was the head chief of a Yamacraw town on the site of present-day Savannah, Georgia, in the 18th century. He gave his land to James Oglethorpe to build the city of Savannah. He remains a p ...

, and managed to peacefully acquire the Savannah area and the lands in its vicinity. Throughout the late 17th-century, Spain (which had established itself in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in the previous century) retained loose control over the Georgia coast via Native American allies. This inevitably brought them into conflict with the growing English colonies to the north, namely

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

and

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. In 1702, South Carolina governor James Moore led an expedition against Spanish settlements in Florida and, en route, raided and destroyed the Spanish Native American missions off the Georgia coast. While Spain still claimed the coast and islands, the area was largely abandoned, creating a buffer zone between Spanish Florida and the English Carolinas. In the early 1730s, the English decided to colonize the islands between the Carolinas and Florida. A charter was granted in 1732, and the first colonists set sail in the same year. The English colonists that arrived at Savannah in 1733 formed the core of what would eventually become the colony and state of Georgia. Among them was Noble Jones (d. 1775), a physician and carpenter from Lambeth, England who made the Transatlantic crossing with his wife and two children. Jones was apparently a loose acquaintance of Oglethorpe, and just before the colonists set sail from England, the colony's Trustees made Jones one of the settlement's lead officials. Like the other first settlers, Jones received a town lot in Savannah and a small farm on the outskirts of the town.

Establishment of Wormsloe

Noble Jones applied for a lease for on the south side of the Isle of Hope in 1736 (the Trustees did not approve the lease until 1745) and began building a fortified house overlooking the Skidaway Narrows. The house was constructed between 1739 and 1745 using wood and tabby, a crude type of concrete made from oyster shells and

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

. The fortress consisted of high walls with bastions at each of its four corners. The fort house was 1.5 stories and had five rooms. Oglethorpe allotted Jones' fort a 12-man marine garrison and a scout boat with which to patrol the river. "Wormslow"— the name Jones gave to his Isle of Hope estate— probably refers to Wormslow Hundred, Herefordshire, in the Welsh border country from which the Jones family hailed. Some historians suggest the name refers to Jones' attempts to cultivate

silkworms The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of ''Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically im ...

at the plantation, but as his son

Noble Wimberly Jones Noble Wimberly Jones (c. 1723 – January 9, 1805) was an American physician and statesman from Savannah, Georgia. A leading Georgia patriot in the American Revolution, he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1781 and 1782. ...

named his plantation "Lambeth" after his birthplace on the south bank of the Thames, the former theory is more likely. Noble Jones' fortified house was one of several defensive works built between Frederica on Saint Simons Island and the Savannah townsite. The English were concerned that the Spanish still claimed the area and would eventually attempt to expel them. Conflict erupted in 1739 with the outbreak of the

War of Jenkins' Ear The War of Jenkins' Ear, or , was a conflict lasting from 1739 to 1748 between Britain and the Spanish Empire. The majority of the fighting took place in New Granada and the Caribbean Sea, with major operations largely ended by 1742. It is con ...

, the name for the regional theater of the greater

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession () was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George's ...

. Jones took part in an English raid along the St. Johns River in northern Florida in 1740, as well as the successful defense of Frederica at the

Battle of Bloody Marsh The Battle of Bloody Marsh took place on 7 July 1742 between Spanish and British forces on St. Simons Island, part of the Province of Georgia, resulting in a victory for the British. Part of the War of Jenkins' Ear, the battle was for the Brit ...

in 1742. The end of the war in 1748 largely neutralized Spanish threats to the new colony. The War of Jenkins' Ear is commemorated annually on the last Saturday in May at Wormsloe Plantation.

Antebellum Wormsloe

The practice of slavery had been banned by Georgia's original charter, so Noble Jones used

indentured servant Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an "indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repaymen ...

labor to tend Wormsloe in the plantation's early years. When the Trustees revoked the ban on slavery in 1749, Jones used

slave labor Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

in order to make Wormsloe profitable. Jones initially planted several types of crops, including corn, rice, various fruits and vegetables, and possibly

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

. The Georgia Trustees encouraged the production of

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...

; Jones planted

mulberry tree ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...

s and tried unsuccessfully to produce silk at Wormsloe. While Wormsloe never proved profitable, Jones managed to amass

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

wealth throughout his lifetime, including and five town lots in the Savannah area. Jones served the young colony in multiple civic capacities, as judge, militia captain, and colonial legislator. With the death of Noble Jones in 1775, Wormsloe passed to his daughter, Mary Jones Bulloch (c. 1730-1795). Jones' death occurred just as the American colonies were on the verge of breaking away from England. Jones remained a loyal supporter of

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

throughout his life, a stance that often brought him in direct conflict with his son, Noble Wimberly Jones (1723–1805), who was an ardent supporter of

Patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

causes. Noble Wimberly led the Georgia Commons House in its rejection of the

Townshend Acts The Townshend Acts () or Townshend Duties, were a series of British acts of Parliament passed during 1767 and 1768 introducing a series of taxes and regulations to fund administration of the British colonies in America. They are named after the ...

in 1768, and took part in a mission that seized a large supply of gunpowder from the provincial powder magazine in 1776. Noble Jones' will stipulated that after the death of his daughter, Wormsloe would pass to Noble Wimberly and thence to Noble Wimberly's heirs "forever." Thus Noble Wimberly inherited Wormsloe in 1795 upon the death of his sister, and deeded the plantation to his son

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song " He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

(1766–1838) in 1804. George Jones, who served as a U.S. senator and in various capacities in the Savannah government, built a new, more elaborate house at Wormsloe in 1828, which is the plantation house that is still standing, and made cotton a staple of the plantation. Jones's son, George Frederick Tilghman Jones (1827–1880), inherited Wormsloe in 1857. George Frederick Tilghman Jones took an active interest in Wormsloe (he changed the spelling from "Wormslow" to "Wormsloe"), enlarging the plantation's gardens, adding the first oak-lined avenue, and expanding the house. He changed his name to George Wimberley Jones De Renne (a corruption of his grandmother's maiden name, Van Deren). He began publishing a periodical collection of rare early Georgia documents under the title, the ''Wormsloe Quartos''. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

(1861–1865), Wormsloe and the Isle of Hope were fortified by

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

forces. When

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

forces captured Savannah in 1864, the Jones/De Renne family was forced to flee. Although the plantation was confiscated by the U.S. government (it seized the property of planters who had supported the Confederacy), the property was eventually returned when De Renne was granted a full pardon by President Andrew Johnson.William Harris Bragg,
Wormsloe Plantation
" ''New Georgia Encyclopedia'', 24 November 2004. Retrieved: May 20, 2018.

Wormsloe in the 20th century

In his will, George Wimberley Jones De Renne entrusted Wormsloe to a Pennsylvania insurance company until the death of his son, Wimberley Jones De Renne (1853–1916), at which time the estate would pass to his grandchildren. Wimberley Jones De Renne maintained Wormsloe, further expanding the gardens and planting a new oak avenue (still in use) lined with over 400 oak trees. He continued his father's contributions to history and tradition, publishing several works for the Georgia Historical Society and establishing Wormsloe's library. Upon his death in 1916, Wormsloe passed to the grandchildren of George Wimberley Jones De Renne. In 1917, one grandson, Wymberley Wormsloe De Renne (1891–1966), bought his cousins' shares of the plantation.Coulter, 238-254. In 1930 after the stock market crash,

Elfrida De Renne Barrow Elfrida De Renne Barrow (1884–1970) was an author and poet who has been honored as a Georgia Woman of Achievement. Barrow joined the Georgia Historical Society in 1920 as a curator and one of the first women allowed into the organization. In her ...

(1884–1970) assumed her brother Wymberly's debts, and eventually made the plantation her official residence. Barrow created the Wormsloe Foundation, which continued and expanded the family tradition of publishing works related to Georgia history. In 1961, Barrow donated most of the Wormsloe estate to the Wormsloe Foundation, while retaining ownership of Wormsloe House and its immediate area. In 1972, after the Wormsloe Foundation's tax-exempt status was revoked, the foundation transferred ownership of Wormsloe to the Nature Conservancy, which in turn transferred it to the State of Georgia the following year. In 1979, the state opened the site to the public as Wormsloe Historic Site. The descendants of Noble Jones still control Wormsloe House and its surrounding acreage.

Wormsloe Historic Site

The arched entrance to Wormsloe is located just off Skidaway Road, near the Isle of Hope community. The state-controlled area includes the scenic oak-lined avenue, a museum, and a walking trail that leads through the dense maritime forest to the ruins of the tabby fort built by Jones in 1745. More recently, the park has established a colonial life demonstration area, which includes a replica

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

hut and several small outbuildings that simulate a living area for Jones' marines and slaves. The Wormsloe site is within a dense oak-pine maritime forest. Much of the forest originally pre-dated European settlement of the Isle of Hope, but a southern pine beetle infestation in the 1970s killed off most of the old-growth pines. A short interpretive trail near the museum displays prints of wildlife and birds by the 18th-century naturalist

Mark Catesby Mark Catesby (24 March 1683 – 23 December 1749) was an English naturalist who studied the flora and fauna of the New World. Between 1729 and 1747 Catesby published his ''Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands'', the fi ...

. Image:Live oaks at Wormsloe.JPG, Oak avenue in winter, built early 1890s Image:Wormsloe Historic Site, July 2016.jpg, Wormsloe's oak avenue in summer Image:Wormsloe-colonial-demo-ga1.jpg, Replica colonial wattle-and-daub hut Image:18_06_036_wormsloe.jpg, Interior of waddle-and-daub hut Image:18_06_027_oglethorpe.jpg, Portrait of

Geographic setting

History

Early history

Establishment of Wormsloe

Antebellum Wormsloe

Wormsloe in the 20th century

Wormsloe Historic Site

See also

References

Further reading

External links