Sharon Plantation was a

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

originally founded in colonial

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

Province of Georgia The Province of Georgia (also Georgia Colony) was one of the Southern Colonies in colonial-era British America. In 1775 it was the last of the Thirteen Colonies to support the American Revolution. The original land grant of the Province of G ...

. It covered around , on land bounded by Old Louisville Road and the Ogeechee Canal"Augustus Peter Wetter "
– Patrick Walsh,

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (informally known as Southern or Georgia Southern) is a public university, public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The largest campus is in Statesboro, Georgia, Statesboro, with ...

, Fall 1990 six miles to the west of the city.''Telfair Museum of Art: Collection Highlights'' – Telfair Museum of Art, Hollis Koons McCullough (2005), p. 10 The plantation came into the Telfair family via Barach Gibbons, son of William Gibbons and the brother-in-law of

Edward Telfair Edward Telfair (1735 – September 17, 1807) was a Scottish-born American Founding Father, politician and slave trader who served as the governor of Georgia from 1786 to 1787 and again from 1790 to 1793. He was a member of the Continental Congre ...

. Barach died in 1814 and bequeathed the plantation to his sister, Sarah. Edward married Sarah at the plantation in 1774. One of their children, born in 1791, was philanthropist

Mary Telfair Mary Telfair (January 28, 1791 – June 2, 1875)Mary Telfair
–

. She was their first daughter of eight children.Mary Telfair (1791-1875)
–

Telfair Museums Telfair Museums, in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia, was the first public art museum in the Southern United States. Founded through the bequest of Mary Telfair (1791–1875), a prominent local citizen, and operated by the Georgia His ...

In 1782, during the Revolutionary War, Emistisiguo, chief of the local Upper Creek

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

tribe, attacked

Anthony Wayne Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and a Founding Father of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military expl ...

's camp at the plantation in the early hours of June 24. Wayne had arrived with the intention of disbanding the British alliance with Indian tribes in Georgia. He negotiated peace treaties with both the Creeks and the

Cherokees The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

, for which Georgia rewarded him with a large rice plantation. On October 15, 1785, Dr. Samuel Vickers, Surgeon of the Hospitals during the Revolutionary War, committed suicide at the plantation. The coroner found "he had been for some time before insane and not of sound memory and perfect understanding". In 1859, Augustus Wetter purchased the plantation. Around Christmas 1862, the body of a Mrs. Haig, a relative of his wife, was stolen from its vault at the Sharon Plantation. The vault had been forced open, and the body (along with a silver plate that had been resting atop the coffin) was missing. Wetter offered a large reward in the ''

Savannah Morning News The ''Savannah Morning News'' is a daily newspaper in Savannah, Georgia. It is published by Gannett. The motto of the paper is "Light of the Coastal Empire and Lowcountry". The paper serves Savannah, its Savannah metropolitan area, metropolitan ...

'' for information on the theft. Wetter was buried at the plantation after his death in 1882.Augustus P. Wetter financial record
–

Georgia Historical Society The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) is a statewide historical society in Georgia, United States. Headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, GHS is one of the oldest historical organizations in the United States. Since 1839, the society has collected, ex ...

Edward Telfair was initially interred in a vault at the plantation after his death in 1807, but his remains were moved to

Bonaventure Cemetery Bonaventure Cemetery is a rural cemetery located on a scenic bluff of the Wilmington River, southeast of downtown Savannah, Georgia. The cemetery's prominence grew when it was featured in the 1994 novel '' Midnight in the Garden of Good and Ev ...

later in the 19th century. It is believed Wetter's family is still buried at the site, despite the plantation's sale by the descendants of Wetter.''Wetter Family Papers, 1809–1963''
–

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

References

{{reflist, 2 African-American history in Savannah, Georgia Plantations in Georgia (U.S. state) Province of Georgia Rice plantations in the United States