Gascoigne Bluff
File:Gascoigne Bluff, St. Simons, GA, USA.jpg
Gascoigne Bluff is a bluff next to the Frederica River on the western side of the island of St. Simons, Georgia which was a Native American campground, the site of a Franciscan monastery named San Buenaventura, and the site of the Province of Georgia's first naval base.{{Cite news|url=http://thebrunswicknews.com/news/local_news/isles-history-has-plantation-intrigue-old-ironsides/article_afcc8981-32ba-5af9-b538-9cc96cf528ac.html|title=Isles history has plantation intrigue, Old Ironsides|first=Larry |last=Hobbs|work=The Brunswick News|access-date=2017-08-17|language=en}}
It was named for Captain James Gascoigne of the sloop-of-war, HMS Hawk, which led some of the first British settlers to the coast of Georgia.{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/g.pdf | title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins | publisher=Winship Press | author=Krakow, Kenneth K. | year=1975 | location=Macon, GA | pages=91 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}}
Timber harvested from 2,000 Southern live oak 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 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, see below) who lived at Cannon Point, St. Simons Island, and who donated his library of 20,000 volumes to the Library of Congress.
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
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Hamilton Plantation
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Hamilton Plantation Slave Cabins
| nrhp_type = hd
| nocat = yes
| image = Hamilton Plantation slave houses, St. Simons, GA, USA.jpg
| caption = Hamilton Plantation slave houses (river view side)
| nearest_city = St. Simons Island, Georgia
| locmapin = USA Georgia#USA
| coordinates = {{coord|31.17106|N|81.40771|W|display=inline}}
| built = {{Start date|1832}}
| architect = Couper, James Hamilton
| added = June 30, 1988
| area = {{convert|1.7|acre}}
| refnum = 88000968{{NRISref|version=2010a}}
}}
The remains of this antebellum-era plantation 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, they are composed of tabby, a cement consisting of lime, water, and crushed oyster shells. The cabins have built-in windows and a central chimney.{{Cite news|url=http://thebrunswicknews.com/life/cassina-garden-club-gives-tours-of-tabby-slave-cabins/article_58305d90-8cfb-5be9-99e0-d49f5d192452.html|title=Cassina Garden Club gives tours of tabby slave cabins|first=Hannah |last=Kicklighter|work=The Brunswick News|access-date=2017-08-17|language=en}}
James Hamilton Couper, namesake of the owner and manager of the plantation, was an architect 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 to Anson Dodge and the Georgia Land and Lumber Company of New York in 1874 to erect lumber mills.{{cite web|url=http://www.glynncounty.com/History_and_Lore/Ed_Green/old_mill_days.shtml |title=St. Simons History - VI. OLD MILL DAYS 18741908 |access-date=2020-02-15}}
The Cassina Garden Club owns the cabins and offers tours on Wednesday mornings in June through August.{{cite web|url=https://www.goldenisles.com/listing/cassina-garden-club-slave-cabins/144/|title=Cassina Garden Club Slave Cabins|website=Golden Isles}} The cabins are near Arthur J. Moore Drive.{{Cite news|url=http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2017-04-26/4-homes-bed-and-breakfast-inn-and-community-garden-saturday-garden-walk-st|title=4 homes, bed and breakfast inn and community garden on Saturday Garden Walk on St. Simons|work=jacksonville.com|access-date=2017-08-17|language=en}}
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See also
Further reading
- {{cite book
| author = Gleason, David King
| year = 1987
| title = Antebellum Homes of Georgia
| publisher = Louisiana State University Press
| page=12
| isbn=978-0-8071-1432-2
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.cassinagardenclub.org/ Cassina Garden Club] owns the Hamilton Plantation slave cabins and provides tours.
- [http://www.gacoast.com/navigator/gascoigne.html Golden Isles Navigator page about the location]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20050404213700/http://epworthbythesea.org/history.html A ministry site which maintains a history of the area]
- The National Park Service maintains [http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/geo-flor/12.htm a web page about Hamilton Plantation.]
- [http://www.goldenisles.com/listing/cassina-garden-club-slave-cabins Cassina Garden Club slave cabins]
- [http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/glynn/cassina-garden-club-houses Cassina Garden Club Houses] historical marker
- [http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/glynn/hamilton-plantation Hamilton Plantation] historical marker
{{coord|31|10|01|N|81|24|41|W|type:landmark_region:US-GA|display=title}}
Category:Slave cabins and quarters in the United States
Category:Landforms of Glynn County, Georgia
Category:Cliffs of Georgia (U.S. state)