Sharon Plantation

{{Short description|Former plantation in Savannah, Georgia}}

{{Infobox building

| name = Sharon Plantation

| native_name=

| former_names =

| image =

| caption =

| map_type =

| map_caption =

| map_dot_label = Sharon Plantation

| mapframe = yes

| building_type =

| architectural_style =

| structural_system =

| cost =

| location = Old Louisville Road, Colonial Savannah, Province of Georgia

| address =

| client =

| owner =

| current_tenants =

| landlord =

| coordinates = {{coord|32.0921|-81.2177|display=inline,title}}

| start_date =

| completion_date =

| inauguration_date =

| demolition_date =

| destruction_date =

| height =

| diameter =

| other_dimensions =

| floor_count =

| floor_area =

| main_contractor =

| architect =

| structural_engineer =

| services_engineer =

| civil_engineer =

| other_designers =

| quantity_surveyor =

| awards =

| references =

}}

Sharon Plantation was a plantation originally founded in colonial Savannah, Province of Georgia. It covered around {{convert|200|acres}}, on land bounded by Old Louisville Road and the Ogeechee Canal[https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1114&context=sav-bios-lane "Augustus Peter Wetter "] – Patrick Walsh, Georgia Southern University, 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 {{isbn|9780933075047}}

The plantation came into the Telfair family via Barach Gibbons, son of William Gibbons and the brother-in-law of Edward Telfair. Barach died in 1814 and bequeathed the plantation to his sister, Sarah.[http://ghs.galileo.usg.edu/ghs/view?docId=ead/MS%201355-ead.xml;query=;brand=default Georgia Writers' Project, Savannah Unit research materials] – Georgia Historical SocietyPrincetonians, 1784-1790: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 4, Ruth L. Woodward and Wesley Frank Craven (2014), p. 478 {{isbn| 9781400861262}} Edward married Sarah at the plantation in 1774. One of their children, born in 1791, was philanthropist Mary Telfair. She was their first daughter of eight children.[https://www.telfair.org/article/mary-telfair-1791-1875/ Mary Telfair (1791-1875)] – Telfair Museums

In 1782, during the Revolutionary War, Emistisiguo, chief of the local Upper Creek Indian tribe, attacked Anthony Wayne's camp at the plantation in the early hours of June 24.[https://allthingsliberty.com/2014/10/anthony-waynes-1782-savannah-campaign/ Anthony Wayne's 1782 Savannah Campaign] – Hugh T. Harrington, October 9, 2014 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, for which Georgia rewarded him with a large rice plantation.{{Cite web|date=2013-05-03|title=The Nicknaming of General "Mad" Anthony Wayne|url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/05/the-nicknaming-of-general-mad-anthony-wayne/|access-date=2021-10-13|website=Journal of the American Revolution|language=en-US}}

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".Princetonians, 1776-1783: A Biographical Dictionary, Richard A. Harrison (2014), p. 208 {{isbn|9781400856534}}

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 for information on the theft.

Wetter was buried at the plantation after his death in 1882.[http://ghs.galileo.usg.edu/ghs/view?docId=ead/MS%202049-ead.xml Augustus P. Wetter financial record] – Georgia Historical Society

Edward Telfair was initially interred in a vault at the plantation after his death in 1807, but his remains were moved to Bonaventure Cemetery later in the 19th century.Johnson, Charles J. "Edward Telfair (1735-1807)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. May 26, 2015. Web. August 30, 2015. It is believed Wetter's family is still buried at the site, despite the plantation's sale by the descendants of Wetter.[https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/04678/ Wetter Family Papers, 1809–1963] – University of North Carolina