#17 Fort Frederica, St Simons Island

 May 11, 2023

Just a bit north of Christ Church is a pretty, winding road that leads to all that remains of this 18th century military town.  A large museum building, with much needed air conditioning pumping away, greeted me when I drove up to the nearly empty parking lot.

This place actually reminded me a lot of our local Fort Vancouver, as there is little left of the original fort, and not much has been reconstructed.  But archeologists continue to dig and find more evidence in the layers.

In 1736, James Oglethorpe, the mastermind behind all those amazing squares in the city of Savannah, founded Fort Frederica as a military outpost in an attempt to keep the Spanish from taking control of the area.  This piece of land, which is now Georgia, lay between Spanish Florida, and British South Carolina.

Soldiers and tradesmen, and soldiers with a trade, along with their families, were given plots of land on which to build their homes.

The Town of Frederica

There were trades people of every kind.  Foundations remain for many houses, and there is evidence of who built them and occupied them.  Here was the home of candle maker, John Calwell.  He also was traveling merchant, shop keeper, bailiff, surveyor, and “conservator of the peace”. 

Referring back to Anson Dodge, who rebuilt Christ Church, I was happy to find a photograph and foundation of his home.  Originally, he was building it for himself and Ellen.  Construction was going on while he and Ellen were on their honeymoon.  But when she died, he lived alone until he married Anna Gould.  After their young son died in a buggy accident, they welcomed orphaned little boys into their home in his memory.

Anson Phelps Dodge Home for Boys

Dodge Home for Boys Foundation

In order to populate the town, potential residents were provided with a year’s worth of provisions.  Francis Moore, who, with his wife, Mary, traveled with a group of settlers there, was also an official town recorder.  He also held positions as storekeeper, clerk to James Oglethorpe, and secretary to Oglethorpe.  He and his wife didn’t stay long, but he wrote and published a journal about the experience.  He includes a list of what was provided by the trustees of the colony.  Some is hard to read, but something like this: 

312 lbs of beef or pork, 104 lbs of rice, 104 lbs of Indian corn or peas, 104 lbs of flour, 1 pint of strong beer a day to a man when he works and not otherwise, 52 quarts of molasses(?) for brewing beer, 16 lbs of cheese, 12 lbs of butter, 6 oz of spice, 12 lbs of sugar, 4 gallons of vinegar, 24 lbs of salt, 12 quarts of lamp oil, 1 lb of spun cotton (thread?), 12 lbs of soap.  Women and children received like provisions, except less meat. 

Each man also received the following: A watch-coat, a musket, a bayonet, a hatchet, hammer, handsaw, shovel, hoe, knife, an iron pot, pot hooks, and a frying pan. 

Even with all that, residents still needed to grow fresh vegetables and fruit to supplement their diets.  Wherever they found room on their small lots, and on the outskirts of the town, they created little gardens.

There were foundations of many houses scattered across the grounds, and stakes marking where streets and paths had been. Stories were posted by the homes where they had found sufficient information about the residents.

The Calwell House

Standing to one side is the boxy remains of the garrison that would have housed the single soldiers.  Only the gateway to the enclosure has been reconstructed.

Garrison at Fort Frederica

Down near the shores of the Frederica River are the remains of the fortification and three cannons.  Constructed of tabby, much of it has eroded away. 

Fort Frederica

Tabby, the same local material that was used to build the first lighthouse, was an inexpensive option for the fort walls.  Outside of the museum was this display showing how it was created.

Tabby wall

The town did not last long.  Battles were fought, and then in 1748 there was a peace treaty signed between Great Britain and Spain.  Once there was no need to guard the fort and town, the military presence was withdrawn, and the town soon died out.  There was a fire that burned down some of the homes, but over the years the elements have taken their toll as well.  Archeological digs continue on the site, as they unearth the stories one dish fragment and one rusty hook, at a time.