St. Catherines Island

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

St. Catherines Island is one of the Sea Islands on the coast of the U.S. state of Georgia, 50 miles (80 km) south of Savannah in Liberty County. The privately held island is ten miles long and from one to three miles wide; more than half of its 14,640 acres (59 km²) are tidal marsh and wetlands.

The island has been inhabited for at least 4000 years, and was a Guale settlement by 1576. By 1587 it was the northernmost permanent Spanish outpost on the Atlantic Coast. Spanish colonies were planted as far north as Chesapeake Bay, but none lasted more than a year or two. During the 17th century, the mission of Santa Catalina de Guale on St. Catherines Island was the center of the Guale missionary province of Spanish Florida.David Hurst Thomas has focused on Spanish period mission archaeology on St. Catherine's Island. Currently, archaeology of the shell ring on St. Catherines Island is spearheaded by Matthew C. Sanger.

In 1766 the island was leased by Button Gwinnett. It was run as a plantation for nearly a century, until the Civil War ended. The New Georgia Encyclopedia notes that

After the Civil War, Sherman's Field Order No. 15 awarded St. Catherines and the other islands to freed slaves. Tunis Campbell established dominion over Ossabaw, Sapelo, and St. Catherines islands as "governor," with the seat of his kingdom on St. Catherines. Under the auspices of Sherman's field order, Campbell ruled from the Button Gwinnett House from 1865 until 1867. When Sherman's order was challenged, the island reverted to its previous owner. The former slaves were forced to relocate to White Bluff, on the Georgia mainland.^[1]

The 1893 Sea Islands Hurricane caused catastrophic destruction, sweeping seawater across the entire island. Only one person who remained on the island survived, and all buildings were destroyed.

In 1943 Edward John Noble bought the island; in 1968, ten years after his death, the island was transferred to the Edward J. Noble Foundation.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Human History of St. Catherines, from the website of the St. Catherines Sea Turtle Program