McIntosh County Georgia History - Sapelo Island File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by "Anne" Table of Contents page: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/mcintosh.htm Georgia Table of Contents: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/052701/dss_history.html Sunday, May 27, 2001 Sapelo Island From past to present Georgia island's unique culture is slowly slipping into the past Getting there Sapelo Island is a 16,500-acre barrier island off the coast of Georgia, a 30-minute ferry ride from the Darien area. It was inhabited by American Indians as far back as 4,000 years ago and is now home to a variety of insects, birds, mammals, reptiles and about 80 people, including 64 African- Americans, many of them descendants of the slaves who once worked the land. Sapelo Island also has the largest shell midden found in North America. It is a mysterious 6-foot high ring of oyster shells left by American Indians hundreds of years ago. Here's a quick look at the island's long history: 1566 -- Spanish explorers establish a mission on Sapelo Island. 1762 -- The island is purchased by Patrick Mackay. He introduces large-scale plantation agriculture and imported slaves from Africa. 1784 -- Mackay's plantation is sold to John McQueen of South Carolina. 1789 -- McQueen sells the plantation to a group of Frenchmen, who divide the island into tracts including Chocolate, Bourbon and Raccoon Bluff. African slave settlements are established on the north end of the island. 1800 -- One of the Frenchmen sells nearby Blackbeard Island to the U.S. government, which turns it into a timber reserve. The other French-owned land, along with the slaves, is sold to English sea captain Edward Swarbeck and Richard Leake. 1802 -- Leake dies and his son-in-law, Thomas Spalding, inherits the south half of Sapelo Island. Swarbeck still owns the north half, but with 7,910 acres, Spalding becomes the most powerful landowner in McIntosh County. He owns 400 African slaves skilled in fishing, sea island cotton-growing and rice cultivation. 1803 -- Bilali, a Muslim brought to Sapelo from Africa, is the head slave driver of Spalding's plantation. He teaches the other slaves African traditions and customs as well as the Gullah-Geechee language. At least five slave settlements are built during Spalding's era: Raccoon Bluff, Shell Hammock, Belle Marsh, Lumber Landing and Hog Hammock. 1812-1820 -- Chocolate Plantation is built by Edward Swarbeck. The ruins of 15 tabby structures and individual slave cabins still stand there. 1820 -- The Sapelo Island lighthouse is built. 1865 -- Slaves are promised their "40 acres and a mule" after the Civil War. However, when that promise was rescinded, many freed African-Americans who had left the island return to work for the Spalding family. By the late 1860s, there are 900 free African-Americans living in the settlements. 1866 -- First African Baptist Church is organized at Hanging Bull, a former slave settlement on the west end of the island. 1878 -- Thomas Spalding II sells land in Shell Hammock and Hog Hammock to African-Americans. The Spaldings eventually sell their land to investors. 1886 -- St. Luke's Baptist Church is founded in Hog Hammock. 1898 -- First African Baptist Church at Hanging Bull is destroyed by a hurricane and a new church is built about two years later at Raccoon Bluff. 1911 -- Millionaire automobile executive Howard E. Coffin of Detroit purchases most of Sapelo Island. African-Americans work for his agricultural, dairy and fishing operations. 1934 -- Coffin sells his land to tobacco heir R.J. Reynolds Jr. 1949 -- Reynolds establishes the Sapelo Island Research Foundation for the study of the island's maritime ecological systems. ======================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for FREE access. ==============