Gascoigne Bluff is a bluff

Hill

A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills often have a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills...

 next to the Frederica River

Frederica River

The Frederica River is an tidal river in Glynn County, Georgia. It forms the western boundary of Saint Simons Island of the Georgia Sea Islands. Fort Frederica National Monument is located on the eastern bank of the river on Saint Simons Island....

 on the western side of the island of St. Simons

St. Simons, Georgia

St. Simons is a census-designated place located on St. Simons Island in Glynn County, Georgia, United States. Both the community and the island are commonly considered to be one location, known simply as "St. Simons Island", or locally as "The Island". St...

 which was a Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 campground, the site of a Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 named San Buenaventura, and the site of the Province of Georgia

Province of Georgia

The Province of Georgia was one of the Southern colonies in British America. It was the last of the thirteen original colonies established by Great Britain in what later became the United States...

's first naval base.

It was named for Captain James Gascoigne of the sloop-of-war

Sloop-of-war

In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...

, HMS Hawk, which lead the first British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 settlers to the coast of Georgia.

Timber harvested from 2,000 Southern live oak

Southern live oak

Quercus virginiana, also known as the southern live oak, is a normally evergreen oak tree native to the southeastern United States. Though many other species are loosely called live oak, the southern live oak is particularly iconic of the Old South....

 trees from Gascoigne Bluff was used to build the USS Constitution

USS Constitution

USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel...

 and the five other original US Navy frigates

Six original United States frigates

The United States Congress authorized the original six frigates of the United States Navy with the Naval Act of 1794 on 27 March 1794 at a total cost of $688,888.82...

 under the Naval Act of 1794

Naval Act of 1794

The Act to Provide a Naval Armament, also known as the Naval Act, was passed by the United States Congress on March 27, 1794 and established the country's first naval force, which eventually became the United States Navy...

. The Constitution is known as "Old Ironsides" for the way the cannonballs bounced off the hard live oak

Live oak

Live oak , also known as the southern live oak, is a normally evergreen oak tree native to the southeastern United States...

 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.

Hamilton Plantation

Hamilton Plantation is a site managed by the National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

 located at Gascoigne Bluff.

The remains of this antebellum

Antebellum architecture

Antebellum architecture is a term used to describe the characteristic neoclassical architectural style of the Southern United States, especially the Old South, from after the birth of the United States in the American Revolution, to the start of the American Civil War...

 plantation

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

 contain two surviving slave

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

 cabins, which were part of a set of four built before 1833. Among the better examples of surviving slave cabins in the South

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

, they are composed of tabby

Tabby (cement)

Tabby is a building material consisting of lime, sand, water, and crushed oyster shells. It was developed and used by English colonists in Beaufort County and on the Sea Islands of coastal South Carolina, in coastal Georgia, and in northern Florida in the Southern United States...

, a cement consisting of lime, water, and crushed oyster shells. The cabins have built-in windows and a central chimney. 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.

External links

• The National Park Service
  National Park Service
  The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
  
  maintains a site for Hamilton Plantation
• a Golden Isles Navigator page about the location
• A ministry site that maintains a history of the area
• Cassina Garden Club - owns the Hamilton Plantation slave cabins and provides tours