St. Simons, Georgia
Encyclopedia
St. Simons is a census-designated place
(CDP) 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. Simons is part of the Brunswick, Georgia
Metropolitan Statistical Area, and according to the 2000 census
, the CDP had a population of 13,381.
St. Simons Island is one of Georgia
's renowned Golden Isles
(along with Sea Island
, Jekyll Island, and privately owned Little St. Simons Island
). It is also the largest of the Golden Isles. After being cultivated by English colonists for rice
and cotton
plantations worked by large populations of African slaves, who created the unique Gullah culture
, the island since the early 20th century has been developed as a resort
community. It has many seasonal residents, as well as a steady base of year-round residents. Many of the residents have settled here after retiring in other parts of Georgia or the United States.
The primary mode of travel to the island is by automobile via F.J. Torras Causeway
. Also, Malcolm McKinnon Airport
(IATA: SSI) is located on the island.
, the sole municipality
in Glynn County and the county government seat.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the CDP has a total area of 17.9 square miles (46.4 km²), 16.6 square miles (43 km²) of which is land and 1.2 square miles (3.1 km²) of it (7 percent) is water.
of 2000, there were 13,381 people, 6,196 households, and 3,804 families residing in the CDP. The population density
was 805.8 people per square mile (311.0/km²). There were 8,437 housing units at an average density of 508.1 per square mile (196.1/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.29 percent White, 3.69 percent African American, 0.16 percent Native American, 0.93 percent Asian, 0.01 percent Pacific Islander, 0.28 percent from other races
, and 0.63 percent from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.89 percent of the population.
There were 6,196 households out of which 22.5 percent had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.8 percent were married couples
living together, 6.8 percent had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.6 percent were non-families. 32.9 percent of all households were made up of individuals and 13.3 percent had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.71.
In the CDP, the population was spread out with 19.3 percent under the age of 18, 4.6 percent from 18 to 24, 24.1 percent from 25 to 44, 30.7 percent from 45 to 64, and 21.4 percent who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females there were 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.8 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $58,475, and the median income for a family was $73,580. Males had a median income of $50,725 versus $32,351 for females. The per capita income
for the CDP was $37,256. About 2.4 percent of families and 4.5 percent of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.6 percent of those under age 18 and 7.5 percent of those age 65 or over.
The first inhabitants of St. Simons lived there during fishing season about 2,000 BCE (Before the Common Era). No one knows what they first called themselves. The much later historic tribe, which encountered the Europeans, became known as the Timucuan. The tribe and people persist. Arising from the prehistoric Mississippian culture
that flourished over much of the Southeast, the eastern Timucuan ranged along the coastal plain of southeast Georgia and northern Florida. Their complex and loose confederacy was made up of seven distinct tribal groups that spoke at least five dialects of the Timucuan language.
, which extended southward to the St. Johns River
in present-day Florida. Its name was taken from that of the dialect of the people. The town of Guadalquini was located on the south end of the island at the site of the present-day lighthouse. The Spanish applied the town's name to the island as well.
Just north of Mocama was the territory of the Guale
, who occupied the lowland coastal area between the Altamaha
and Ogeechee
rivers. The Guale spoke a different language from the Timucuan but their cultures were closely related.
The coastal Indians were a healthy and robust people. They adorned their bodies with strings of shell beads four to six fingers in breadth. These were worn around the neck, arms, wrists, and under the knees and ankles. They painted their breasts, biceps and thighs with bright red body paint, soot and charcoal. Both men and women wore their hair long. They let both their fingernails and toenails grow. The men would sharpen their fingernails on one side, to use in warfare. The Timucuan engaged in periodic warfare with their coastal neighbors as much for sport as for spoils; violent ball games sometimes substituted for war. The men wore deerskin breechcloths in all but the coldest weather; the women wore skirts made of moss.
The Indians' main source of food was the sea; they fished for sheepshead, sea catfish, drum, shellfish and the great Atlantic sturgeon, mostly in and near the coastal marshes. Their diet was supplemented by small game, such as raccoons, opossum and the white-tailed deer. They also grew varieties of pumpkins (a kind of squash), beans and corn
; the latter was ground into meal for use. They also gathered a wide array of nuts
, grapes and berries from the rich land.
During spring and summer, the Indians gathered in villages and planted crops, hunted, and fished until harvest. The villages included granaries, a large communal structure, and shelters for extended families made of saplings and boughs covered with palmetto fronds. The chief
usually had a dwelling larger than other tribesmen. They used a wide range of bone tools; conch shells were formed into hoes for agriculture, as well as hammers.
They harvested corn in the fall, storing the surplus in the large village granaries. Several times a year they distributed the food held in common in ritualized festivals; after the fall redistribution ceremony, the Indians dispersed into small groups and abandoned the larger village pattern until the following spring. They ranged along the coast, from inland pine and river valley forest on the mainland to the high hammock forests, tidal flats, beach and dunes of the barrier islands. The group lodged in temporary shelters of large, oval-shaped pavilions, moving on when game and fish were no longer plentiful. When food was scarce, a hunter could hunt or fish in territory belonging to the village of his wife.
The Indians were governed by territorial and local chieftains known as "caciques" (Mocama) and "micos" (Guale) and by lesser-ranking functionaries within each of the coastal villages. Like nearly all Native Americans, they developed a matrilineal society, with hereditary power passed through the mother. The chiefs were required to marry a commoner, therefore a sister or nephew inherited the title. Governing power was based on the storage of corn - hence control of the food supply in lean times - cultivated by labor tribute from the subordinate villages. Along with their political power, the caciques and micos enjoyed the right to have more than one wife; monogamy seemed to be the norm for the rest of the population.
Little was recorded about the Timucuan religion before changes of European encounters. The accounts of the Guale were recorded by a Dominican
missionary
priest who heard it third hand. Guale mythology seems to have embraced the origin and destiny of the soul, and the communal atonement
for sin. Their major deities were Mateczunga, god of the north, and Quexuga, god of the south. The Guales believed that all souls originated in the north, lingered briefly on earth, then departed to the realm of Quexuga.
The Spanish were fascinated by their ceremony with clearly religious connotations: the drinking of the "black drink" brewed from the berries of the cassina tree. After drinking this potent beverage, "their bellies swelled and vomiting followed", which allowed the participants to be cleansed.
Knowledge of the Timucuan and Guale way of life prior to European contact is limited by the archeological record and the subjective observations of the early explorers and missionaries. From all indications, they were becoming more settled at the time of European contact.
missionary province of Spanish Florida
. After the founding of South Carolina
in 1680, conflict between the English and Spanish wreaked havoc on the Sea Islands. James Moore
of South Carolina led a combined land and sea invasion of Florida in 1702 which essentially destroyed the Spanish mission system on the islands. Surviving Indians were subjected to slave raids leaving the islands depopulated by the time the colony of Georgia was founded. By the mid-16th century, Spain had come into her own as the most powerful nation on earth and had thoroughly staked out her claim in the New World.
Ponce de Leon
claimed the southern region for Spain in 1513, and Hernando de Soto probed western Georgia in 1540.
After the Protestant Reformation, Protestants of France, known as the "Huguenots", were rebelling against the Catholics when persecution was revived after revocation of the Edict of Nantes
. Determined to end the bloodshed, the French queen decided a colony in the New World could serve as a haven for the persecuted Huguenots, as well as a base for raiding the treasure fleets of Spain.
She selected Jean Ribault
to head an exploratory expedition. It landed in 1562 at the mouth of the St. Johns River near present-day Jacksonville, Florida
. He called it the "River May," and sailed northward as far as Parris Island, South Carolina
. He named St. Simons Island the Ile de Loire Rene Laudonnière led a second expedition of three ships and three hundred colonists in 1564. They, too, landed at the St. Johns River, and immediately began work on Fort Caroline
. Two ships were sent back for more supplies and additional colonists.
Philip II of Spain learned of the French efforts and picked the ablest of his naval commanders, Pedro Menéndez de Aviles, giving him full power to destroy the French settlements. With a small fleet, Menéndez landed 40 miles south of Fort Caroline in August 1565. From this new base, which he named St. Augustine
, Menéndez attacked and destroyed the fledgling French colony. He captured and executed Ribault and most of the survivors of a French relief expedition that was shipwrecked just south of St. Augustine. With them died France's last hope for a colony on the Atlantic coast.
Although the French threat was neutralized, Menéndez decided to cultivate stronger alliances with the Native Americans to prevent future incursions. He traveled northward from St. Augustine in 1566 to meet with the most powerful chief in the area, the mico of Guale
, on present-day St. Catherines Island
. The mico was called Guale as well, and soon the Spanish adapted the name to the mico, his people and their territory.
During the meeting with the Guales, Menéndez erected a cross on St. Catherines Island, and soon after, a drought-ending rainstorm arrived. What seemed like a display of supernatural power by the Spanish leader made the Guale more receptive to the Jesuit missionaries who arrived next. The land of the Guale became one of the Spanish mission provinces of La Florida
.
The Spanish Jesuits, respected throughout Europe for their piety as well as their scholastic achievement, were selected to convert the Indians of Guale. After an unsuccessful attempt to establish a mission in the province of La Florida, Father Sedaño and Father Báez were assigned to the district of Guale. Father Báez rapidly learned the Guale language and reportedly wrote a grammar, the first book written in an indigenous language in the New World, which was published in the early 17th century. The Guale were reluctant to convert to Catholicism. After spending fourteen months in Guale along with three priests of less tenure, Father Sedaño could claim only seven Indian baptisms: four children and three dying adults.
Indians and missionaries found the process frustrating. The Jesuits were dedicated and capable men, totally committed to their task, but the most zealous were discouraged in those early days. Father Rogel shared the frustrations when writing about the neighboring district of Orista just to the north:
The Jesuits had to accommodate to the nomadic habits of the Guale and Orista. Father Rogel followed one group for twenty leagues (roughly sixty miles), offering presents, gifts and adornments to entice them to return to their newly built village and cornfields, but to no avail.
By 1570 the colonial government judged the missions a failure. They sent several of the Guale missionary contingent to Virginia, where they were massacred by Indians there. The remaining Guale missionaries were re-assigned to Mexico City
the following year. Their sacrifices paved the way for the Franciscans who followed.
A few Franciscan priests arrived in 1573. Most were killed and the survivors were recalled. During the next 10 years, there were sporadic and bloody conflicts between Spanish soldiers and the Mocama and Guale. The Spanish government had to be alert to its national competitors, especially after Sir Francis Drake
destroyed St. Augustine in 1586. The English leader's raid was a timely reminder to the Spanish that their grip upon Florida was fragile; more Franciscans were soon sent to the fledgling province. The first permanent Franciscan mission, to establish the Mocama missionary province, was in place by 1587 under Father Baltasár Lopéz.
The priests worked to learn the Timucuan and Guale languages, and in return demanded that the Indians learn the Catholic ceremonies in Latin
. They memorized the Ave Maria
, the Credo
and the Pater Noster
. The frequent Spanish religious and national holidays were confusing to the Indians, as they were encouraged to work one day and prevented from working the next. The priests abolished polygamy
, enjoyed by the chiefs, prompting the complaint that "they take away our women, leaving us only the one perpetual [sic], forbidding us to exchange her."
As the priests made more intrusions into the Indians' lives, resentment built up against them. Juanillo, the son of a mico, became incensed when the Franciscans interfered with his succession after his father's death. The priests picked the older and milder-mannered Don Francisco over the quarrelsome Juanillo. The infuriated Juanillo responded by leading the Indians in revolt. Juanillo and a small group of his father's followers killed Father Corpa at Tolomato on September 13, 1597. They killed Father Rodrigues of Tupiqui three days later. The following day, the two priests of the Guale mission on St. Catherines Island, Father Miguel de Auñon and Father Antonio de Badajoz, were clubbed to death after ignoring warnings by friendly Indians of the insurrection.
At Asajo, Father Francisco de Velascola was absent, away on a visit to St. Augustine. Afraid of his physical strength and huge stature, the Indians agreed that he must be killed. They ambushed him on his return. They wounded and captured Father Francisco Dávila of the Talapo mission. He escaped, but was recaptured and sent to the Guale interior as a slave.
Four hundred Indians in forty canoes attacked San Pedro, the Mocama mission on Cumberland Island. A loyal chief, Don Juan, rallied the mission Indians and killed many of the attackers. Meanwhile, a messenger had reached Governor Canzo in St. Augustine, who sent a relief force of 150 infantry. They retaliated on Guale, razing the villages and storehouses, burning the corn in the fields and destroying all canoes which they found. Canzo was unable to catch the rebels and returned to St. Augustine with Chief Don Juan, his people and the surviving friars.
Almost a year after this upheaval, a Spanish scouting party near St. Elena heard rumors that Father Dávila was still alive. Under threats, the Indians released Dávila. The friar had been starved, beaten, and threatened. The Spanish captured seven young boys, four of whom were the sons of micos, and took them to St. Augustine. The oldest of the boys, a seventeen-year old named Lucas, was found guilty of being present at Father Rodrigues' murder, but the others were released because of their age. Lucas was tortured and hung, the only legal response carried out by the courts for the Juanillo revolt.
But the rebels were still at large, and Governor Canzo was determined to exterminate them. The Indian tribes north of Guale were urged to make war on the rebels, and Canzo issued orders that all Guale Indians captured would be enslaved. This decree, however, was judged to harsh by his superiors and was revoked. The Spanish scorched-earth policy was ultimately successful. Severe drought compounded the Spanish destruction. By 1600 some of the important micos, their people facing imminent starvation, were ready to come to terms. The town of Tolomato refused to yield, and Asajo became the main village of Spanish influence. With his new power, the mico of Asajo led a successful expedition against Tolomato, after which more villages returned to the Spanish flock.
Juanillo still held out, aided oddly enough by his former rival Don Francisco. The two rebel chiefs and their remaining followers retreated to the interior stockaded village of Yfusinique. The mico of Asajo, Don Domingo, led an attack upon the town. After a fierce fight, the scalps of Juanillo and Don Francisco were sent back to St. Augustine. Don Domingo was made head mico of all Guale after his victory.
Thus the Juanillo rebellion was crushed, and the Spanish were once again masters of the land. But the ferocity of the revolt and the three years it took to extinguish the Indian spirit caused many in the colonial government to question the wisdom of maintaining a missionary presence in Mocama and Guale. The winning of heathen souls was proving to be a costly endeavor. To justify the expense, the crown ordered an investigation by the governor of Cuba, which quieted the missionaries' detractors, and future Spanish presence was insured.
Governor Canzo, determined to make the province an anchor of the Spanish empire, threw himself into improving the coastal missions. In 1603, he made an inspection tour of the Guale district, rebuilding the missions and cementing Indian loyalty. He was transferred soon after the tour, but his replacement, Governor Pedro de Iberra, was just as eager to develop both Mocama and Guale. Iberra toured the districts in 1604, and promised the Indians that more friars would be forthcoming. With the consolidation of Indian fealty, the way was paved for the first visit of a bishop on Mocama and Guale soil. Bishop Altimoreno arrived in St. Augustine in mid-March, 1606. He traveled for two months throughout the two districts and confirmed over one thousand souls.
The attentions of two governors and a bishop assured more friars for Mocama and Guale. From 1606 to 1655 the Spanish missionary effort reached its zenith as the Franciscan missions reflected a steady growth. San Buenaventura de Guadalquini was established on St. Simons, San Jose de Zapala on Sapelo Island, and Santiago de Ocone near the Okefenokee Swamp. Now Spain had a total of ten Mocama and Guale missions. Apparently conversions had increased dramatically, too. By 1617 Governor Iberra could report that although half the Christian Indians had died of pestilence, some eight thousand were still alive.
Despite the growth of the numbers of missionaries and converts, the conditions in which the Franciscans carried out their duties remained harsh. The main source of funds to support the mission effort was intestate properties of the colonies and deceased traders' estates unclaimed in Seville, the Spanish seaport link to the New World. Often ill clothed and hungry, friars rarely reached old age. Few ever saw their native Spain again; most succumbed to the hardships of their calling.
Primary emphasis was placed on spiritual conversion rather than colonizing for material gain; accordingly, there was no trade, no guns permitted, and very few skills taught. Horses had been introduced to La Florida, and some had been given to caciques and micos. But cattle were not made available for fear that crops would be eaten by them and the temptation for thievery would be too great. The most discernible changes resulting from Spanish contact were reflected only in pot manufacturing and the replacing of conch shell hoes with those made of iron. Spain's failure to supply attractive and practical trade goods (such as flints, mirrors, silver or brass ornaments) gave the English the advantage in the final conflict for Mocama and Guale that loomed ahead.
Apart from the Indians' decimation from disease - their numbers were reduced by 95% within a century of European contact - the death knell was sounded for the Spanish missions in 1661 when the "Chichimeco" Indians destroyed the mainland Guale town of Asajo. These fierce slave raiders, armed by the English in Virginia to ensure a steady supply of Indian slaves, migrated southward in the 1650s, preying on weaker tribes.
The disruptions of the Spanish missions did not abate. In the next few tumultuous years the Guales reestablished Asajo on the northern end of St. Simons Island (Cannons Point site). The "Yamassees" of coastal South Carolina, also fleeing the Chichimecos, established the refugee towns of San Simón (Fort Frederica site) and Octonico, 2-1/2 miles below, on the inland side of the island.
Charles II of England granted to eight Lords Proprietors all the land between Virginia and La Florida (31° -36° N) in 1663. This threat was sharpened in 1670 when Charles Town was settled. By 1675, only four Guale mission towns remained. The two Mocama missions left were widely separated and the intervening coast settled by unconverted Yamassees. The probability of attack from the English and the Indians loyal to them was now a constant fear to the Spanish. That fear was realized at its worst when the Chichimecos returned in 1680 to attack the towns of Santa Catalina and San Simón. The confusion and helplessness of the missionary and refugee Indians mounted as English pirates terrorized the Mocama and Guale coast in 1683. The following year, San Buenaventura de Guadalquini was ransacked and burned by pirates, and St. Simons Island was abandoned forever by the Timucuans who, for untold centuries, had called it their own.
In 1686, the English settled Port Royal, South Carolina - the old Spanish outpost of St. Elena. The Spanish responded by destroying the settlement, burning the English governor's mansion, and threatening Charles Town itself. It was a final, futile gesture. Most of the remaining Mocama and Guale Indians had already abandoned the missions and retreated southward to the St. Augustine area, to be eventually absorbed by the Yamassees. After almost a century and a quarter under the cross and sword of Spain, the Mocama and Guale Indians were no more - their land soon to be known as Georgia
, was the military headquarters of the Province of Georgia
during the early colonial period
, and served as a buffer against Spanish
incursion from Florida
. Nearby is the site of the Battle of Gully Hole Creek
and Battle of Bloody Marsh
, where on July 7, 1742, the British
ambushed Spanish troops marching single file through the marsh and routed them from the island, which marked the end of the Spanish efforts to invade Georgia during the War of Jenkins' Ear
.
(the Frederica Naval Action
) was won by the American Colonists near St. Simons on April 19, 1778. Colonel Samuel Elbert
was in command of Georgia's Continental Army and Navy. On April 15, 1778 he learned that four ships (including the Hinchinbrook, the Rebecca, and the Galatea) from British East Florida
were sailing in St. Simons Sound. Elbert commanded about 360 troops from the Georgia Continental Battalions at Fort Howe to march to Darien, Georgia
. There they boarded three Georgia Navy galleys: the Washington, commanded by Captain John Hardy ; the Lee, commanded by Captain John Cutler Braddock; and the Bulloch, commanded by Captain Archibald Hatcher. On April 18 they entered Frederica River and anchored about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from Fort Frederica
. On April 19 the colonial ships attacked the British ships. The Colonial ships were armed with heavier cannons than the British ships. The galleys also had a shallow draft
and could be rowed. The wind died down and the British ships had difficulty maneuvering in the restricted waters of the river and sound. Two of the British ships ran aground and the British escaped to their other ship. The battle showed how effective the galleys could be in restricted waters over ships designed for the open sea. The Frederica Naval Action was a big boost to the morale of the Colonists in Georgia.
, when timber harvested from two thousand Southern live oak
trees from Gascoigne Bluff
was used to build the USS Constitution
and five other frigate
s (see Six original United States frigates
). The USS Constitution is known as "Old Ironsides" for the way the cannonballs bounced off the hard live oak
planking.
, the minister of the colony. He later returned to England, where he founded the Methodist Church
. Wesley performed missionary work at St. Simons while he was still in the Anglican Church, but he was despondent about failing to bring about conversions. (He wrote that the local inhabitants had more tortures from their environment than he could describe for Hell
). In the 1730s John Wesley's brother Charles Wesley
also did missionary work on St. Simons.
On April 5, 1987 fifty-five members from St. Simons United Methodist Church were commissioned, with Bishop Frank Robertson as first pastor, to begin a new church on the north end of St. Simons Island. This was where John and Charles Wesley had preached and ministered to the people at Fort Frederica. The new church was named Wesley United Methodist Church at Frederica.
, invading Union troops commandeered the small building to stable horses and nearly destroyed it. The church was restored in 1889. This historic building is still in use as of 2011.
, Saint Simons became a center of cotton
production known for its long fiber Sea Island Cotton. Nearly the entire island was cleared of trees to make way for several cotton plantations. One of the last slave ship
s to bring slaves from Africa
docked at St. Simons Island, but the slaves marched off the boat into the water, dragged down by their chains, and drowned themselves rather than becoming slaves. An original slave cabin still stands at the intersection of Demere Rd. and Frederica Rd. at the roundabout
. Recently, the White House announced its intention to abolish subsidies to cotton growers and sent a draft to Congress. Previously, the illegality of subsidies claimed the World Trade Organization (WTO).
near the entrance to St. Simons Sound
in United States Coast Guard
District Number 7. It is 104 feet (32 m) tall and uses a third-order fresnel lens
which rotates to flash a beam of light every 60 seconds. The light keeper's residence is a two-story Victorian
brick
structure.
The original octagonal
lighthouse was built in 1811. Confederate
forces destroyed it in 1861 during the Civil War
to prevent its use by dominant Union forces. A replacement was completed in 1872, during the Reconstruction era. Electrified in 1934 and automated in 1954, it is still operational.
The current structure is both an active lighthouse for navigational purposes and a museum. On lease from the United States Coast Guard
to the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, it is open to the public.
In 2010, the St. Simons Island lighthouse underwent a major renovation. It was closed to the public for several months while all interior and exterior paint was sandblasted off, and then repainted. Eight iron handrail posts at the top of the tower were replaced, recast from one of the originals. All ironwork was sandblasted and repaired as needed. Great lengths were taken to protect the valuable Fresnel lens during the restoration. It was bubble wrapped, shrink wrapped, and then finally enclosed in a plywood box. A temporary spotlight attached to top railing of the lighthouse continued to guide ships into the Sound while the main light was out of operation.
station is one of circa
45 such stations of the same design built in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration
(WPA). They were part of the numerous public works projects sponsored by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
's administration during the Great Depression
. The station was commissioned in 1937 and operated until 1995. One of only three remaining stations built at the time, the station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. It houses the Maritime Center, a small museum run by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society. The Coast Guard uses a new station built to replace the one from the 1930s.
On the night of April 8, 1942 off the coast of St. Simons, the chased and torpedo
ed two tankers
, the S.S. Oklahoma and the Esso Baton Rouge. Both ships sank and 22 of their crew members were killed. Survivors were rescued and brought to the Coast Guard station on St. Simons for care and debriefing. Five of the sailors killed in the 1942 incident were buried as "Unknown Seamen" in Brunswick, Georgia
's Palmetto Cemetery. In 1998 they were positively identified.
Both ships were raised and towed to the port at nearby Brunswick for repairs. Although they both reentered service, the two ships were sunk during warfare in the Atlantic Ocean
before the end of World War II
.
on St. Simons Island was built in 1941. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
in 2005.
Census-designated place
A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...
(CDP) located on St. Simons Island in Glynn County
Glynn County, Georgia
Glynn County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 67,568. The 2008 Census Estimate showed a population of 75,884...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. 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. Simons is part of the Brunswick, Georgia
Brunswick, Georgia
Brunswick is the major urban and economic center in southeastern Georgia in the United States. The municipality is located on a harbor near the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 30 miles north of Florida and 70 miles south of South Carolina. Brunswick is bordered on the east by the Atlantic...
Metropolitan Statistical Area, and according to the 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
, the CDP had a population of 13,381.
St. Simons Island is one of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
's renowned Golden Isles
The Golden Isles of Georgia
The Golden Isles of Georgia are a group of four barrier islands on the 100-mile-long coast of Georgia on the Atlantic Ocean. They include St. Simons Island, Sea Island, Jekyll Island, Little St. Simons Island, and Historic Brunswick. They are part of the Sea Islands.Since the American Civil War,...
(along with Sea Island
Sea Island, Georgia
Sea Island is an affluent resort island located in the barrier islands just off the Atlantic coast of southern Georgia in the United States. The resort complex is located in an unincorporated Glynn County....
, Jekyll Island, and privately owned Little St. Simons Island
Little St. Simons, Georgia
Virtually untouched for centuries, Little St. Simons Island is a barrier island located on the coast of Georgia , and is one of the least developed of Georgia's Golden Isles. The island covers an area of and boasts of beaches. Little St. Simons Island is located slightly east and north of St....
). It is also the largest of the Golden Isles. After being cultivated by English colonists for rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
and cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
plantations worked by large populations of African slaves, who created the unique Gullah culture
Gullah
The Gullah are African Americans who live in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands....
, the island since the early 20th century has been developed as a resort
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
community. It has many seasonal residents, as well as a steady base of year-round residents. Many of the residents have settled here after retiring in other parts of Georgia or the United States.
The primary mode of travel to the island is by automobile via F.J. Torras Causeway
F.J. Torras Causeway
F.J. Torras Causeway is a causeway located in Glynn County, Georgia, USA that connects the city of Brunswick, GA to St. Simons Island, GA.-Route Description:...
. Also, Malcolm McKinnon Airport
Malcolm McKinnon Airport
Malcolm McKinnon Airport is a county-owned public-use airport located five miles east of the central business district of Brunswick, a city in Glynn County, Georgia, United States....
(IATA: SSI) is located on the island.
Geography
St. Simons is located at 31°9′40"N 81°23′13"W (31.161250, -81.386875), approximately 12 miles (19.3 km) east of Brunswick, GeorgiaBrunswick, Georgia
Brunswick is the major urban and economic center in southeastern Georgia in the United States. The municipality is located on a harbor near the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 30 miles north of Florida and 70 miles south of South Carolina. Brunswick is bordered on the east by the Atlantic...
, the sole municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in Glynn County and the county government seat.
According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the CDP has a total area of 17.9 square miles (46.4 km²), 16.6 square miles (43 km²) of which is land and 1.2 square miles (3.1 km²) of it (7 percent) is water.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 13,381 people, 6,196 households, and 3,804 families residing in the CDP. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 805.8 people per square mile (311.0/km²). There were 8,437 housing units at an average density of 508.1 per square mile (196.1/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.29 percent White, 3.69 percent African American, 0.16 percent Native American, 0.93 percent Asian, 0.01 percent Pacific Islander, 0.28 percent from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.63 percent from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.89 percent of the population.
There were 6,196 households out of which 22.5 percent had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.8 percent were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 6.8 percent had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.6 percent were non-families. 32.9 percent of all households were made up of individuals and 13.3 percent had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.71.
In the CDP, the population was spread out with 19.3 percent under the age of 18, 4.6 percent from 18 to 24, 24.1 percent from 25 to 44, 30.7 percent from 45 to 64, and 21.4 percent who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females there were 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.8 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $58,475, and the median income for a family was $73,580. Males had a median income of $50,725 versus $32,351 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the CDP was $37,256. About 2.4 percent of families and 4.5 percent of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.6 percent of those under age 18 and 7.5 percent of those age 65 or over.
Native American history
Just north of the village on St. Simons Island is a park of stately live oaks. On the southern edge of the oaks, along a narrow lane, is a low earthen mound. Growing upon it are three majestic oak trees; these serve as a natural monument for the more than 30 Indians buried in the mound. The men, women and children interred there lived in a settlement that flourished on this site two centuries before the first European touched shore.The first inhabitants of St. Simons lived there during fishing season about 2,000 BCE (Before the Common Era). No one knows what they first called themselves. The much later historic tribe, which encountered the Europeans, became known as the Timucuan. The tribe and people persist. Arising from the prehistoric Mississippian culture
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
that flourished over much of the Southeast, the eastern Timucuan ranged along the coastal plain of southeast Georgia and northern Florida. Their complex and loose confederacy was made up of seven distinct tribal groups that spoke at least five dialects of the Timucuan language.
The Marsh
St. Simons Island was the northern boundary of the tribal and Spanish mission province known as MocamaMocama
The Mocama were a Native American people who lived in the coastal areas of what are now northern Florida and southeastern Georgia. A Timucua group, they spoke the dialect known as Mocama, the best-attested dialect of the Timucua language. Their territory extended from about the Altamaha River in...
, which extended southward to the St. Johns River
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...
in present-day Florida. Its name was taken from that of the dialect of the people. The town of Guadalquini was located on the south end of the island at the site of the present-day lighthouse. The Spanish applied the town's name to the island as well.
Just north of Mocama was the territory of the Guale
Guale
Guale was an historic Native American chiefdom along the coast of present-day Georgia and the Sea Islands. Spanish Florida established its Roman Catholic missionary system in the chiefdom in the late 16th century. During the late 17th century and early 18th century, Guale society was shattered...
, who occupied the lowland coastal area between the Altamaha
Altamaha River
The Altamaha River is a major river of the American state of Georgia. It flows generally eastward for 137 miles from its origin at the confluence of the Oconee River and Ocmulgee River towards the Atlantic Ocean, where it empties into the ocean near Brunswick, Georgia. There are no dams...
and Ogeechee
Ogeechee River
Ogeechee River is a river in the U.S. state of Georgia. It heads at the confluence of its North and South Forks, about south-southwest of Crawfordville and flowing generally southeast to Ossabaw Sound about south of Savannah. Its largest tributary is the Canoochee River...
rivers. The Guale spoke a different language from the Timucuan but their cultures were closely related.
The coastal Indians were a healthy and robust people. They adorned their bodies with strings of shell beads four to six fingers in breadth. These were worn around the neck, arms, wrists, and under the knees and ankles. They painted their breasts, biceps and thighs with bright red body paint, soot and charcoal. Both men and women wore their hair long. They let both their fingernails and toenails grow. The men would sharpen their fingernails on one side, to use in warfare. The Timucuan engaged in periodic warfare with their coastal neighbors as much for sport as for spoils; violent ball games sometimes substituted for war. The men wore deerskin breechcloths in all but the coldest weather; the women wore skirts made of moss.
The Indians' main source of food was the sea; they fished for sheepshead, sea catfish, drum, shellfish and the great Atlantic sturgeon, mostly in and near the coastal marshes. Their diet was supplemented by small game, such as raccoons, opossum and the white-tailed deer. They also grew varieties of pumpkins (a kind of squash), beans and corn
Corn
Corn is the name used in the United States, Canada, and Australia for the grain maize.In much of the English-speaking world, the term "corn" is a generic term for cereal crops, such as* Barley* Oats* Wheat* Rye- Places :...
; the latter was ground into meal for use. They also gathered a wide array of nuts
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
, grapes and berries from the rich land.
During spring and summer, the Indians gathered in villages and planted crops, hunted, and fished until harvest. The villages included granaries, a large communal structure, and shelters for extended families made of saplings and boughs covered with palmetto fronds. The chief
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
usually had a dwelling larger than other tribesmen. They used a wide range of bone tools; conch shells were formed into hoes for agriculture, as well as hammers.
They harvested corn in the fall, storing the surplus in the large village granaries. Several times a year they distributed the food held in common in ritualized festivals; after the fall redistribution ceremony, the Indians dispersed into small groups and abandoned the larger village pattern until the following spring. They ranged along the coast, from inland pine and river valley forest on the mainland to the high hammock forests, tidal flats, beach and dunes of the barrier islands. The group lodged in temporary shelters of large, oval-shaped pavilions, moving on when game and fish were no longer plentiful. When food was scarce, a hunter could hunt or fish in territory belonging to the village of his wife.
The Indians were governed by territorial and local chieftains known as "caciques" (Mocama) and "micos" (Guale) and by lesser-ranking functionaries within each of the coastal villages. Like nearly all Native Americans, they developed a matrilineal society, with hereditary power passed through the mother. The chiefs were required to marry a commoner, therefore a sister or nephew inherited the title. Governing power was based on the storage of corn - hence control of the food supply in lean times - cultivated by labor tribute from the subordinate villages. Along with their political power, the caciques and micos enjoyed the right to have more than one wife; monogamy seemed to be the norm for the rest of the population.
Little was recorded about the Timucuan religion before changes of European encounters. The accounts of the Guale were recorded by a Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
priest who heard it third hand. Guale mythology seems to have embraced the origin and destiny of the soul, and the communal atonement
Atonement
Atonement is a doctrine that describes how human beings can be reconciled to God. In Christian theology the atonement refers to the forgiving or pardoning of sin through the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion, which made possible the reconciliation between God and creation...
for sin. Their major deities were Mateczunga, god of the north, and Quexuga, god of the south. The Guales believed that all souls originated in the north, lingered briefly on earth, then departed to the realm of Quexuga.
The Spanish were fascinated by their ceremony with clearly religious connotations: the drinking of the "black drink" brewed from the berries of the cassina tree. After drinking this potent beverage, "their bellies swelled and vomiting followed", which allowed the participants to be cleansed.
Knowledge of the Timucuan and Guale way of life prior to European contact is limited by the archeological record and the subjective observations of the early explorers and missionaries. From all indications, they were becoming more settled at the time of European contact.
Spanish Florida
During the 17th century, St. Simons Island was one of the most important settlements of the MocamaMocama
The Mocama were a Native American people who lived in the coastal areas of what are now northern Florida and southeastern Georgia. A Timucua group, they spoke the dialect known as Mocama, the best-attested dialect of the Timucua language. Their territory extended from about the Altamaha River in...
missionary province of Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida refers to the Spanish territory of Florida, which formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire. Originally extending over what is now the southeastern United States, but with no defined boundaries, la Florida was a component of...
. After the founding of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
in 1680, conflict between the English and Spanish wreaked havoc on the Sea Islands. James Moore
James Moore (South Carolina politician)
James Moore was the British governor of colonial South Carolina between 1700 and 1703. He is remembered for leading several invasions of Spanish Florida, including attacks in 1704 and 1706 which wiped out most of the Spanish missions in Florida....
of South Carolina led a combined land and sea invasion of Florida in 1702 which essentially destroyed the Spanish mission system on the islands. Surviving Indians were subjected to slave raids leaving the islands depopulated by the time the colony of Georgia was founded. By the mid-16th century, Spain had come into her own as the most powerful nation on earth and had thoroughly staked out her claim in the New World.
Ponce de Leon
Ponce de León
-People:* Juan Ponce de León, a Spanish explorer of the Americas and first Governor of Puerto Rico* Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the son of Juan Ponce de León II, and early settler of Ponce, Puerto Rico...
claimed the southern region for Spain in 1513, and Hernando de Soto probed western Georgia in 1540.
After the Protestant Reformation, Protestants of France, known as the "Huguenots", were rebelling against the Catholics when persecution was revived after revocation of the Edict of Nantes
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity...
. Determined to end the bloodshed, the French queen decided a colony in the New World could serve as a haven for the persecuted Huguenots, as well as a base for raiding the treasure fleets of Spain.
She selected Jean Ribault
Jean Ribault
Jean Ribault was a French naval officer, navigator, and a colonizer of what would become the southeastern United States. He was a major figure in the French attempts to colonize Florida...
to head an exploratory expedition. It landed in 1562 at the mouth of the St. Johns River near present-day Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
. He called it the "River May," and sailed northward as far as Parris Island, South Carolina
Parris Island, South Carolina
Parris Island is a former census-designated place , currently a portion of Port Royal in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 4,841 at the 2000 census. As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, Parris Island is included within the Beaufort Urban Cluster and the larger...
. He named St. Simons Island the Ile de Loire Rene Laudonnière led a second expedition of three ships and three hundred colonists in 1564. They, too, landed at the St. Johns River, and immediately began work on Fort Caroline
Fort Caroline
Fort Caroline was the first French colony in the present-day United States. Established in what is now Jacksonville, Florida, on June 22, 1564, under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière, it was intended as a refuge for the Huguenots. It lasted one year before being obliterated by the...
. Two ships were sent back for more supplies and additional colonists.
Philip II of Spain learned of the French efforts and picked the ablest of his naval commanders, Pedro Menéndez de Aviles, giving him full power to destroy the French settlements. With a small fleet, Menéndez landed 40 miles south of Fort Caroline in August 1565. From this new base, which he named St. Augustine
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
, Menéndez attacked and destroyed the fledgling French colony. He captured and executed Ribault and most of the survivors of a French relief expedition that was shipwrecked just south of St. Augustine. With them died France's last hope for a colony on the Atlantic coast.
Although the French threat was neutralized, Menéndez decided to cultivate stronger alliances with the Native Americans to prevent future incursions. He traveled northward from St. Augustine in 1566 to meet with the most powerful chief in the area, the mico of Guale
Guale
Guale was an historic Native American chiefdom along the coast of present-day Georgia and the Sea Islands. Spanish Florida established its Roman Catholic missionary system in the chiefdom in the late 16th century. During the late 17th century and early 18th century, Guale society was shattered...
, on present-day St. Catherines Island
St. Catherines Island
St. Catherines Island, also known as Santa Catalina, is one of the Sea Islands or Golden Isles on the coast of the U.S. state of Georgia, 50 miles south of Savannah in Liberty County. The island is ten miles long and from one to three miles wide, located between St. Catherine's Sound and Sapelo...
. The mico was called Guale as well, and soon the Spanish adapted the name to the mico, his people and their territory.
During the meeting with the Guales, Menéndez erected a cross on St. Catherines Island, and soon after, a drought-ending rainstorm arrived. What seemed like a display of supernatural power by the Spanish leader made the Guale more receptive to the Jesuit missionaries who arrived next. The land of the Guale became one of the Spanish mission provinces of La Florida
La Florida
La Florida is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, La Florida spans an area of and has 365,674 inhabitants . Of these, 365,563 lived in urban areas and 111 in rural areas...
.
The Spanish Jesuits, respected throughout Europe for their piety as well as their scholastic achievement, were selected to convert the Indians of Guale. After an unsuccessful attempt to establish a mission in the province of La Florida, Father Sedaño and Father Báez were assigned to the district of Guale. Father Báez rapidly learned the Guale language and reportedly wrote a grammar, the first book written in an indigenous language in the New World, which was published in the early 17th century. The Guale were reluctant to convert to Catholicism. After spending fourteen months in Guale along with three priests of less tenure, Father Sedaño could claim only seven Indian baptisms: four children and three dying adults.
Indians and missionaries found the process frustrating. The Jesuits were dedicated and capable men, totally committed to their task, but the most zealous were discouraged in those early days. Father Rogel shared the frustrations when writing about the neighboring district of Orista just to the north:
The Indians were so reluctant to receive the Catholic religion that no admonitions would curb their barbarity - a barbarity based on liberty unrestrained by the yoke of reason and made worse because they had not been taught to live in villages. They were scattered about the country nine of the twelve months of the year, so that to influence them at all one missionary was needed for each Indian.
The Jesuits had to accommodate to the nomadic habits of the Guale and Orista. Father Rogel followed one group for twenty leagues (roughly sixty miles), offering presents, gifts and adornments to entice them to return to their newly built village and cornfields, but to no avail.
By 1570 the colonial government judged the missions a failure. They sent several of the Guale missionary contingent to Virginia, where they were massacred by Indians there. The remaining Guale missionaries were re-assigned to Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
the following year. Their sacrifices paved the way for the Franciscans who followed.
A few Franciscan priests arrived in 1573. Most were killed and the survivors were recalled. During the next 10 years, there were sporadic and bloody conflicts between Spanish soldiers and the Mocama and Guale. The Spanish government had to be alert to its national competitors, especially after Sir Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
destroyed St. Augustine in 1586. The English leader's raid was a timely reminder to the Spanish that their grip upon Florida was fragile; more Franciscans were soon sent to the fledgling province. The first permanent Franciscan mission, to establish the Mocama missionary province, was in place by 1587 under Father Baltasár Lopéz.
Spanish Missions circa 1655
In 1593, a dozen friars arrived in Cuba, six of whom were sent to Guale. One missionary each was assigned to the mainland villages of Tolomato, Tupiqui, Santo Domingo de Talaje/Asajo, and Talapo, while two were sent to Guale (St. Catherines Island).The priests worked to learn the Timucuan and Guale languages, and in return demanded that the Indians learn the Catholic ceremonies in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
. They memorized the Ave Maria
Ave Maria
Ave Maria may refer to:*Ave Maria , the "Hail Mary", a traditional Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox prayer calling for the intercession of Mary, the mother of Jesus-Music:...
, the Credo
Credo
A credo |Latin]] for "I Believe") is a statement of belief, commonly used for religious belief, such as the Apostles' Creed. The term especially refers to the use of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in the Mass, either as text, Gregorian chant, or other musical settings of the...
and the Pater Noster
Pater Noster
Pater Noster is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity.Pater Noster or Paternoster may also refer to:* Paternoster, a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building* Paternoster, Western Cape, South Africa* Pierres...
. The frequent Spanish religious and national holidays were confusing to the Indians, as they were encouraged to work one day and prevented from working the next. The priests abolished polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
, enjoyed by the chiefs, prompting the complaint that "they take away our women, leaving us only the one perpetual [sic], forbidding us to exchange her."
As the priests made more intrusions into the Indians' lives, resentment built up against them. Juanillo, the son of a mico, became incensed when the Franciscans interfered with his succession after his father's death. The priests picked the older and milder-mannered Don Francisco over the quarrelsome Juanillo. The infuriated Juanillo responded by leading the Indians in revolt. Juanillo and a small group of his father's followers killed Father Corpa at Tolomato on September 13, 1597. They killed Father Rodrigues of Tupiqui three days later. The following day, the two priests of the Guale mission on St. Catherines Island, Father Miguel de Auñon and Father Antonio de Badajoz, were clubbed to death after ignoring warnings by friendly Indians of the insurrection.
At Asajo, Father Francisco de Velascola was absent, away on a visit to St. Augustine. Afraid of his physical strength and huge stature, the Indians agreed that he must be killed. They ambushed him on his return. They wounded and captured Father Francisco Dávila of the Talapo mission. He escaped, but was recaptured and sent to the Guale interior as a slave.
Four hundred Indians in forty canoes attacked San Pedro, the Mocama mission on Cumberland Island. A loyal chief, Don Juan, rallied the mission Indians and killed many of the attackers. Meanwhile, a messenger had reached Governor Canzo in St. Augustine, who sent a relief force of 150 infantry. They retaliated on Guale, razing the villages and storehouses, burning the corn in the fields and destroying all canoes which they found. Canzo was unable to catch the rebels and returned to St. Augustine with Chief Don Juan, his people and the surviving friars.
Almost a year after this upheaval, a Spanish scouting party near St. Elena heard rumors that Father Dávila was still alive. Under threats, the Indians released Dávila. The friar had been starved, beaten, and threatened. The Spanish captured seven young boys, four of whom were the sons of micos, and took them to St. Augustine. The oldest of the boys, a seventeen-year old named Lucas, was found guilty of being present at Father Rodrigues' murder, but the others were released because of their age. Lucas was tortured and hung, the only legal response carried out by the courts for the Juanillo revolt.
But the rebels were still at large, and Governor Canzo was determined to exterminate them. The Indian tribes north of Guale were urged to make war on the rebels, and Canzo issued orders that all Guale Indians captured would be enslaved. This decree, however, was judged to harsh by his superiors and was revoked. The Spanish scorched-earth policy was ultimately successful. Severe drought compounded the Spanish destruction. By 1600 some of the important micos, their people facing imminent starvation, were ready to come to terms. The town of Tolomato refused to yield, and Asajo became the main village of Spanish influence. With his new power, the mico of Asajo led a successful expedition against Tolomato, after which more villages returned to the Spanish flock.
Juanillo still held out, aided oddly enough by his former rival Don Francisco. The two rebel chiefs and their remaining followers retreated to the interior stockaded village of Yfusinique. The mico of Asajo, Don Domingo, led an attack upon the town. After a fierce fight, the scalps of Juanillo and Don Francisco were sent back to St. Augustine. Don Domingo was made head mico of all Guale after his victory.
Thus the Juanillo rebellion was crushed, and the Spanish were once again masters of the land. But the ferocity of the revolt and the three years it took to extinguish the Indian spirit caused many in the colonial government to question the wisdom of maintaining a missionary presence in Mocama and Guale. The winning of heathen souls was proving to be a costly endeavor. To justify the expense, the crown ordered an investigation by the governor of Cuba, which quieted the missionaries' detractors, and future Spanish presence was insured.
Governor Canzo, determined to make the province an anchor of the Spanish empire, threw himself into improving the coastal missions. In 1603, he made an inspection tour of the Guale district, rebuilding the missions and cementing Indian loyalty. He was transferred soon after the tour, but his replacement, Governor Pedro de Iberra, was just as eager to develop both Mocama and Guale. Iberra toured the districts in 1604, and promised the Indians that more friars would be forthcoming. With the consolidation of Indian fealty, the way was paved for the first visit of a bishop on Mocama and Guale soil. Bishop Altimoreno arrived in St. Augustine in mid-March, 1606. He traveled for two months throughout the two districts and confirmed over one thousand souls.
The attentions of two governors and a bishop assured more friars for Mocama and Guale. From 1606 to 1655 the Spanish missionary effort reached its zenith as the Franciscan missions reflected a steady growth. San Buenaventura de Guadalquini was established on St. Simons, San Jose de Zapala on Sapelo Island, and Santiago de Ocone near the Okefenokee Swamp. Now Spain had a total of ten Mocama and Guale missions. Apparently conversions had increased dramatically, too. By 1617 Governor Iberra could report that although half the Christian Indians had died of pestilence, some eight thousand were still alive.
Despite the growth of the numbers of missionaries and converts, the conditions in which the Franciscans carried out their duties remained harsh. The main source of funds to support the mission effort was intestate properties of the colonies and deceased traders' estates unclaimed in Seville, the Spanish seaport link to the New World. Often ill clothed and hungry, friars rarely reached old age. Few ever saw their native Spain again; most succumbed to the hardships of their calling.
Primary emphasis was placed on spiritual conversion rather than colonizing for material gain; accordingly, there was no trade, no guns permitted, and very few skills taught. Horses had been introduced to La Florida, and some had been given to caciques and micos. But cattle were not made available for fear that crops would be eaten by them and the temptation for thievery would be too great. The most discernible changes resulting from Spanish contact were reflected only in pot manufacturing and the replacing of conch shell hoes with those made of iron. Spain's failure to supply attractive and practical trade goods (such as flints, mirrors, silver or brass ornaments) gave the English the advantage in the final conflict for Mocama and Guale that loomed ahead.
Apart from the Indians' decimation from disease - their numbers were reduced by 95% within a century of European contact - the death knell was sounded for the Spanish missions in 1661 when the "Chichimeco" Indians destroyed the mainland Guale town of Asajo. These fierce slave raiders, armed by the English in Virginia to ensure a steady supply of Indian slaves, migrated southward in the 1650s, preying on weaker tribes.
The disruptions of the Spanish missions did not abate. In the next few tumultuous years the Guales reestablished Asajo on the northern end of St. Simons Island (Cannons Point site). The "Yamassees" of coastal South Carolina, also fleeing the Chichimecos, established the refugee towns of San Simón (Fort Frederica site) and Octonico, 2-1/2 miles below, on the inland side of the island.
Charles II of England granted to eight Lords Proprietors all the land between Virginia and La Florida (31° -36° N) in 1663. This threat was sharpened in 1670 when Charles Town was settled. By 1675, only four Guale mission towns remained. The two Mocama missions left were widely separated and the intervening coast settled by unconverted Yamassees. The probability of attack from the English and the Indians loyal to them was now a constant fear to the Spanish. That fear was realized at its worst when the Chichimecos returned in 1680 to attack the towns of Santa Catalina and San Simón. The confusion and helplessness of the missionary and refugee Indians mounted as English pirates terrorized the Mocama and Guale coast in 1683. The following year, San Buenaventura de Guadalquini was ransacked and burned by pirates, and St. Simons Island was abandoned forever by the Timucuans who, for untold centuries, had called it their own.
In 1686, the English settled Port Royal, South Carolina - the old Spanish outpost of St. Elena. The Spanish responded by destroying the settlement, burning the English governor's mansion, and threatening Charles Town itself. It was a final, futile gesture. Most of the remaining Mocama and Guale Indians had already abandoned the missions and retreated southward to the St. Augustine area, to be eventually absorbed by the Yamassees. After almost a century and a quarter under the cross and sword of Spain, the Mocama and Guale Indians were no more - their land soon to be known as Georgia
Fort Frederica
Fort Frederica, now Fort Frederica National MonumentFort Frederica National Monument
Fort Frederica National Monument, on St. Simons Island, Georgia, preserves the archaeological remnants of a fort and town built by James Oglethorpe between 1736 and 1748 to protect the southern boundary of the British colony of Georgia from Spanish raids. About 630 British troops were stationed at...
, was the military headquarters 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...
during the early colonial period
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history from the start of European settlement and especially the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain until they declared independence in 1776. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major...
, and served as a buffer against Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
incursion from Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Nearby is the site of the Battle of Gully Hole Creek
Battle of Gully Hole Creek
The Battle of Gully Hole Creek was a skirmish in 1742 on St. Simons Island, Georgia, between Spanish troops from the Spanish colony of Florida and British colonial troops on St. Simons Island. It was won by the British...
and Battle of Bloody Marsh
Battle of Bloody Marsh
The Battle of Bloody Marsh took place on July 18, 1742 between Spanish and British forces, and the latter were victorious. Part of the War of Jenkin's Ear, the battle was for control of the road between the British forts of Frederica and St. Simons, to control St. Simons Island and the forts'...
, where on July 7, 1742, the British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
ambushed Spanish troops marching single file through the marsh and routed them from the island, which marked the end of the Spanish efforts to invade Georgia during the War of Jenkins' Ear
War of Jenkins' Ear
The War of Jenkins' Ear was a conflict between Great Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1748, with major operations largely ended by 1742. Its unusual name, coined by Thomas Carlyle in 1858, relates to Robert Jenkins, captain of a British merchant ship, who exhibited his severed ear in...
.
American Revolution
An important naval battle in the American RevolutionAmerican Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
(the Frederica Naval Action
Frederica naval action
The Frederica naval action was a naval battle during the American Revolutionary War in which three galleys of the Georgia State Navy defeated a British raiding party off the coast of Georgia. The action occurred on April 19, 1778.-Background:...
) was won by the American Colonists near St. Simons on April 19, 1778. Colonel Samuel Elbert
Samuel Elbert
Samuel Elbert was an American merchant, soldier, and politician from Savannah, Georgia.Elbert fought in the Revolutionary War, commanding the victorious American colonial forces in a naval battle near St. Simons Island, Georgia on April 19, 1778...
was in command of Georgia's Continental Army and Navy. On April 15, 1778 he learned that four ships (including the Hinchinbrook, the Rebecca, and the Galatea) from British East Florida
East Florida
East Florida was a colony of Great Britain from 1763–1783 and of Spain from 1783–1822. East Florida was established by the British colonial government in 1763; as its name implies it consisted of the eastern part of the region of Florida, with West Florida comprising the western parts. Its capital...
were sailing in St. Simons Sound. Elbert commanded about 360 troops from the Georgia Continental Battalions at Fort Howe to march to Darien, Georgia
Darien, Georgia
Darien is a city in McIntosh County, Georgia, United States. It lies on Georgia's coast at the mouth of the Altamaha River about 50 miles south of Savannah, and is part of the Brunswick, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of Darien was 1,719 at the 2000 census. The city is the...
. There they boarded three Georgia Navy galleys: the Washington, commanded by Captain John Hardy ; the Lee, commanded by Captain John Cutler Braddock; and the Bulloch, commanded by Captain Archibald Hatcher. On April 18 they entered Frederica River and anchored about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from Fort Frederica
Fort Frederica National Monument
Fort Frederica National Monument, on St. Simons Island, Georgia, preserves the archaeological remnants of a fort and town built by James Oglethorpe between 1736 and 1748 to protect the southern boundary of the British colony of Georgia from Spanish raids. About 630 British troops were stationed at...
. On April 19 the colonial ships attacked the British ships. The Colonial ships were armed with heavier cannons than the British ships. The galleys also had a shallow draft
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
and could be rowed. The wind died down and the British ships had difficulty maneuvering in the restricted waters of the river and sound. Two of the British ships ran aground and the British escaped to their other ship. The battle showed how effective the galleys could be in restricted waters over ships designed for the open sea. The Frederica Naval Action was a big boost to the morale of the Colonists in Georgia.
Lumber for ships
Saint Simons' next military contribution was due to the Naval Act of 1794Naval 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...
, when timber harvested from two thousand 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
Gascoigne Bluff
Gascoigne Bluff is a bluff next to the Frederica River on the western side of the island of St. Simons which was a Native American campground, the site of a Franciscan monastery named San Buenaventura, and the site of the Province of Georgia's first naval base....
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 five other frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s (see Six original United States 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...
). The USS 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.
Wesley brothers
During the 18th century, St. Simons served as a sometime home to John WesleyJohn Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
, the minister of the colony. He later returned to England, where he founded the Methodist Church
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
. Wesley performed missionary work at St. Simons while he was still in the Anglican Church, but he was despondent about failing to bring about conversions. (He wrote that the local inhabitants had more tortures from their environment than he could describe for Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
). In the 1730s John Wesley's brother Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley was an English leader of the Methodist movement, son of Anglican clergyman and poet Samuel Wesley, the younger brother of Anglican clergyman John Wesley and Anglican clergyman Samuel Wesley , and father of musician Samuel Wesley, and grandfather of musician Samuel Sebastian Wesley...
also did missionary work on St. Simons.
On April 5, 1987 fifty-five members from St. Simons United Methodist Church were commissioned, with Bishop Frank Robertson as first pastor, to begin a new church on the north end of St. Simons Island. This was where John and Charles Wesley had preached and ministered to the people at Fort Frederica. The new church was named Wesley United Methodist Church at Frederica.
Christ Church
In 1808 the State of Georgia gave 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of land on St. Simons to be used for a church and its support. Called Christ Church, Frederica, the structure was finished in 1820. During the Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, invading Union troops commandeered the small building to stable horses and nearly destroyed it. The church was restored in 1889. This historic building is still in use as of 2011.
Cotton production
During the plantation eraPlantation era
The plantation era was a period in the history of the Southern United States, from the early 18th century until the start of the American Civil War in 1860 , marked by the economic growth of the South, based on slave-driven plantation farming of tobacco, and the later cash crop, cotton.The leading...
, Saint Simons became a center of cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
production known for its long fiber Sea Island Cotton. Nearly the entire island was cleared of trees to make way for several cotton plantations. One of the last slave ship
Slave ship
Slave ships were large cargo ships specially converted for the purpose of transporting slaves, especially newly purchased African slaves to Americas....
s to bring slaves from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
docked at St. Simons Island, but the slaves marched off the boat into the water, dragged down by their chains, and drowned themselves rather than becoming slaves. An original slave cabin still stands at the intersection of Demere Rd. and Frederica Rd. at the roundabout
Roundabout
A roundabout is the name for a road junction in which traffic moves in one direction around a central island. The word dates from the early 20th century. Roundabouts are common in many countries around the world...
. Recently, the White House announced its intention to abolish subsidies to cotton growers and sent a draft to Congress. Previously, the illegality of subsidies claimed the World Trade Organization (WTO).
St. Simons Island lighthouse
St. Simons Island Light is a lighthouseLighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
near the entrance to St. Simons Sound
St. Simons Sound
St. Simons Sound is a sound in Georgia that lies between Jekyll Island and St. Simons Island. It is part of the waterway from the Atlantic Ocean to the South Brunswick River to the port at Brunswick, Georgia. The St. Simons lighthouse stands on the north side of the sound....
in United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
District Number 7. It is 104 feet (32 m) tall and uses a third-order fresnel lens
Fresnel lens
A Fresnel lens is a type of lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses.The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass and volume of material that would be required by a lens of conventional design...
which rotates to flash a beam of light every 60 seconds. The light keeper's residence is a two-story Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
structure.
The original octagonal
Octagonal
Octagonal is a retired champion New Zealand-bred, Australian raced Thoroughbred racehorse, also known as 'The Big O' or 'Occy'. He was by the champion sire Zabeel, out of the champion broodmare Eight Carat, who also produced Group One winners Mouawad, Kaapstad, Diamond Lover and Marquise.Trained...
lighthouse was built in 1811. Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
forces destroyed it in 1861 during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
to prevent its use by dominant Union forces. A replacement was completed in 1872, during the Reconstruction era. Electrified in 1934 and automated in 1954, it is still operational.
The current structure is both an active lighthouse for navigational purposes and a museum. On lease from the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
to the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, it is open to the public.
In 2010, the St. Simons Island lighthouse underwent a major renovation. It was closed to the public for several months while all interior and exterior paint was sandblasted off, and then repainted. Eight iron handrail posts at the top of the tower were replaced, recast from one of the originals. All ironwork was sandblasted and repaired as needed. Great lengths were taken to protect the valuable Fresnel lens during the restoration. It was bubble wrapped, shrink wrapped, and then finally enclosed in a plywood box. A temporary spotlight attached to top railing of the lighthouse continued to guide ships into the Sound while the main light was out of operation.
Coast Guard Station and World War II
The historic Coast GuardUnited States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
station is one of circa
Circa
Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...
45 such stations of the same design built in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
(WPA). They were part of the numerous public works projects sponsored by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's administration during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The station was commissioned in 1937 and operated until 1995. One of only three remaining stations built at the time, the station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. It houses the Maritime Center, a small museum run by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society. The Coast Guard uses a new station built to replace the one from the 1930s.
On the night of April 8, 1942 off the coast of St. Simons, the chased and torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
ed two tankers
Tanker (ship)
A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and the liquefied natural gas carrier.-Background:...
, the S.S. Oklahoma and the Esso Baton Rouge. Both ships sank and 22 of their crew members were killed. Survivors were rescued and brought to the Coast Guard station on St. Simons for care and debriefing. Five of the sailors killed in the 1942 incident were buried as "Unknown Seamen" in Brunswick, Georgia
Brunswick, Georgia
Brunswick is the major urban and economic center in southeastern Georgia in the United States. The municipality is located on a harbor near the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 30 miles north of Florida and 70 miles south of South Carolina. Brunswick is bordered on the east by the Atlantic...
's Palmetto Cemetery. In 1998 they were positively identified.
Both ships were raised and towed to the port at nearby Brunswick for repairs. Although they both reentered service, the two ships were sunk during warfare in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
before the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
King and Prince Hotel
The King and Prince HotelKing and Prince Hotel
King and Prince Hotel is a hotel located on St. Simons Island in the U.S. state of Georgia.-History:The King and Prince Hotel was founded in 1935 as a seaside dance club by Frank Horn and Morgan Wynn, in defiance after being kicked out of the Cloister Hotel at Sea Island for drunkenness...
on St. Simons Island was built in 1941. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 2005.
Coast Cottages
The Coast Cottages is a neo-traditional planned community located on St. Simons Island.Notable residents
- Griffin BellGriffin BellGriffin Boyette Bell was an American lawyer and former Attorney General. He served as the nation's 72nd Attorney General during the Jimmy Carter administration...
, former U.S. Attorney GeneralAttorney GeneralIn most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person... - Kwame BrownKwame BrownKwame James Brown is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Charlotte Bobcats. The , center was the 1st overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards, and was the first number one draft pick to be selected straight out of high school...
, NBA player - Jim BrownJim BrownJames Nathaniel "Jim" Brown is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News...
, NFL Player and actor - William DiehlWilliam DiehlWilliam Diehl was an American novelist and photojournalist.He had two childern, a boy and a girl from whom he was estranged....
, Award winning novelist, New York Times Best Seller listNew York Times Best Seller listThe New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication... - Wyche FowlerWyche FowlerWilliam Wyche Fowler, Jr. is an American politician and ambassador. He is a member of the Democratic Party and served as U.S. Senator from Georgia from January 1987 to January 1993. He had previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 until his senatorial election.-Early life...
, former U.S. Senator and Representative - Zach JohnsonZach JohnsonZach Johnson is an American golfer, winner of the 2007 Masters Tournament.Zach Johnson may also refer to:* Zack "Jick" Johnson, one of the creators of Kingdom of Loathing* Zachary Johnson, former drummer for The Fray...
, professional golfer - Matt KucharMatt KucharMatthew Gregory Kuchar is an American professional golfer who has played on both the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. He has ranked as high as number six in the Official World Golf Rankings.-Early career:...
, professional golfer - Davis Love IIIDavis Love IIIDavis Milton Love III is an American professional golfer.Love was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina before turning professional in 1985. He earned his PGA Tour card in the fall of 1985, on his first attempt. He quickly established himself on the PGA...
, professional golfer - Mack MattinglyMack MattinglyMack Francis Mattingly served one term as a United States senator from Georgia, the first Republican to serve in the U.S. Senate from that state since Reconstruction.-Early life:...
, former U.S. Senator - J. Reginald MurphyJ. Reginald MurphyJ. Reginald Murphy was the editor of the Atlanta Constitution and San Francisco Examiner. He was kidnapped on February 20, 1974, and was freed two days later after the Atlanta Constitution paid $700,000 ransom. William A. H. Williams was later arrested for the crime, and most of the money was...
, former editor of Atlanta Constitution, San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, and former president of National Geographic - Sam NunnSam NunnSamuel Augustus Nunn, Jr. is an American lawyer and politician. Currently the co-chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative , a charitable organization working to reduce the global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, Nunn served for 24 years as a...
, former U.S. Senator - Eugenia PriceEugenia PriceEugenia Price was an American author best known for her historical novels which were set in the American South.- Biography :...
, - Bob SchiefferBob SchiefferBob Lloyd Schieffer is an American television journalist who has been with CBS News since 1969, serving 23 years as anchor on the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News from 1973 to 1996; chief Washington correspondent since 1982, moderator of the Sunday public affairs show Face the Nation since...
, American television journalist and former anchor of the CBS Evening NewsCBS Evening NewsCBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963.... - John SmoltzJohn SmoltzJohn Andrew Smoltz is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and active sportscaster. He is best known for his prolific career of more than two decades with the Atlanta Braves, in which he garnered eight All-Star selections and received the Cy Young Award in 1996...
, free agentFree agentIn professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....
MLB pitcher, formerly with the Atlanta BravesAtlanta BravesThe Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997.... - Adam WainwrightAdam WainwrightAdam Parrish Wainwright is a right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was drafted 29th overall by the Atlanta Braves in the 2000 amateur draft. He made his major league debut for the St...
, MLB pitcher for the St. Louis CardinalsSt. Louis CardinalsThe St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to... - Heather WhitestoneHeather WhitestoneHeather Leigh Whitestone McCallum is a former beauty queen who was the first deaf Miss America title holder, having lost most of her hearing at the age of 18 months.-Early life:...
, Miss America 1995, first disabled Miss America.
External links
- Glynn County Government, Official Website
- St. Simons Island, State of Georgia
- MyGoldenIsles
- History of St. Simons Island, New Georgia Encyclopedia
- St. Simons Island, Sherpa Guides
- St. Simon's Light Station, National Park Service
- More about the St. Simons Lighthouse
- List of historical hurricanes, 1565 to 1899, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Frederica Naval Action
- History of St. Simons Island Plantations