Oatland Island, Savannah

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A wide pathway leading up to a brick building with white columns and large windows, surrounded by green hedges and trees, under a blue sky with clouds.

The first owner of Oatland Island, after the Guale people, was John McQueen (1756-1807) and his wife, Anne Smith McQueen (1756-1809). John was fictionalized by Eugenia Price as Don Juan McQueen, in her best-selling 1974 novel of that title. McQueen was a land speculator and well-connected Revolutionary War patriot, who, after the war, fled to Spanish Florida to escape his debtors. Anne McQueen retained Oatland until her death. Their daughter, Eliza Anne McQueen Mackay (1778-1862) and husband Robert Gordon Mackay (1772-1816) maintained crops and enslaved laborers on the island for years thereafter.

The “main building” on Oatland Island (pictured above), was built as a retirement home in 1927 for the Order of Railroad Conductors and served that purpose until 1940. It is quite typical of institutional architecture of its era. It was subsequently purchased by the United States Public Health Service and served as a hospital in World War II, specializing in the treatment of venereal diseases, until the widespread application of penicillin for this purpose rendered a hospital unnecessary. Circa 1944, it was transferred to the Malaria Control in War Areas (MCWA) division of the Public Health Service. The MCWA evolved into the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and until being surplussed in 1973, it was used as a development laboratory by the CDC. Martha Barnes adds this interesting bit of Savannah trivia: “People who read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil will remember the main building as where Luther Driggers worked and actually developed the chemical used in today’s flea collars, but in the book he was always about to poison Savannah’s water supply.“

The Chatham County Board of Education has owned it since then and it now serves over 20,000 students and visitors each year as an educational center for the surrounding Oatland Island Wildlife Center. It served as a set location for The General’s Daughter.

A weathered and rusty water tower against a blue sky, partially obscured by green foliage.

Carol Suttle, a Savannah native and Oatland’s most enthusiastic ambassador, contacted me several months ago about photographing the old water tower at the entrance to the center; it’s scheduled to be demolished and it’s one of her favorite structures on the island. Touring the island and its natural features with Carol and photographer Mike McCall was a real treat, and I hope to revisit in the future. Located just past downtown Savannah on the Islands Expressway (US 80), it’s often overlooked by tourists heading to Tybee Island but is well worth a visit. The site includes historic structures from the distant past as well as structures related to the government research that went on during the mid-1900s.

A rustic log cabin surrounded by lush green trees and grass, featuring a sloped roof and a wooden porch.

David Hamilton Delk, Jr. (1812-1880), built this cabin in 1837 in the Taylor’s Creek community near Gum Branch in Liberty County. It was moved and reconstructed here by the Youth Conservation Corps in 1979. The layout is of the Scots/Irish or “shotgun” design (not to be confused with the more common and more recent shotgun “house”), a vernacular form common in early Georgia.

A rustic log corn crib surrounded by dense green forest, featuring a wooden porch and a simple wooden door.

Martha Phillips Youngblood writes that the corn crib pictured above was originally owned by her grandfather, Thomas Hilton Phillips, and was moved here from Treutlen County.

An abandoned, overgrown shop surrounded by dense vegetation and trees, with peeling blue paint and rusty details.

Several abandoned structures from the CDC era remain on the island.

An old, weathered concrete structure covered in vines and surrounded by dense greenery in a forested area.

This concrete structure indicates the danger of the work that was done here.

An abandoned wooden boat partially surrounded by lush greenery and trees, showing signs of weathering and neglect.

A hand-crafted boat from the 1970s can also be seen on the property.

A close-up of a gopher tortoise sitting on green grass, with grass strands in its mouth.

Gopher Tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus), as well as wolves and bison can be easily seen on the property.

A serene Richardson Creek near Savannah, flowing through lush green grasslands under a partly cloudy sky.

Beautiful Richardson Creek runs adjacent to the island.

Scenic view of a marsh on Oatland Island with lush green grass and trees along the edge of Richardson Creek, under a blue sky with fluffy white clouds.

3 thoughts on “Oatland Island, Savannah”

  1. David B Dukes's avatarDavid B Dukes

    The cabin was actually built by Lewis Price. Upon his death in 1868, it was sold. David Delk purchased the cabin and land at that time. In addition, Delk purchased a horse, a wagon, and sundries, according to documents, while furnishings and other items were sold to others. There is anecdotal evidence that Lewis Price and his wife were buried on that property.

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  3. tootybee's avatartootybee

    One of my favorite places. I haven’t been since they gussied up the main building ( which I am sure it needed). I do hope the charming old bathrooms for instance haven’t been replaced by new. The cane grinding festival in the fall is fun.

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