Located next door to the iconic Hazel’s Cafe, this was the home of Hazel and Thomas Floyd. Thomas was a descendant of Wanderer survivor Tom Floyd, who was brought to America when he was 17. Tom himself may have built this house.
The origins of Emanuel Baptist can be traced to the First African Baptist Church, established by freedmen at Pike’s Bluff Plantation in 1869. On 6 April 1890 members of the First African Baptist Church, under the leadership of Reverend A. Neel, organized Emanuel to better serve members in the South End community. The present structure was built on 30 July 1904 and dedicated by Reverend S. C. Dent.
Built for enslaved people working in the main house of James Hamilton’s Gascoigne Bluff plantation, this slave house is one of four surviving on St. Simons. Two more survive on the lands of the former Hamilton Plantation. As evidenced by this authentic restoration, house slaves were generally kept in nicer dwellings than field hands and other laborers. Popularly known as The Tabby House, it was restored by Eugene Lewis in 1931 and again in 1995 by master tabby craftsmen J. Felton Tate, Sr., Renaldo Tate, Sr., and Renaldo Tate, Jr.. After the plantation house burned in the 1890s, a lumber mill was located on the property for many years. The cabin served as a doctor’s office during that era. Today, it is part of the Epworth By The Sea campus of the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church and is used as an event space.
National Register of Historic Places
True Life Ministries of Atlanta has been conducting “open water” immersion baptisms on St. Simons Island for 21 years.
The church welcomes all who want to take part and have baptized over 1000 souls since they began the annual event.
It’s a wonderful thing to see, no matter your background or faith.
Often associated with African-Americans, mass baptisms were also popular with white churches, especially rural congregations, into the mid-20th century.
In most churches, baptismal pools have largely replaced the ritual today.
But as these photographs attest, there are still many who prefer to be baptized this way.
It is seen as a complete rebirth of the old body and soul but can be performed on anyone of any age.
This was one of the most moving and inspiring rituals I have ever witnessed.
I want to express my gratitude to Elder Gregory Hughes and his wonderful team for their openness to being photographed and for the welcoming message they shared with all gathered to witness this ritual.
A scattering of historic vernacular homes such as this one in the South End community still survive on the island, but they can all be considered endangered in that present development trends show little interest in historic styles.
Now home to Lord of Life Lutheran Church, this Spanish Mission Revival chapel was originally home to St. William Catholic Church. Franciscan friars first established a mission presence near this site in the late 1500s to minister to the native Guale peoples but these early missionaries were martyred and the mission destroyed in 1597. The location was selected by Father Peter McOscar, SM, pastor of St. Francis Xavier of Brunswick, architect Cormac McGarvey, and Mrs. Edith Smith Young. It was originally served by Marist priests from St. Francis Parrish.
Several celebrities have visited the church during its history. In the mid-1930s, actress Irene Dunn was a member of a Confirmation Class here; the great tenor Giovanni Martinelli once sang here; and baseball legend Joe DiMaggio was a volunteer altar server in 1950.
Thanks to Jimmy Goodis for identifying it as the original St. William’s.
Acquisition of the Cannon’s Point property (608 acres) by the St. Simons Land Trust (SSLT) in 2013 has affected the preservation of the last contiguous wild maritime forest on the island. The peninsula, at the northeast end of the island, features over six miles of salt marsh, tidal creek, and river shoreline. Ancient shell middens, essentially the trash piles of Native American settlers, are also present. At the dock just beyond the parking lot is this idyllic view of a small tributary of the Hampton River, located at the former site of Taylor’s Fish Camp.
Free and open to the public Saturday-Monday 9AM-3PM, Cannon’s Point Preserve is staffed by volunteers who will give you a bit of history and information when you arrive. Be aware that the walk down Cannon’s Point Road, the main trail in the preserve, is 4.4 miles round trip. Bring water, bug spray, and good shoes.
The old camp store remains and has recently been restored.
The first structure you’ll likely notice as you begin the hike to the Couper house ruins is this tabby barn. Built circa 1925 by Charles, Archibald, Arthur, and Reginald Taylor as a storage shed, it’s a great example of tabby architecture. The Taylor brothers established a business in 1919, farming, raising livestock, and operating as fishing guides. This part of the Cannon’s Point Preserve was known as the Lawrence Plantation and the brothers purchased it from Anna Gould Dodge, widow of Christ Church rector Anson Gates Dodge, in 1921. The Taylors were the largest producers of beef and pork in the area until the 1960s. In the early 1970s, the barn was used as a set location in the movie Conrack.
The road to the north end is characterized by palmetto and live oak, dominant species of the Atlantic maritime forest.
There are numerous “ancient” oaks throughout the preserve, some well over two hundred years old.
Holly (Ilex) is also found throughout.
Cannon’s Point is known to be a haven for the curious Lion’s Mane mushroom (Hericium erinaceus), a widely cultivated edible and medicinal variety.
The first site along the trail is the ruins of a slave dwelling. All that remains is this hearth. From the establishment of the plantation in the 1790s until 1861, the cotton plantation at Cannon’s Point was wholly dependent on the labor of enslaved Africans. Archaeological excavations undertaken here in the 1970s suggest that the slave cabins were built as 40×20 duplexes, with each family living in a 20×20 section. At this particular location, four cabins housing eight families surrounded a central well.
The site of the overseer’s house is beyond the slave cabin ruins. Research has indicated that overseers were very transient at Cannon’s Point, staying on average just a year and a half. They were paid between $200-$400 per year. The ruins confirm that it was unusually large when compared to other such structures on the coast. Most were two-room affairs, similar to slave cabins. The Cannon’s Point example was comparable to the owner’s house on small plantations. It’s thought to have been built in the 1820s.
Upon their acquisition of the property, the Land Trust determined that the chimney was in danger of collapsing. They stabilized it using loose bricks found at the site.
The hearth remains, as well.
At the end of the long walk over the peninsula are the extensive ruins of John Couper’s Cannon’s Point House (built circa 1804). The human history of the area dates back at least 4500 years, when the first native people are thought to have been present. In the 1660s Spanish missionaries established Santo Domingo de Asajo to minister to the Guale Indians. Pirates drove missionaries and the Guale from the island by 1684, but the Guale returned over time. Daniel Cannon, a carpenter at Fort Frederica, was the first English owner, having been granted property here by the Trustees of the Georgia Colony in 1738. He didn’t stay long, though, and was in South Carolina by 1741.
John Couper, who came from Scotland to America prior to the Revolution, acquired Cannon’s Point in 1793 and with James Hamilton made Sea Island cotton the dominant crop of St. Simons Island. Couper served as a representative to the Georgia constitutional convention of 1798 and in 1804 gave the land known as Couper’s Point for construction of a lighthouse on St. Simons Island.
Couper built this house by 1804 and lived here with his wife Rebecca and their five children throughout the antebellum era. Vice President Aaron Burr was among the first visitors. The labor of over 100 slaves kept the plantation running. (This image is from a painting by Couper’s grandson, John Lord Couper, circa 1850). Rebecca died in 1845 and John in 1850, at the age of 91. They’re buried in the cemetery at Christ Church, Frederica. Couper’s oldest son, James Hamilton Couper, managed Cannon’s Point until 1861 and it passed out of family hands in 1866. Several owners attempted to maintain it over the next few decades with little success. The house burned in 1890.
A chimney with ovens and its tabby foundation are all that remain of the detached kitchen, which was built in the late 1790s. The slave cook Sans Foix produced wonderful meals for the Coupers and their guests, drawing acclaim from far and wide.
Beyond the kitchen are these ruins, which are presently unidentified.
Beautiful views of the Hampton River and Little St. Simons Island abound at Cannon’s Point.
The recent restoration of this historic African-American schoolhouse is one of the greatest preservation successes on the Georgia coast and should serve as a model for similar projects. After the Civil War and the collapse of the plantation economy, the descendants of enslaved persons remained on St. Simons and lived in the communities of South End, Jewtown, and Harrington. They were the dominant population on St. Simons until development in the early and mid-20th century changed the racial makeup of the island. Only remnants of their presence remain, and among them, the Harrington Graded School (thought to be a Rosenwald school), and Hazel’s Cafe, are the most significant.
The school served all three African-American communities until desegregation in the 1960s and was briefly used as a day care center until being abandoned in the early 1970s. It was eventually purchased by Glynn County and the St. Simons Land Trust but due to deterioration, it was slated for demolition in 2010. The Land Trust and the St. Simons African American Heritage Coalition formed the Friends of Harrington School and saved the school house. Serious work began in 2015 and by December 2016, the school was restored to its former glory.
This interesting church in the Harrington community was built just as the historic African-American neighborhoods of St. Simons were reaching their ebb. It’s a utilitarian example of the two-tower style, common among African-American congregations on the coast in an earlier time. The cinderblock structure, built sometime between 1950-1954, has unpainted sides, with the front being the only “finished” section.
Many thanks to Elysabeth Hunter, who kindly shared more of the history: Both churches are St. Andrew’s, which are Holiness/Pentecostal. The one in the back was the original [circa 1920]. My grandfather, Elder Andrew Hunter, Sr., built both. I am sure he had his sons to help. My grandmother, First Lady Beatrice Hunter, sold chicken dinners and homemade ice cream to help fund the church.
Fraternal lodges were important gathering place for the historic African-American communities of the Georgia coast. The Keystone Lodge No. 98 Free & Accepted Masons, Prince Hall Affiliated, is an important part of the Harrington community. This lodge, which I understand is still active, is also home to the Progressive Chapter 139, Order of the Eastern Star.
