With all the new construction on St. Simons it’s easy to miss places like this, but they represent the first major wave of construction and development on the island and they’re important historic resources. Most are located on Ocean Boulevard and nearby. This English Vernacular cottage was built sometime between 1935-1939.
Though it’s been modified, this bungalow is one of numerous historic dwellings on Ocean Boulevard.
Muhlenbergia is quite common in Georgia and is known for its bright pink blooms in autumn. It’s particularly nice to see in masses on the dunes.
Patriotic displays are the rule on Coast Guard (East) Beach this weekend. Memorial Day weekend is the traditional kickoff for the summer season and huge crowds descend on all of Georgia’s beaches to celebrate.
I talked to a couple of locals while admiring the latest additions to this driftwood totem, used to post remembrances of lost loved ones and pets earlier this summer and known as the “Tribute Tree”.
The first thing that caught my eye was this strip of vinyl siding with the legend “St. Simons 1-Matthew 0” in reference to the lack of damage the island sustained during this year’s hurricane.
Ornaments were actually being placed while I was getting the shots. I imagine the tree will be full by Christmas day.
Vernacular frame cottages of this type were once common on St. Simons, but are increasingly rare today. This one on Beachview Drive has definite Craftsman features, and a twin next door.
Built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Coast Guard Station at East Beach was one of 45 authorized by President Roosevelt and one of just three still believed to be in existence. It’s one of the most architecturally interesting structures on the island. When the station was first opened in 1937, the beach front was located just a few feet from the front door. Sands have filled in the area over time and today this is the most popular beach on St. Simons. Though it originated as a life-saving station, the Coast Guard Station took on new importance with the coming of World War II. On 8 April 1942, the German submarine U-123 sank two merchant ships off St. Simons. In all, twenty-two sailors on the SS Oklahoma and the Esso Baton Rouge lost their lives. Surviving members were brought to the station to await further orders. Several of the dead were unidentified and buried in a plot in Brunswick’s Palmetto Cemetery beneath the marker “Unknown Seamen – 1942”. They have since been identified. After years of diminishing use, the station was decommissioned in 1995. Today, it is operated by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society as the World War II Home Front Museum.
National Register of Historic Places
Founded in 1808, Christ Church did not build a permanent house of worship until 1820, due largely to economic troubles stemming from the War of 1812. The first structure stood until the Civil War, when Union troops damaged it so badly that members were forced to meet in their homes until the present structure was built in 1884.
The interior of Christ Church is breathtaking. Shipbuilders built the new cruciform church to resemble an inverted ship’s hull, symbolic of the ship of faith There are various stained glass windows throughout.
Christ Church Cemetery, Frederica
The church and graveyard are among the most visited and beloved places on St. Simons. It’s the final resting place of many Georgia pioneers and veterans of nearly every war dating from the American Revolution onward. The following photos are a general survey. I’ll be adding more specific burials at a later date.
The Hazzard family owned West Point and Pike’s Bluff plantations on St. Simons. This tabby mausoleum is one of the most interesting gravesites in Christ Church cemetery. The date A. D. 1813 is inscribed on a bronze marker at the foot of the mausoleum and is a bit mysterious. This history of the Hazzards was written by Carey C. Giudici: The Hazzard family was one of the Island’s most colorful families. Originally from South Carolina, Revolutionary War veteran Colonel William Hazzard moved to the area and purchased West Point in 1818. This plantation, just north of Frederica, became the home of Hazzard’s oldest son Colonel William Wigg Hazzard. Nine years later the younger son, Dr. Thomas Fuller Hazzard bought the Pike’s Bluff property that adjoined West Point to the north. The family now owned much of the north end of St. Simons Island. Very active in church activities, they also served as representatives to Georgia’s House of Representatives, enjoyed competing in their racing boats Shark and Comet, and frequently went hunting with their pack of deer hounds. Both were also noted writers; William Wigg Hazzard’s 1825 history of Glynn County is still in print. In 1838 a boundary dispute resulted in Dr. Thomas Hazzard shooting a young neighbor, John Armstrong Wylly. Tradition has it that although Dr. Hazzard was acquitted of any crime, the family was so ostracized by the other planter families that they built their own family chapel on West Point–which became known as “The Pink Chapel” because of the lichen-based discoloration on its tabby walls. Colonel Hazzard’s son, Captain William Miles Hazzard, commanded the local Confederate Army detachment during the Civil War. With nine troops and a slave named Henry, he burned the U.S. Navy headquarters on the occupied St. Simons.
World-famous for her historical novels set on the Georgia coast in the early days of white settlement, Eugenia Price was largely responsible for the national attention Christ Church has received in the ensuing years. My mother has always been a big fan of her writing. From the Lighthouse trilogy and the Georgia trilogy to the Florida trilogy and the Savannah quartet, most of her books are still in print or readily available on the coast, especially on St. Simons.