St. Simons Island is gushing with historical sights of all kind. We tried to see as many as we could and I think we may have visited 1/4 of them. One of our favorite sights was Ft. Fredericka. It is a national monument preserving a part of American history few of us remember studying. The fort was built along one of the interior waterways leading to Savannah in the early 1700's. It's purpose was to protect the mainland from Spanish invasion. I know you may be getting bored, but this is really a fascinating area of history. James Edward Oglethorpe was put in charge of this operation and he was so successful at protecting the land, eventually no protection was needed. So there was a thriving village at the fort, complete with artisans and workers of every kind: everything necessary for making a settlement successful. The Wesley brothers, of Methodist fame, were even residents there for a while and preached in the upper level of the storehouse. The land and buildings changed hands many times and eventually all buildings were delapidated and all that was left were a few stone structures and underneath a little earth, the foundations of the homes and businesses of Ft. Fredericka. In the early 1900's the property came into the hands of the national park system and has been beautifully preserved through careful excavation and research.
This is a foundation of one of the homes along the main street.
This is also a foundation of a home. This was a duplex-notice the fireplace in the middle.
This is the view from the lane looking down to the old fort.
This is a cannon on the side of the fort looking over the river ad marshes. The cannon is from the era and another on the other side was found in the river and restored.
The old barrack ruins. They think it had no windows along the side. It had to be an oven!
Massive oaks beautifully line and cover most of the area. As massive as they are, they were not the oaks that were here in the 1700's.
These are our little colonists.
This is also a foundation of a home. This was a duplex-notice the fireplace in the middle.
This is the view from the lane looking down to the old fort.
This is a cannon on the side of the fort looking over the river ad marshes. The cannon is from the era and another on the other side was found in the river and restored.
The old barrack ruins. They think it had no windows along the side. It had to be an oven!
Massive oaks beautifully line and cover most of the area. As massive as they are, they were not the oaks that were here in the 1700's.
These are our little colonists.
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