Wormsloe Historic Site facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Wormsloe Plantation
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 Location in Georgia (U.S. state)
Location in the United States
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| Nearest city | Savannah, Georgia |
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| Built | 1739 |
| NRHP reference No. | 73000615 |
| Added to NRHP | April 26, 1973 |
The Wormsloe State Historic Site, once known as Wormsloe Plantation, is a special historical place near Savannah, Georgia. It's in the southeastern part of the United States. This site covers about 822 acres (3.3 km2). It protects a part of what used to be the large Wormsloe Plantation.
This plantation was started by Noble Jones, one of the people who helped create colonial Georgia. Today, the site has a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) dirt road lined with beautiful southern live oaks. You can also see the ruins of a small, strong house made of tabby, which is a type of concrete from oyster shells. There's a museum and an area that shows what colonial life was like. You can see recreations of a blacksmithing forge and houses similar to those built long ago.
In 1736, Noble Jones received land on the Isle of Hope. This land became the heart of Wormsloe. He built a fortified house on the island's southeastern tip. It overlooked the Skidaway Narrows, a key part of the Skidaway River. This house was part of a defense system set up by James Oglethorpe, who founded Georgia. These defenses protected Savannah from possible attacks by the Spanish. Jones later developed Wormsloe into a small plantation. His family eventually built a large house, a library, and a family cemetery there.
The State of Georgia bought most of Wormsloe Plantation in 1973. This happened after a long legal battle. The state opened the land to the public in 1979. The Barrow family, who are descendants of Noble Jones, still own a part of the land. This includes the historic house, a building that housed enslaved people, the library, and the family cemetery. They must live there as their main home, or the land will go back to the state.
Contents
Exploring Wormsloe's Location
The Isle of Hope is an island or peninsula about 11 miles (18 km) southeast of downtown Savannah. It's in Georgia's coastal plain. The island is about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 2 miles (3.2 km) wide. The Skidaway River, part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, forms its eastern side. The Moon River, famous from the song, forms the southwest shore. The Herb River is on the northwest.
The Isle of Hope is surrounded by saltwater tidal marsh. Skidaway Island is across the Skidaway River to the east. The Georgia mainland is across the Moon River to the west. Wormsloe covers most of the southern part of the Isle of Hope.
A small island called Long Island sits between Skidaway Island and the Isle of Hope. It splits the Skidaway River into two channels. In colonial times, the main channel flowed between Long Island and the Isle of Hope. This made Wormsloe a very important strategic spot. By water, the Isle of Hope is just over 10 miles (16 km) from the Atlantic Ocean. It's also just over 10 miles (16 km) from the Port of Savannah.
Skidaway Road connects Wormsloe and the Isle of Hope to U.S. Route 80 near Savannah. The Wormsloe Historic Site is managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
A Look Back at Wormsloe's History
Ancient Times and Early Settlers
Native Americans lived on the Isle of Hope for thousands of years. We know this from oyster shell deposits found there. Tools from people living as far back as 13,000 BCE have been found near Wormsloe. Large earthen mounds, called the Bilbo mounds, were built by ancient mound builders around 3545 BCE in Savannah. These are some of the oldest human-made structures in North America.
Spanish Catholic missionaries visited the area between 1500 and 1650. They followed Native American groups. The Spanish tried to build a permanent settlement in 1526, but it only lasted six weeks. By the 16th century, when English colonists explored south, many Native American communities lived on the Isle of Hope.
In the early 1730s, the English decided to create a new colony called Georgia. This colony would act as a buffer between English South Carolina and Spanish Florida. James Oglethorpe led the first colonists who arrived in Savannah in 1733. Among them was Noble Jones, a doctor and carpenter from England. Jones was one of the settlement's main officials. He received land in Savannah and a small farm.
The Yamacraw, a branch of the Muscogee people, lived in the Savannah area. James Oglethorpe became friends with their Chief Tomochichi. This friendship helped Oglethorpe acquire the land around Savannah.
Building Wormsloe Plantation
Noble Jones asked for 500 acres (2.0 km2) on the Isle of Hope in 1736. He started building a fortified house overlooking the Skidaway Narrows. The house was built between 1739 and 1745. It used wood and tabby, a concrete made from oyster shells and lime. The fort had 8-foot (2.4 m) high walls with strong corners. It was 1.5 stories tall and had five small rooms. Oglethorpe gave Jones 12 marines and a scout boat to patrol the river.
Jones named his estate "Wormsloe." This name likely came from Wormslow Hundred in England, where his family was from. Some people thought it was because he tried to raise silkworms there.
Noble Jones's fortified house was one of several defenses built to protect the new colony. The English worried that the Spanish would try to take their land. A conflict called the War of Jenkins' Ear started in 1739. Jones helped in an English raid in Florida in 1740. He also helped defend Frederica in the Battle of Bloody Marsh in 1742. When the war ended in 1748, the Spanish threat to Georgia mostly disappeared.
Life at Wormsloe Before the Civil War
At first, owning enslaved people was not allowed in Georgia. But settlers argued that they needed enslaved workers to succeed. Noble Jones used rented enslaved people to build his fortified house and work the land. Enslaved people cleared forests, planted crops, and dug complex drainage ditches. These ditches are still on the property today. When the ban on slavery was lifted in 1749, Jones bought enslaved people. Before the Civil War, Wormsloe had more than 1,500 enslaved people forced to work there.
Wormsloe tried growing fruit trees, mulberry, and indigo, but these crops didn't do well. Noble Jones also bought land and worked as a surveyor. He owned over 5,500 acres (22 km2) and five town lots in Savannah. He also served as a judge, militia captain, and colonial legislator.
When Noble Jones died in 1775, Wormsloe went to his daughter, Mary Jones Bulloch. Jones was loyal to the King of England, but his son, Noble Wimberly Jones, supported the American Revolution. Noble Wimberly inherited Wormsloe in 1795 after his sister Mary died. He later gave the plantation to his son, George Jones, in 1804.
George Jones became a U.S. senator. He built a new, grand house at Wormsloe in 1828, which still stands today. He focused the plantation's business on growing cotton using the forced labor of enslaved people. He also brought in steam engines to help with the work. His decisions helped the family become very wealthy.
George Frederick Tilghman Jones inherited Wormsloe in 1857. He changed the spelling from "Wormslow" to "Wormsloe." He made the gardens bigger and added the first oak-lined avenue. He also built a library and expanded the house. He changed his name to George Wymberley Jones De Renne. He started publishing old Georgia documents. During the 1850s, eight simple cabins were built for enslaved people. These cabins were arranged in two rows between the main house and the old fort. Enslaved people worked in the cotton fields and farm buildings. In the evenings and on Sundays, they hunted, fished, and tended their own small gardens.
Wormsloe During and After the Civil War
During the American Civil War, the owners of Wormsloe (the Jones/De Renne family) left for Europe and northern states. Confederate forces used Wormsloe and the Isle of Hope as a fort. When Union forces captured Savannah in 1864, the U.S. government took the plantation. This happened because the owners had supported the Confederacy. George Wymberly Jones De Renne asked for a pardon, and President Andrew Johnson granted it. The property was returned to the family. When George Wymberley Jones Derenne died, he was one of the richest men in Savannah.
After slavery ended, some of the freed enslaved people continued to live in the cabins. They farmed the land, first as sharecroppers and then as renters. In the late 1800s, De Renne started a commercial dairy at Wormsloe. A grain silo from this time is still visible from the oak avenue. The grounds were also designed like a fancy English garden and opened to tourists.
Wormsloe in the 20th Century and Today
George Wymberley Jones De Renne left Wormsloe to the Pennsylvania Company until his son, Wymberley Jones De Renne, died. Then it would go to his grandchildren. Wymberley Jones De Renne returned to Wormsloe in 1893. He expanded the gardens and planted a new oak avenue with over 400 oak trees, which is still used today. He also published works for the Georgia Historical Society and built the De Renne Georgia Library. After his death in 1916, Wormsloe went to his grandchildren. In 1917, one grandson, Wymberley Wormsloe De Renne, bought out his cousins' shares of the plantation.
In the early 1900s, the De Renne family took apart most of the cabins where enslaved people had lived. They used the materials for other buildings. One cabin was fixed up in 1929. The De Rennes hired a local Black woman named Liza to act as "a nice old-fashioned mammy" for tourists. Liza claimed she was born into slavery in that very cabin. Tourists could visit Liza's cabin and enjoy "Old South" foods like coffee and hoecakes.
In 1938, due to bad investments and the Great Depression, Wymberley and Augusta had to give Wormsloe to Wymberley's sister, Elfrida De Renne Barrow. She took on her brother's debts and made the plantation her home. Elfrida Barrow created the Wormsloe Foundation. This foundation continued the family's work of publishing books about Georgia history.
In 1961, Barrow gave most of the Wormsloe estate to the Wormsloe Foundation. She kept ownership of Wormsloe House and about 50 acres (0.20 km2) around it. In 1972, the foundation transferred Wormsloe to the Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy then gave it to the State of Georgia the next year. In 1979, the state opened the site to the public as Wormsloe State Historic Site. As part of the agreement, Noble Jones's descendants can still live in the family's original house. They also control 50 acres (0.20 km2) of land around it. This includes the large house, the building that housed enslaved people, a library, a family cemetery, and newer buildings. The family must continue to live in the house as their main home. If they don't, the property rights will go back to the state.
Visiting Wormsloe Historic Site Today
The arched entrance to Wormsloe is off Skidaway Road, near the Isle of Hope community. The state-controlled area includes the beautiful oak-lined avenue, a museum, and a walking trail. This trail goes through a thick forest to the ruins of the tabby fort built by Jones in 1745. More recently, the park has created a colonial life demonstration area. This area has a replica hut made of wattle and daub and small buildings. They show what a living area for Jones's marines and enslaved people might have looked like.
The Wormsloe site is in a dense forest of oak and pine trees. Much of this forest was there before Europeans settled the Isle of Hope. However, a beetle problem in the 1970s killed most of the old pine trees. A short trail near the museum shows pictures of wildlife and birds by the 18th-century naturalist Mark Catesby.
Wormsloe Family Burial Ground
In 1875, George Wymberley Jones De Renne placed a tombstone on the estate. It marked the burial place of his ancestors. The inscription says it marks the "old burial place of Wormsloe, 1737–1789." It also says it saves "from oblivion the graves of his kindred." Some of the people buried there include James Bulloch and his wife Jean. Also, Sarah Jones, wife of Noble Jones, and their son Inigo. George Wymberley De Renne's daughter Elfrida De Renne Barrow, her husband Craig, their son Craig Jr., and Craig Jr.'s wife Laura Palmer Bell are also buried there.
Images for kids
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Oak avenue in winter, built in the early 1890s.
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Wormsloe's oak avenue in summer.
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Replica colonial wattle-and-daub hut.
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Interior of the wattle-and-daub hut.
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Portrait of James Oglethorpe.
See also
