GEORGIA Farish of St John.

Plan of the Town of Sunbury, containing 3430 feet in Length from North to South, & 2230 in Breadth on the South Side & 1880 in Breadth.

on the North..

IV.

SUNBURY.

On the 23rd of January, 1734, Mr. Oglethorpe, accompanied by Captain Ferguson and sixteen attendants,including two Indians, set out from Savannah in an open row-boat, followed by a yawl carrying provisions. and ammunition, upon an exploratory expedition to the Southern frontiers of Georgia.* His course lay through the inner passages, and was pursued as far as St Simons island. For the protection of the Colony it was then determined to form a military station and settlement near the mouth of the Alatamaha; and, as an outpost and,—as and barrier against Spanish invasion,-to erect a strong fort on the high bluff on the western side of St. Simons island. These sites were shortly afterwards occupied and fortified, and were respectively named New Inverness and Frederica. It was during this reconnoissance that the eyes of the Founder of Georgia first rested upon that bold and beautiful bluff which, overlooking the placid waters of Midway river and the intervening low-lying salt marshes, descries in the distance the green woods of Bermuda island, the dim outline of the southern point of Ossabaw, and, across the sound, the white shores of St. Catherine. Although formal session had been made by the Lower Creeks of all lands along the sea-coast

*See Memoir of General James Oglethorpe by Robert Wright, p. 74. London, 1857.

from the Savannah to the Alatamaha river, extending westward as high as the tide flowed, and including all islands except a few which the Indians specially reserved for the purposes of hunting, fishing, and bathing, no English settlements had, at that early day, been formed south of the Great Ogeechee river. Fort Argyle, garrisoned by Captain McPherson and his troop of Rangers, and commanding the passes by which the Indians during the late wars were accustomed to invade Carolina, was then the only military post of any consequence in the direction of the Spaniards. From this nameless bluff the Aborigines had not then removed, and their canoes might be seen passing and repassing to and from Hussoope, [Ossabaw], and Cowleggee, St. Catharine, islands and the main. To the quiet woods and waters of this semi-tropical region the English were strangers. The Bermuda grass which, at a later period, so completely covered Sunbury bluff, did not then appear, but magnificent live oaks, in full grown stature and solemn mien, crowned the high-ground even to the very verge where the tide kissed the shore. Cedars, festooned with vines, over hung the waters. The magnolia grandiflora, queen of the forest,-excited on every hand the admiration of the early visitor. The sweet-scented myrtle, the tall pine, the odoriferous bay, and other indigenous trees lent their charms to a spot whose primal beauty had encountered no change at the hand of man. The woods were resonant with the songs of birds, whose bright plumage vied in coloring with the native flowers which gladdened the eye and gave gentle odors to the ambient air. Fishes abounded in the waters, and game on the land. Cool sea-breezes tempered the heat of sum

mer, and the rigor of cold was unknown in the depth of winter. It was a gentle, attractive place, this bold bluff,as it came from the hand of Nature. Some scene like

this did the Poet Waller have in view as he sang :

"Heav'n sure has kept this spot of earth uncurst,

To show how all things were created first."

By a certain grant under the great seal of the Province of Georgia, bearing date the 4th of October, 1757, his Majesty George II conveyed to Mark Carr, his heirs and assigns forever, in free and common socage, "All that tract of land containing five hundred acres, situate and being in the District of Midway in the Province of Georgia, bounded on the east by the Midway river, on the west by land of Thomas Carr, on the south by vacant land, and on all other sides by marshes of the said river."

The grantee of these lands, which embraced the site of the future town of Sunbury, had been for some twenty years a man of means and of mark in the Colony of Georgia. In 1741 he had been sent by General Oglethorpe to Virginia to raise recruits for the Colony.* In his last will and testament, dated June 8th, 1767, and proven before his Excellency Sir James Wright on the the 4th of December of the same year, Captain Carr describes himself as being "of the Parish of St. Patrick in the Province of Georgia, Esquire." He owned lots in the town of Frederica, an island on the north side of Midway river, a tract of land on the main fronting that island, which he had purchased from John Cubbage, and "a plantation on the main over against Jekyll island." This was his favorite residence. Here, on the 18th of March, 1741,despite the presence of a guard of soldiers there stationed

* Memoir of General James Oglethorpe, by Robert Wright, pp. 284, 285. London, 1867.

by General Oglethorpe,-the Indians made an attack very early in the morning, killing several of the soldiers and servants, wounding others, "locking down the women and children in the cellar," pillaging the house, and carrying away the booty in a large boat belonging to the plantation.*

The grant of this five hundred acre tract on Midway river to Mark Carr in fee simple, was made under the operation of the rules adopted by the Common Council in May, 1750, which essentially enlarged the tenures of grants already existing, and provided that future alienations should convey "an absolute inheritance to the grantees, their heirs and assigns." It will be remembered that under the regulations at first prescribed by the Trustees, five hundred acre tracts were conveyed only to persons well approved by the Trust;-parties who should at their own expense, and within twelve months from the date of the grant, bring ten able-bodied men servants not younger than twenty years of age, and settle upon the lands.

Former alienations of this magnitude had been coupled with other conditions, among which the following may be enumerated as the most important:

I. The grantee obligated himself to abide in Georgia with his servants for a term of not less than three years, building houses and cultivating the lands.

II. Within ten years from the registry of the grant, at least two hundred of the five hundred acres were to be cleared and cultivated.

III. No alienation of the lands thus granted, either in whole or in part, for a term of years or otherwise, was permitted except by special leave.

*See A Journal of the Proceedings in Georgia, &c., by William Stephens, pp. 160, 161. London, MDCCXLII.