St. Catherines Island
| St. Catherines Island | ||
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| Waters | Georgia Coast in Liberty County (Georgia) | |
| Geographical location | 31 ° 37 '50 " N , 81 ° 9' 36" W | |
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| surface | 90 km² | |
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St. Catherines Island is an island off the coast of the US state of Georgia in Liberty County (Georgia) in the Atlantic Ocean . The island is 16 km long and 3 miles wide and lies between St. Catherine's Sound and Sapelo Sound . It belongs to the archipelago of the Sea Islands and the archipelago Golden Isles of Georgia . It is owned by the Saint Catherines Island Foundation and is not open to the public.
history
Pre-Columbian period
St. Catherines Island was founded around 3000 BC. Separated from the mainland and shortly afterwards the first islanders arrived. Currently available data suggests that during the late prehistoric period, the islanders began growing corn. Although intensive corn cultivation did not begin until about a century before the arrival of the European colonists, the labor force and the agricultural products they produced were converted directly into tribute payments that served both the livelihood and political power of the coastal chiefs.
Spanish colonial times
In 1576 the city of Guale existed on the island. The Guale Indians were named by the Spaniards after this settlement on St. Catherines Island and the Spanish Mission on St. Catherines became known as Santa Catalina de Guale. In 1680 the British sent a force to the coast and attacked Santa Catalina de Guale . Although the Guale successfully held the invaders back, they were appalled by the attack, and St. Catherine's Island was soon abandoned. British travelers described the ruins of Santa Catalina in 1687 and 1738.
English colonial times
James Edward Oglethorpe founded the Georgia Colony in 1733. Mary Musgrove , who ran a trading post, was its interpreter and mediator with the local tribes from 1732 to 1743. After Oglethorpe founded and named the cities of Savannah and Augusta, he led a contingent of settlers, soldiers and mercenaries to St. Simons Island. On the way to St. Simons Island, his people camped on St. Catherines Island. In 1760 Mary Musgrove Bosomworth settled on St. Catherines Island, which was also home to several Yamassee families at the time. The Bosomworths raised cattle, pigs and horses and developed a plantation. In 1765, Mary Musgrove's husband sold the island to Button Gwinnett , who lived on St. Catherine's for 11 years and was killed in a duel during the Revolution. After the War of Independence , ownership of the island was disputed and the courts divided the island. Jacob Waldburger acquired the north end of the island in 1800 and the rest of the island in 1812 for the main production of cotton. Before the end of the Civil War, Tunis Campbell , the head of the local Freedmen's Bureau, resided on St. Catherines. Campbell left shortly after the war ended.
Modern times
A Cuban arms smuggler known as Captain Rodriguez bought the island and used it as a base of operations for about a decade. His widow sold the island to a Rauers family who operated an oyster fishery on the island until the late 1920s. In 1893 a hurricane caused catastrophic destruction and all buildings were destroyed. During the Second World War , the Coast Guard maintained submarine observation posts on St. Catherines. In 1943 Edward John Noble bought the island from the Rauers family. After the end of the Second World War Noble cleared forests and raised Angus cattle there. Noble owned the candy company Life Savers and held corporate gatherings on the island in the 1950s. He has also hosted guests such as former President Dwight D. Eisenhower and former President Richard Nixon . Ten years after his death, the island was transferred to the Edward J. Noble Foundation in 1968. The island is now owned by the St. Catherines Island Foundation. The aim of the foundation is to conserve natural resources, protect the survival of endangered species and preserve historical sites. The island was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1969 and was automatically added to the National Register of Historic Places .
nature
In the late 1960s, various options were sought for how the island could best be used while preserving its particular wildness. A consultant was hired to create a conservation plan and sought advice from scientists and conservationists at the American Museum of Natural History , the New York Zoological Society (NYZS), and the University of Georgia . The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) has been asked to oversee a research program on the island. In 1972 the first researchers from the AMNH came to investigate the flora and fauna on the island. In 1981 the island was transferred to the St. Catherines Island Foundation. The Noble Foundation remains the primary source of funding for the research, education and conservation programs carried out on the island. From 1974 to 2007 the Wildlife Conservation Society ran a breeding facility for rare and endangered species on St. Catherine's Island. As a result of this ambitious project, several thousand mammals, birds and reptiles of 54 different species lived on the island during its 33 years of existence. About half of the island consists of salt marshes , the remaining area is forested. There are beaches in the northeast and south of the island.
literature
- Gale A. Bishop, Harold B. Rollins, David Hurst Thomas: Geoarchaeology of St. Catherines Island, Georgia. Proceedings of the Fourth Caldwell Conference, St. Catherines Island, Georgia, 2009. * David Hurst Thomas: Native American landscapes of St. Catherines Island, Georgia, Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, no.88, 2008.
- George J. Armelagos, John T Woods, Jr .: St. Catherines Island: The Story of People and Place, 2012, ISBN 978-0985345501 .
- David Hurst Thomas: St. Catherines: an island in time, 2011, ISBN 978-0820338019 .
