Description

An abandoned tabby silo hides among the trees on Jekyll Island, GA.

History

From 1886 to 1947, Jekyll Island was the winter vacation home of the world's wealthiest elite, including J. P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, and the Rockefellers. A silo made from revival tabby (oyster shells mixed into Portland cement) was constructed about 1910 as part of a dairy farm. Today it is the only structure from the Jekyll Island Club Era not found in the National Historic Landmark District.

Although it lacks the historical significance of the island's Horton tabby site and the architectural interest of Hollybourne Cottage, it appeals to those who like to explore off the beaten path. It is located in the woods off an unpaved portion of Old Plantation Road between Jennings Avenue and the Methodist Church.

Location

GPS: N 31°04.699 and W 81°25.424

Address: It sits in the woods off an unpaved portion of Old Plantation Road between Jennings Avenue and the Methodist Church. An unmarked, unpaved trail to the tower can be seen from North Riverview Drive. 

Accessibility: It can only be reached by foot or by bike. It is a short walk from where the pavement ends on Old Plantation Road past the intersection with Jennings Avenue.

Description

Although St. Cyprian’s is an active church and not an abandoned ruin, visitors to Darien,GA can view the exterior walls made of exposed tabby. When I went to the Episcopal church, the Very Reverend Ted Clarkson kindly invited me in and explained the church’s history. 

History

Freed slaves built the picturesque church in 1875, using techniques of tabby construction from Antebellum times. There is debate over whether Portland cement or tabby concrete (made from burning oyster shells) was used, and no test has yet been done to determine the answer. Although the exterior tabby is exposed, the interior walls are covered with stucco, which has typically been the case for tabby structures.

The church sits on land donated by Frances Kemble Butler Leigh, the daughter of famous abolitionist and actress, Fanny Kemble, and of local planter, Pierce Butler. Mrs. Leigh’s husband, James Wentworth Leigh, was the Anglican Dean who first ministered to the freed slaves who built St. Cyprian’s. (For more information, visit http://standrewsstcyprians.georgiaepiscopal.org/) 

Location

GPS: N 31°22.014 and W 81°25.921

Address: 401 Fort King George Dr., Darien GA 31305

Accessibility: The outside of the tabby church can be seen any time, but entrance to the church is limited to services.

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Description
 
Ashantilly was the mainland home of Thomas Spalding, who revived the use of tabby in the early 1800s. Today the restored home is a non-profit educational center located close to Darien GA.
 
History
 
Thomas Spalding (1774-1851) built this tabby home in 1820 and named it “Ashantilly” after his family’s ancestral home in County Perth, Scotland.  Spalding was a Georgia legislator and planter, who owned Sapelo Island. He was also a well-known agriculturalist who developed procedures of crop rotation & diversification and who revived the use of tabby (​New Georgia Encyclopedia).Tabby was previously used for fortifications, but Spalding expanded its use for plantations, mills, and other agricultural buildings.
 
After the house burned in 1937, Ashantilly owner and printer William G. Haynes, Jr., rebuilt the home upon the tabby foundations that survived the fire (the oyster shell concrete foundations cannot be seen).   Haynes founded the Ashantilly Press and Ashantilly Center.  Today the center hosts cultural events and workshops (see ashantilly.org).
 
Location
 
GPS: N 31°22.877 and W 81°24.844
 
Address: From Darien, turn on Highway 99 going east toward the coast. After about 1.5 miles, turn right onto either St. Andrews Cemetery Rd. or Ashantilly Rd. to get to the Center.
 
Accessibility: Ashantilly is open for events. For more information, visit ashantilly.org.

Description

Off the coast of Georgia on Cumberland Island, tourists can visit the sprawling estate ruins of  Dungeness that include the Nathaniel Greene Tabby Cottage.

History

Cumberland’s first Dungeness was a hunting lodge built by James Oglethorpe, Georgia’s founder, in the 1730s. Revolutionary War hero Nathaniel Greene was granted much of Cumberland Island in 1783, but he died in 1786.
 
Greene's widow, Catherine, and her second husband, Phinneas Miller, built a tabby cottage that still stands today. Constructed around 1800, the tabby cottage served as a temporary home for Catherine and her family until her tabby mansion was completed. Now called the Tabby House or Nathaniel Greene Cottage, the structure became the gardener’s home.
 
Catherine named her four-story tabby mansion Dungeness after Oglethorpe’s hunting lodge. This Dungeness tabby mansion was abandoned during the Civil War and burned in 1866.
 
In the 1880s Thomas and Lucy Carnegie tore down the ruins to construct their own Dungeness  mansion. Their Queen Anne style mansion was built with revival tabby (crushed shells poured into Portland cement), granite, and brick. The Carnegie family abandoned Dungeness in 1924, and it burned in 1959. In addition to the Dungeness ruins and the Nathaniel Greene cottage, the estate grounds also contain the ruins of a recreation building, pergola, carriage house, cemetery, servant quarters and work areas.
 
In 1972 the National Park Service acquired the island, and it is now the Cumberland Island National Seashore. 

Location

GPS: N 30°44.910 and W 81°28.254 (Dungeness ruins)

Address: The visitor center is located on the mainland by the Cumberland ferry boat at 113 St. Marys Street, St Marys GA 31558. 

​Accessibility: Cumberland Island is accessible only by ferry. For more information see the Cumberland Island National Seashore website.

Description

On the northern end of Sapelo Island reside the tabby ruins of Chocolate Plantation. The tabby ruins include the main house, slave cabins, barn, and what may have been a storehouse. In the 1920s Howard Coffin covered the barn with Revival Tabby made of Portland cement, which is falling off so that the original tabby can now be seen underneath. 

History

According to the marker at the site, French Royalists who owned the land from 1789-1795 named it “Chocolate” after the Guale Native American village on Sapelo called “Chucalate.” The French sold it to Edward Swarbreck, who constructed the tabby slave cabins and the tabby main house in 1819. Charles Rogers, owner of the plantation in the 1830s, built the tabby barn, which was restored by Howard Coffin in the 1920s. The main house burned in 1853 during the residency of Randolph Spalding. R. J. Reynolds purchased the island in 1934, and his widow sold it to the State of Georgia, which now manages it.

Location

GPS: N 31°29.978 and W 81°15.174

Address: The departure point for the ferry is the Sapelo Island Visitors Center,  at 1766 Landing Rd. SE, Darien GA 31305. Once on the island travel north on the West Perimeter Rd. (the paved road will become a dirt road). Chocolate plantation is on the left, near the marsh facing the mainland. 
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Accessibility: Sapelo Island can only be reached by ferry or boat. (For more information on the ferry and visiting the island, go to http://www.sapelonerr.org/.) Chocolate Plantation is not part of the Georgia DNR’s standard tour of the island; their occasional “hidden gem” tour sometimes features Chocolate Plantation. Otherwise, a private tour with a guide must be arranged.
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