Description

A boardwalk for visitors surrounds this covered archaeological site with coquina and tabby remnants from a plantation in Palm Coast FL.

History

Joseph Hernandez, Florida's first delegate to the U.S. Congress in 1822 and the nation's first Hispanic congressman, purchased Mala Compra (Spanish for "bad bargain") in 1816. The cotton plantation was destroyed during the Florida War (1835-43) between Seminoles and whites.

The archaeological site was created in 1999. Excavations revealed the foundations of the main house, a kitchen/wash house, and coquina well. The main house was built with tabby floors and a wood frame supported by coquina blocks. Whereas tabby is an oyster shell concrete, coquina is a shellstone found along the coast of Northeast Florida.

​Location

GPS: N 29°36.963 and W 81°12.251

Address: 5862 N. Oceanshore Blvd., Palm Coast FL 32137 (in Bing's Landing Park off State Road A1A)

Accessibility: Free and open to the public at any time

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

Two tabby walls face each other in the isolated woods of Cedar Point, located at the southern end of Black Hammock Island in the Timucuan Preserve National Park in Jacksonville, FL. 

History

The tabby ruins are believed to be the remnants of the plantation established by William Fitzpatrick in 1795 on Cedar Point. In 1848 the land was sold to the Broward family, and in the 1990s it became part of the Timucuan Preserve National Park, which also includes the Thomson House and Kingsley Plantation tabby structures. (For more information see http://www.blackhammockisland.com.)

Location

Fitzpatrick Plantation proved difficult to find because the park and its website do not provide any information on the ruins. A sign at the site warns visitors away because the walls have not been stabilized, and so this may explain why no information is available. Below are details on driving to Cedar Point and walking to the ruins:

GPS: N 30°26.633 and W 81°27.700 (Cedar Point Boat Ramp Parking Lot)
          N 30°26.524 and W 81°27.931 (ruins)

Address: The Cedar Point Boat Ramp parking lot is located at ​9023 Cedar Point Road, Jacksonville FL 32218. Directions are given on the Timucuan Preserve website, and the location appears on the map below. At one point the road makes a sharp turn, and failing to make the turn will put the driver on a different road.

Visitors can find the start of a path at a sign at the boat ramp. Or, instead of parking at the boat ramp, visitors can follow Cedar Point Road to its very end and find the path located behind the gate, which appears to be the shorter route to the hiking trail.
 
Both paths converge at a sign outlining the Cedar Point hiking trails. The quickest way to the ruins is to follow the blue route (not the red) and keep left each time it forks. It is about .8 of a mile to the ruins.

Accessibility: Visitors need to be physically able to walk about two miles. Since the ruins are in a maritime forest, it is advisable to wear bug spray to ward off mosquitoes and ticks, and to wear covered shoes in case snakes or other creatures are encountered. Winter is the best time to visit.

 Description

Visitors to Kingsley Plantation in Jacksonville FL will see on Fort George Road the unfinished Thomson tabby house, which sits atop the McGundo Midden.

History

It is believed that the house was being constructed in 1854 by Charles Thomson, owner of Fort George Island. However, construction was halted when he died in 1855.

Many planters owned Fort George Island, most famously Zephaniah Kingsley, who built Kingsley Plantation and its tabby slave cabins during 1814-1837. The State of Florida created Fort George Island Cultural State Park in the 1950s, and the island became part of the Timucuan Preserve National Park in the 1990s.

The McGundo Midden can be seen in the woods adjacent to the Thomson tabby house. The piles of oyster shells in the midden would have been used in making the tabby, as was common practice. (For more information visit the Timucuan Preserve website and the Fort George Island Cultural State Park Unit Management Plan.)

Location

GPS: N 30°24.562 and W 81° 25.864

Address: ​Fort George Rd., Jacksonville FL 32226 (The house is on the side of the road just before the intersection with Palmetto Avenue.)

Accessibility: The house sits on the side of the road and is accessible any time.

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. 
​
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.
​