Hawkins-Davison Houses, Frederica, St. Simons Island, Georgia — John Shaqi
Hawkins-Davison Houses, Frederica, St. Simons Island, GeorgiaCate, Margaret Davis
History
Hawkins-Davison Houses, Frederica, St. Simons Island, Georgia
Cate, Margaret Davis
Dwellings -- Georgia -- Saint Simons Island; Fort Frederica National Monument (Ga.); Saint Simons Island (Ga. : Island) -- History
The next stage in the development of the house was a strengthening of
the western, original hut. This was accomplished by putting wooden forms
along the inside and outside edges of the posts of the west wall and
pouring tabby around the posts to a height of one foot. This was applied
only to the north ten posts on the west side. On the south side a series
of bricks was found that evidently served as wedges against wall posts.
The floor of the room was at this time slightly more than one and a half
feet below ground level. A remnant of brick floor remained and it seems
likely that the entire floor was bricked. The floor was littered with
fragments of small glass bottles, small white Delft ointment jars,
several glass bottle stoppers, and an ivory enema tube. This implies
that the apothecary shop of Dr. Hawkins was located in this western
room. It is suggested that the strengthening of this hut into an
addition to the house comprises the addition of half the length
mentioned by Hawkins in 1737.[41] The 1740 addition was of brick and
this west room is ten feet wide, half the length, twenty feet, of the
main house. There is evidence of later repairs to the walls of this room
but we do not know of what these alterations consisted.
During the time from 1736 to 1740 when the main room was in use two
wells were in use successively just to the rear of the Hawkins house.
First was a rectangular well three feet south of the rear wall and just
east of the back door. This well had a rectangular pit four feet square
with posts at the corners which supported a well house. The walls within
the well were held up by wooden barrels placed one above another with
the ends knocked out. The well was six and a half feet deep and there
was less than one foot of water in this well. Several peach pits were
found in the base of this well. The next well was circular directly
south of the back door. It was dug six and a half feet deep and six feet
in diameter. The well proper was bricked in, with a diameter of three
feet. This well contained a variety of objects that had evidently been
included in household trash which was used to fill up the well when it
was abandoned. They consisted of:
1 small lead glass round bottle, 50cc. capacity
1 square bottle, 1 pint capacity, probably a snuff bottle
1 round bottle, 28 ounces capacity
1 English brown salt glaze stoneware bottle
1 English brown and gray salt glaze stoneware mug
1 English white salt glaze stoneware mug
1 Small white English Delft ointment jar
1 yellow and brown striped lead glaze pot with handle
1 Japanese Imara porcelain bowl, blue on white with red and gilt
overglaze enamels
1 claw hammer, complete with handle
a quantity of watermelon seeds and peach pits.
The well was abandoned and filled when it was decided to make another
addition to the house. Tabby floor was laid over the filled well and
soon sank slightly into the well.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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