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 last addition to the Hawkins house was made at the back and measured
sixteen and a half feet north-south and eighteen and a half feet
east-west. The western side was aligned with the western wall of the
main house, but the eastern wall did not use the party wall. Instead
there was a gap of one and a half feet between the back rooms of the
Hawkins and Davison houses. The brick of the walls measured 4″ x 2″ x
9″, definitely larger than those of the main house. At the southeast
corner there was a large buttress outside the wall, evidently part of a
chimney foundation. Inside the southeast corner was a corner fireplace
set diagonally across the corner. As the tabby floor of this back room
sank into the old well the depression was filled in with more tabby and
later another floor level was added. There is some evidence that finally
a wooden floor was installed, over the tabby.
There is no evidence as to the height of this back addition to the
Hawkins house. However, the Roberson statement of 1741[42] says that
Oglethorpe stood in the window and put his head between the joists of
Davison’s house. It is further stated that Oglethorpe’s action involved
the roof levels of the two houses. Thus it seems reasonable to assume
that the joists mentioned are roof joists. As the only place in the
Hawkins house where a window could face the Davison house is in the
narrow gap between the south addition and the Davison house it seems
this addition must have been three stories high. As this was the only
addition to the house that was made of brick it seems to correspond to
that mentioned as being completed by August of 1740 which cost £60.[43]
One other well belonging to the Hawkins lot was forty feet west of the
house just inside the western line of the lot. It was circular and
probably had a well house over it. Slightly over six feet deep the walls
were supported by another series of bottomless barrels. It also had been
filled with household trash including a very fine musket bayonet. All
these wells had planks laid across the bottom, apparently to prevent the
well bucket from muddying the well. This last well had in addition a
large square post of unknown use resting on the plank. Just west of the
well was a poorly defined line of root disturbances which may mark the
location of the hedge of pomegranates mentioned for Dr. Hawkins lot.[44]
_The Davison House_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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