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
Along the east side of the Davison lot a series of pits was excavated in
an attempt to locate the fence along that side. There were postholes
that very probably represent the fence but the area was taken up largely
by three wells, two round and one square. Time permitted only the
clearing of the square one. This well was exactly what might be expected
on the Davison lot, the upper part had been filled with a solid mass of
fragments of bottles, a total of five thousand three hundred and
ninety-five pieces. The quantities of glass and other household refuse
in this and other wells suggest that the colonists saved such materials
to fill old wells.
_Broad Street_
The present contours of the Frederica surface showed a depression,
approximately ninety feet wide north and south and 190 feet long east
and west, just in front of the Hawkins-Davison houses. East of this a
similar depression extended on to the break in the town rampart which
was believed to be the location of the town gate. This series of
depressions had been considered as the trace of Broad Street. A trench
was extended across the area to check the presumed location of the main
street of the town. No definite evidence of Broad Street was found.
There were no roadside ditches or any evidence of any sort of surfacing.
Sixty-four feet north of the Hawkins front steps there was a slight
depression in the old land surface. This ditch extended north another
twenty feet. At that point a low ridge bounded the depression on the
north.
The Miller map shows the width of Broad Street as 82 feet, while Francis
Moore says it was twenty-five yards wide[46] and the Auspourger map says
seventy-five feet. The contours of the ground fit the figure of
eighty-two feet best. Until the recent discovery of the Auspourger Map
of 1736, it had been assumed that the Francis Moore figure was an
estimate and the Miller map gave the true width of Broad Street. Now
that the 1736 map and Francis Moore both agree it may be assumed that
Broad Street was laid out with a width of seventy-five feet. We know
that the front steps of the Hawkins house infringed on the street a
matter of six inches. The depression in the old land surface at the
north side of the street marks the edge of the road in that area.
Further work will possibly locate fences or hedge lines that will
clarify this point.
_The Mark Carr Lot_
At a point ninety-two feet north of the Hawkins house our excavation
uncovered the remains of a tabby wall. It was badly decayed and was
surrounded by the usual household debris which marks the sites of
houses. It evidently marks the south or front wall of a house, built of
tabby, on Lot 1 of the North Ward. This lot belonged to Mark Carr,
founder of Brunswick. At the present time no records of a building on
this lot are known. Time and funds did not permit further exploration of
the structure.
_The Artifacts_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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