Wormsloe Plantation | |
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| Nearest city | Savannah, Georgia |
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| Coordinates | 31°57′53″N 81°4′14″W / 31.96472°N 81.07056°W |
| Built | 1739 |
| NRHP reference No. | 73000615[1] |
| Added to NRHP | April 26, 1973 |
The Wormsloe Historic Site, originally known as Wormsloe Plantation, is a state historic site near Savannah, Georgia, in the southeastern United States. The site consists of 822 acres (3.33 km2) protecting part of what was once the Wormsloe Plantation, a large estate established by one of Georgia's colonial founders, Noble Jones (c. 1700-1775). The site includes a picturesque 1.5 miles (2.4 km) oak avenue, the ruins of Jones' fortified house built of tabby,[2] a museum, and a demonstration area interpreting colonial daily life.
In 1736, Noble Jones obtained a grant for 500 acres (2.0 km2) of land on the Isle of Hope that would form the core of Wormsloe. He constructed a fortified house on the southeastern tip of the island overlooking the Skidaway Narrows, a strategic section of the Skidaway River located along the Intracoastal Waterway roughly halfway between downtown Savannah and the Atlantic Ocean. The fortified house was part of a network of defensive structures established by James Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia, and early Georgia colonists to protect Savannah from a potential Spanish invasion. Jones subsequently developed Wormsloe into a small plantation, and his descendants built a large mansion at the site which they used as a country residence.
The State of Georgia acquired the bulk of the Wormsloe Plantation in 1973, and opened it to the public as a state historic site in 1979.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ Tabby is a building material consisting of lime, sand, water, and crushed oyster shells, employed where there was no local brickmaking.