It seemed for every improvement in the lives of the folk at Frederica there was a corresponding difficulty. Life had never been easy at Frederica, and the colony itself always skirted the edge of economic calamity. By the fall of 1739, Georgia was in serious financial jeopardy and the Trustees' stores closed. The following year, the Trust decided to severely restrict Oglethorpe's civil and fiscal powers because of his loose administrative procedures and the frequency with which he ignored their orders. The mercantilists were so anxious for Georgia to produce silk and wine that the colony was often on the verge of hunger, and for the entire first decade of its existence Georgia had to rely on imports from South Carolina. At Frederica, the inhabitants' half-hearted attempts at farming - aggravated by frequent Spanish alarms that kept men from the fields - forced Oglethorpe to place a bounty on corn and potatoes.

Under these conditions, the citizens of Frederica complained loudly and often. Their primary disaffections centered around land tenure (females could not inherit land), the prohibition of slaves, and the ban on rum. Although the Trustees had good and ample reasons for enforcing these prohibitions, the very survival of Georgia forced them to reconsider their positions. Of 2,122 Trust-charity settlers in the colony, an estimated two-thirds deserted. During the first six years of Georgia's existence, approximately five thousand settlers had arrived; at the time of the Spanish war, discontent had left the colony on the verge of extinction.

The Burying Ground, Frederica

As the principles of Georgia's founding weakened, the ban on rum was repealed in 1742; the prohibition of slavery was soon to crumble. By 1748, many islanders owned slaves, including Major Heron, now commander of the regiment, who stoutly defended his right to have them. With the prosperity of South Carolina as evidence of its merit, slavery was finally allowed in Georgia in 1749. Most land ownership regulations were removed the same year. These changes were too late, however, to save Frederica from her fate.

With the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 ending the War of the Austrian Succession in Europe, Britain began to reduce the size of her army, and the 42nd Regiment was ordered to disband. Of some six hundred soldiers, 151 elected to stay in Georgia. Of some 600 soldiers, most returned to England; 151 elected to stay in Georgia, with a few enlisting in the new independent companies that were formed to guard the borders. When the regiment was disbanded, the Salzburgers, who had depended upon trade with the troops, soon left St. Simons. In 1751, the contents of the Frederica public storehouse were sold in Savannah, and the town was virtually deserted.

Unable to extract further monies from Parliament, the Trust gave up its charter in 1752, a year before it expired. Thus, Georgia became a Royal Colony. Although the social experiment of the Trust had failed, the permanence of Georgia was established. This was helped along by the Trustees awarding 106 individuals some 75,000 acres of land in the last year of the Trust.

The Burying Ground, Frederica

Savannah emerged as the intellectual and social hub of the Royal Colony with numerous wealthy plantations nearby. Frederica met a different fate. When the first Royal Governor, John Reynolds, toured southern Georgia, he discovered Frederica " . . . in Ruins, the Fortifications entirely Decayed and Houses falling down." A final blow was dealt when even these pitiful remains were destroyed by fire in 1758.

Captain John Gray was posted to Frederica in 1761, and his company repaired the sagging walls of the fort. Once again, British cannon guarded the Frederica River. But with the Peace of Paris in 1763 ending the French and Indian War, Spain finally ceded Florida to Britain, and Georgia's southern border was secure at last. In 1767, the garrison at Frederica was withdrawn, and the British flag never again flew over the fort.

With the decline of Frederica, St. Simons was occupied by only a handful of hardy individuals, most of them farmers, who were undaunted by their isolated island existence. In 1760, James Spalding arrived from Scotland, and, with his business partner Donald McKay, set up a warehouse in Frederica to supply their trading posts scattered throughout east Florida. Soon their canoes and pack trains were engaging in a lively business, and Spalding prospered. In 1776, William Bartram, the famed naturalist, visited St. Simons on the way to Florida, and, after noting the ruins of the fort and town, recorded that the island: " . . . was now recovering again, owing to the public and liberal spirit and exertions of J. Spalding, esq., who was president of the island and engaged in very extensive mercantile concerns."

The progressive efforts of Spalding and the other St. Simons inhabitants were disrupted one again, however, by war. Exposed to raids from both sides, the island was deserted during the Revolution. When independence was gained, many islanders returned, including the loyalist James Spalding, whose confiscated lands and property were returned to him because of the respect with which he was held in the community.

Spalding turned his attention to farming, and began experimenting with a new strain of cotton that he introduced on his plantation. But as the new crop flourished on St. Simons, not even a James Spalding could envision the sweeping changes soon to be wrought by "sea island cotton".

The Plantations

Back to the Table of Contents