Plantations of Mark Carr in Glynn and Liberty Counties
Mark Carr was a colonial settler to Georgia, and served as a Colonel with General Oglethorpe in the battles against Spain. He was at the Battle of Bloody Marsh on St. Simon's Island. Before the war with Spain began (1739), he had a plantation on Skidoway Island home which he called Hermitage. However, one day the Spanish Indians came and burned it down while his wife and children hid in the root cellar. His was very brave, as pirates frequented the Georgia coasts before and during England's war with Spain, and Spanish-Indians were sent out from the fort at St. Augustine, Florida to spy on the Georgia colonists. He owned at least two other plantations, Carrsfield and Blyth. Later, after 1750, he owned large tracts of land in Liberty County, and was a major landholder in Sunbury, the coastal resort town (1750-1810).
The first plantation of Colonel Mark Carr was on St. Simon's Island was one of the very few in that location because of the constant danger of raids by the Spanish Indians. It as described in the Queen's Court at Westminster on February 11, 1744 by Lt. Colonel Alexander Heron, in giving his report to the Trustees of the agricultural progress being made in the Colony:
"...that all sorts of garden stuff grow extremely well, and particularly asparagus, all the year round without dunging the lands...That he himself (Col. Heron) occupied one field on St. Simons four years. That on three or four acres, he had 53 bushels of Indian corn cleared, besides a third more at least spoil or lost at the time of the invasion (Spanish). That vines thrive extremely well and that he himself grafted European vines on the wild ones on the island. And that in one year, there have been shoots of twenty seven feet from the grafting as big as his finger. That cotton grows on the land by one great necessity...that he has while mulberry trees which grow very well, but they are not the natural product of the country. That he thinks silk, wine oyl, and cotton may be raised very well there...that the wood of St. Simon's is chiefly Live Oak...."Colonel Carr described his settlement problems in a letter to the Trustees dated May 12, 1752:
"In the beginning of the year 1739, General Oglethorpe put me in possession of 500 acres of land on the main to the south of Frederica called the Hermitage, and the year following a tract of the like quantity to my second son, Thomas, as called Carrsfield, on both of which I made very considerable improvements at a large expense, but in the year 1740 while I was in Virginia on his Majesty's service, my whole improvements, with my stock, was destroyed by Spanish Indians and several of my people cutt off, and by a moderate computation, my loss was several hundred and 50 pounds. Soon after my return from Virginia, the General not thinking me safe there, granted me an island to the south of my former settlement which he called Blyth, wherein I likewise built two brick, with several outhouses, as well as made very large mprovements in cultivation, but by the withdrawing of the regiment these improvements not only became invaluable, but I was exposed and it became dangerous for me and my servants to remain upon it, and consequently, my money and time was in a great measure sunk.Colonel Carr did receive the above requested lands for himself and his sons, on the Newport River in Liberty County. In January of 1755 he was returned to the Legislature, representing Midway District, and in May of 1762, he was granted 220 acres in St. Andrew's Parish. The Last Will and Testament of Colonel Mark Carr, St. Patrick's Parish, dated 8 June 1767, probated 4 December 1768 bequeathed his sons lands as follows: William, town lot in Frederica, No. 1 North; Thomas, Frederica town lot No. 21 North; Elizabeth, daughter of Elizabeth Rutherford, my island on Northside of Midway River and tract on the main fronting on the island which I purchased of John Cubbage. His first wife was Elizabeth Rutherford, and second wife, Grace, who was a widow when she petitioned for land in April of 1772. 100 acres were granted to her and her two children, in St. John's Parish, Liberty County, adjoining the land of her son, William Carr (deceased) and Abraham Williams. She had three Negro slaves to work the 100 acres granted.
You obliged me to moved into a less exposed neighborhood and I was advised to fix on Midway River where you pleased to grant my son, Thomas, 500 acres of land and also another tract of like quantity to me which was granted to, but resigned by Charles Ratcliff. On these lands, I have made larger improvements than any person in the neighborhood, but to my great disappointments two-thirds (as the Surveyor can inform you) proves unfitt for any manner of cultivation and must soon want land to plant, unless I can gett an addition. Therefore, I request that you will grant my son, William, who is now near twenty one years of age, 500 acres of l and on the north side of Newport River, about four miles southwest on the same neck where I am settled, and likewise that you would allow me to exchange the tract of land laid out for Lt. Archibald Don on Midway River which I have made appear to you I purchased from him, for the like quantity on Newport River adjoining the same.
Gentlemen, as I presume that no person that ever was in Georgia has given better proof of his zeal and industry to improve the Colony that I have done, I need not assure you that I shall continue in it, and your obliging me with my request, I hope will enable me to retrieve the uncommon losses I have sustained, which has been much more than I can mention or chooses to trouble you with, as it's a truth well-known to you, I am.
Your very obedient humble servant,
Mark Carr.
P. S. I lay no claim to the lands formerly granted to me or my son at Hermitage, Carrsfield, or Blyth, which I resign (to remove here I have requested), notwithstanding my improvements thereon."
Historical Marker located at Union & First Streets in Brunswick. Site of The Hermitage. This site was a very dangerous location, being outside of Fort Frederica. On one occasion while Colonel Carr was out cruising the river with some of the regiment, his home was attacked by Creek Indians while hiswife and children hid nearby in a crib. After that, he brought the family to the fort, and later built a home near Sunbury in Liberty County.
Site of the Hermitage.