Mulberry Grove
Adjoining lands of the Mulberry Grove plantation, but in Josephs Town, were several other Scotsmen who were developing their own lands, viz: Capt. Cuthbert, Patrick Mackay, John Mackay and Thomas Bailey. Captain Cuthbert appears to be the first owner of Mulberry Grove, having been granted 500 acres for planting mulberry trees to develop the silk industry in the colony. He had his own nursery, barns and other buildings. But he met his death when he was put in command of Oglethorpe's rangers and sent to South Carolina to purchase horses and equipment. Along the way, he became ill and died. His sister, Ann, inherited the plantation, and in 1740 she married Patrick Graham, physician
and apothecary. As a result, he gained control of the plantation. Under his control, it became the
center of activity, and very successful.
When Dr. Graham died in 1755, he bequeathed 450 acres on Pipemaker's Creek to a relative, Mungo Graham, and to his wife, Ann, he left all the rest of the estate. In 1758, the widow, Ann Graham, married James Bulloch, a South Carolina planter. Before moving to Georgia, Bulloch owned Pon Pon, a plantation near Walterboro, South Carolina. Ann (Bulloch) died in 1764. In 1770, her husband advertised Mulberry Grove for public sale in the Georgia Gazette, which included 800 acres of which 250 acres were tide land, and the rest good corn and timber land, as well as 8,500 feet of ranging timber and rough rice. The purchaser was Josiah Perry of South Carolina, the husband of a daughter, Januarye Bulloch.
Mulberry Grove Plantation State Historical Marker is located on U.S. 17 at the city hall in Port Wentworth, Georgia. In early Colonial days mulberry trees were cultivated at Mulberry Grove for use in Georgia's silk industry. Later it became one of the leading rice plantations of Georgia. At the end of the Revolution the plantation, which had belonged to Lieutenant Governor John Graham, a Royalist, was granted by the State of Georgia to major General Nathanael Greene was a reward for his military services. General Greene was residing at Mulberry Grove at the time of his death on June 12, 1786.
In 1793 Eli Whitney, who was the tutor of the Greene children, invented the cotton gin at Mulberry Grove. The following year a large ginning machine was erected at the plantation. Its foundation still stands there.