Read Ebook: Hawkins-Davison Houses Frederica St. Simons Island Georgia by Cate Margaret Davis Fairbanks Charles H Charles Herron

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The next stage in the development of the house was a strengthening of the western, original hut. This was accomplished by putting wooden forms along the inside and outside edges of the posts of the west wall and pouring tabby around the posts to a height of one foot. This was applied only to the north ten posts on the west side. On the south side a series of bricks was found that evidently served as wedges against wall posts. The floor of the room was at this time slightly more than one and a half feet below ground level. A remnant of brick floor remained and it seems likely that the entire floor was bricked. The floor was littered with fragments of small glass bottles, small white Delft ointment jars, several glass bottle stoppers, and an ivory enema tube. This implies that the apothecary shop of Dr. Hawkins was located in this western room. It is suggested that the strengthening of this hut into an addition to the house comprises the addition of half the length mentioned by Hawkins in 1737. The 1740 addition was of brick and this west room is ten feet wide, half the length, twenty feet, of the main house. There is evidence of later repairs to the walls of this room but we do not know of what these alterations consisted.

During the time from 1736 to 1740 when the main room was in use two wells were in use successively just to the rear of the Hawkins house. First was a rectangular well three feet south of the rear wall and just east of the back door. This well had a rectangular pit four feet square with posts at the corners which supported a well house. The walls within the well were held up by wooden barrels placed one above another with the ends knocked out. The well was six and a half feet deep and there was less than one foot of water in this well. Several peach pits were found in the base of this well. The next well was circular directly south of the back door. It was dug six and a half feet deep and six feet in diameter. The well proper was bricked in, with a diameter of three feet. This well contained a variety of objects that had evidently been included in household trash which was used to fill up the well when it was abandoned. They consisted of:

The well was abandoned and filled when it was decided to make another addition to the house. Tabby floor was laid over the filled well and soon sank slightly into the well.

The last addition to the Hawkins house was made at the back and measured sixteen and a half feet north-south and eighteen and a half feet east-west. The western side was aligned with the western wall of the main house, but the eastern wall did not use the party wall. Instead there was a gap of one and a half feet between the back rooms of the Hawkins and Davison houses. The brick of the walls measured 4? x 2? x 9?, definitely larger than those of the main house. At the southeast corner there was a large buttress outside the wall, evidently part of a chimney foundation. Inside the southeast corner was a corner fireplace set diagonally across the corner. As the tabby floor of this back room sank into the old well the depression was filled in with more tabby and later another floor level was added. There is some evidence that finally a wooden floor was installed, over the tabby.

There is no evidence as to the height of this back addition to the Hawkins house. However, the Roberson statement of 1741 says that Oglethorpe stood in the window and put his head between the joists of Davison's house. It is further stated that Oglethorpe's action involved the roof levels of the two houses. Thus it seems reasonable to assume that the joists mentioned are roof joists. As the only place in the Hawkins house where a window could face the Davison house is in the narrow gap between the south addition and the Davison house it seems this addition must have been three stories high. As this was the only addition to the house that was made of brick it seems to correspond to that mentioned as being completed by August of 1740 which cost ?60.

One other well belonging to the Hawkins lot was forty feet west of the house just inside the western line of the lot. It was circular and probably had a well house over it. Slightly over six feet deep the walls were supported by another series of bottomless barrels. It also had been filled with household trash including a very fine musket bayonet. All these wells had planks laid across the bottom, apparently to prevent the well bucket from muddying the well. This last well had in addition a large square post of unknown use resting on the plank. Just west of the well was a poorly defined line of root disturbances which may mark the location of the hedge of pomegranates mentioned for Dr. Hawkins lot.

The home of Samuel Davison lay to the east of the east wall of the Hawkins house. The front room was seventeen feet east-west and eighteen feet north-south. Directly back of this was an additional room twenty and a half feet east-west and eleven feet north-south. The east wall, however, was straight, the extra three and a half feet being taken up by a stairwell along the east side of the north room. The floor of the north room had originally been excavated to a level two feet four inches below colonial ground level. Only a disturbed sand strata remained of the lowest floor level, and it is not possible to determine of what the floor was originally composed. It was soon covered with a tabby floor whose upper surface was two feet below ground level. This floor was later covered by a brick floor, set with tabby mortar in a herringbone pattern. In the middle of the east wall there was a doorway four feet four inches wide opening into the stairwell on that side. The floor of this door appears to have joined a stair up to the stairwell, possibly to both sides. In the southeast corner of the north room was another doorway of the same width. A short flight of steps remained leading from the floor level up to the south. The steps are of brick with a four inch wooden nosing.

The north wall and the north half of the east wall were of brick. The south half of the east wall and the south wall were tabby. In the middle of the west wall, directly opposite the fireplace of Dr. Hawkins house, was a fireplace five feet wide. It was formed by two short pilasters extending out from the wall. At first these were slightly less than two feet long, but they were lengthened at a later date to slightly less than three feet. The walls as well as the fireplace were plastered. This, however, was not the finished wall. The brick and tabby floors did not come up quite to the wall. The space between the floor and wall, four inches wide, had contained wooden lath and a plaster coat "furred" out from the masonry or tabby wall. This gave the room a double wall and certainly made it drier and warmer than a plastered brick or tabby wall, as in the case of the Hawkins house. This suggests an explanation for the remark attributed to Dr. Hawkins, that he would sell the Davison children, "one to the Carpenter and the other to the Plasterer." It is perhaps understandable that the village doctor and magistrate would be irritated that his neighbor could afford a tighter, drier house. The south room was larger than the north but not so elaborately finished. Perhaps in this case the boys in the back room were the less favored customers at the Davison tavern. The walls appear to have been brick with the exception of the north wall which was tabby. All the walls had been salvaged down to the bottom course of brick so that it is not sure that they may have been of wood or tabby on a brick footing. However, the footings appear to be so similar to those for the other brick walls that I think we may conclude that they were, in fact, brick. The remains of a tabby floor covered part of the room area and it is possible the entire floor was so paved. There is a suggestion of steps down from outside to the northeast corner of the room, but very little remained in this section and the size of these steps cannot be determined. Just north of the Davison house a narrow ditch running parallel to the front wall was found. It is not certain what this represents except that it is clearly some sort of front fence.

Samuel Davison ran a tavern and it seems the lower floor of his house was the tap room. The large quantity of bottle fragments and stoneware mug fragments found around the house support this view. A total of 651 pieces of clay pipe bowls and stems were found in and around the house. They reflect the 18th Century custom of smoking in the taverns and give some idea of the frequency of smoking as well as the fragility of the pipes used.

The Davison lot was supposed to be completely fenced and efforts were made to locate the evidences of these fences along the east, west, and south sides. A row of postholes was found along the west side to the southwest corner and followed a short distance along the south side. The east side seemed to have another fence, but it was obscured by a series of wells as that along the west side of the Hawkins lot had been.

South of the Davison lot an open space fourteen feet three inches wide was found. South of that tabby remains were found, but time and funds did not permit their exploration. The Miller map of 1796 gives the width of the first street south of Broad Street as 14 feet. The open space south of the corner of lot 2 fits this width quite nicely. The 1736 Auspourger map says that the width of street "C" is sixteen feet. Only more thorough excavation will clear up this point. In any case the tabby to the south would be the remains of a building on South Ward Lot 19, belonging to Thomas Sumner, or to South Ward Lot 20, belonging to Daniel Prevost. The southwest corner of South Ward Lot 2, Samuel Davison, was located with some accuracy. Measuring north ninety feet, along the line of the party wall, the northwest corner was found to be three feet north of the northwest corner of the Davison house. The front stairwell of the Hawkins house extended out into the street alignment a matter of six inches. This line between lots 1 and 2 was taken as the base for laying out the grid of town lots as shown on the Miller and Auspourger maps. The town grid fits very well with the present contours that seem to represent colonial features. It can be assumed that the town grid of Frederica has again been determined. It should be possible to locate any specific town lot from the information now in hand.

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.

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 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.

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.

Colonial archaeology is particularly fascinating because of the great quantities and intrinsic interest of the artifacts recovered. These objects are usually recognizable in spite of breakage and corrosion. They immediately call to mind a host of associations and functions that do much to enrich the picture of a living community. In many cases they are objects of considerable esthetic appeal and are prime museum exhibits. No detailed discussion of the various classes of colonial relics can be made here. It will be sufficient to call attention to those of special interest.

Items of military equipment were in a definite minority in the Hawkins-Davison houses. Those of us who have been working at Frederica have come to think its military aspects outweighed the civilian facets. In these two houses a few musket balls, two bayonets, and one sword scabbard tip indicate clearly that Frederica enjoyed a life with a minimum of emphasis on the martial, at least for the non-garrison people. Hinges, locks, nails, and other hardware give us a good idea of how the houses were constructed and furnished as to doors and windows. In this connection the great quantities of window glass may surprise many. What might be called the Daniel Boone Tradition has conditioned us to think of our colonial ancestors living in poorly lighted log cabins. Here at Frederica the wealthy, at least, lived in brick and tabby houses with completely glazed windows.

Many of the objects fall into the personal ornament and clothing class. Buckles were very common, of iron or brass and often tastefully ornamented. Buttons were generally of brass but several gilded or gold plated examples exist. Two single cuff-links or frogs were found. Both were made of copper or brass and set with small blue "stones" of glass. Coins were relatively rare, only three being found. All are George II English pennies bearing the dates of 1739, 1738, and 1757. Household objects included a brass candle-stick base, forks, knives, and spoons, one complete pewter spoon being found. A clock key bears the Latin motto "Tempora Mutant," perhaps fitting for the stirring times in which Dr. Hawkins lived. Common pins were much like the modern ones and illustrate how little some everyday objects have changed in two centuries.

Ceramics are usually of great interest to the archaeologist because they reflect so clearly the changing styles and technology of the times. A wide variety of pottery and porcelain was found, surprisingly varied, as the excavations in the regimental barracks had led us to expect a rather limited variety. The great majority were simple earthenwares with various lead glazes. These were made in England and used for kitchen and domestic purposes. They range from large bowls to small oven casseroles. A few sherds of Spanish olive jars were found, evidently loot from Oglethorpe's expeditions against Spanish Florida.

There was a large group of soft-paste ceramics with yellow and brown glazes that are the forerunners of the famous Staffordshire potteries. The design is a random trailing of brown lines on a yellow ground. They were apparently more kitchen than table wares. Especially common around the Davison house were pieces of English salt glazed stoneware mugs. White, grey, and brown examples were found. All are tall mugs with large handles on the side. They were apparently the common ale or porter mug of the Davison tavern. Red and tan wares of the Nottingham type were in a minority.

The chief table ware in both the Hawkins and Davison houses was the blue on white soft-paste ware called variously English Delft or English Faience. It is decorated with tin enamels on a soft body, generally in blue on white; although green, red, and brown do occur. The designs mostly copy Chinese porcelains and quite a variety is known. From the Hawkins house and wells we have a number of small white English Delft jars that are evidently medicinal ointment containers. All the fragments found here seem to have been made in England, presumably in Lambeth or Bristol. It is clearly the common table ware of the better sort for the early 18th Century.

A relatively large number of porcelain sherds were found, especially in and near the Hawkins house. At first it was assumed that this was Chinese export porcelain. Expert identification indicates that the bulk of this porcelain is Japanese Imara ware. It was somewhat surprising as little trade with Japan might be expected in the first half of the 18th Century. Occasional pieces of Japanese porcelain had been noted from Spanish sites in Florida but such a large collection had not previously been located. The bulk of the porcelain is blue and white in floral designs. Sometimes green, pink, and gilt were added over-glaze to form very attractive decorations on handleless cups and shallow saucers. Several pieces of Chinese porcelain are included in the group. All this is another illustration of the rather luxurious life of some of the colonists. True porcelain then, as now, was expensive, especially so as it was not made to any extent in Europe at the time and the pieces had to be brought from China or Japan.

Glass formed an important part of the collections and consisted of several kinds. The most common was a squat round bottle of a light chartreuse color which appears black by reflected light. A few square bottles of the "Case Bottle" type are represented, but most were of the round type. Smaller bottles were usually in a clear or faintly bluish glass. The numbers found around Dr. Hawkins house suggest that they were medicine containers. Two types of glasses were present: tumblers and stemmed goblets. The tumblers were rare and the prevalent type of drinking glass was the stemmed goblet. Many of the stems had enclosed tear drops and some had engraved designs around the rims.

In the wells organic materials were preserved below waterline. Barrel staves and other wooden objects were quite common. Peach pits, squash, and gourd seeds indicate some of the agricultural products. The second Hawkins well, sealed in 1740 by the back addition to the house, contained a number of peach pits. It seems doubtful that trees would have grown to bearing size in the four years since the founding of the town and one wonders if these pits may not be derived from Spanish trees found growing on the island.

It is difficult to summarize the results of these excavations in that the material found is really simply a demonstration of the facts learned from the documentary research already so ably conducted by Mrs. Margaret Davis Cate. However, we can point out that the Hawkins-Davison house proved to be exactly where the documents said it would be. All the additions and dimensions given in the colonial sources were demonstrated to correspond closely to those given. The location of the streets and their size agree closely with that given on early maps and the location of the town grid of Frederica now can be presumed to be firmly established. Of course, any excavation only whets the appetite for more and we hope to uncover more of the old Town of Frederica. In the artifacts we find a reflection of the life of the times. Each householder had in his home certain items of military equipment and was prepared to stand to the defense of his town and colony should the occasion arise. The houses, of some at least, were well built of brick and tabby, well glazed and sturdy if not commodious. Household appointments were as good as England, with her world trade, could provide at the time. The sturdy houses, lead glass goblets, and Japanese porcelain show that the colonists introduced into the new colony a gracious way of life such as was enjoyed in a highly prosperous England.

FOOTNOTES

Well-known historian of Coastal Georgia and Historical Collaborator of the National Park Service for the Fort Frederica Project.

This Christian Perkins who petitioned for Dr. Hawkins' lot came to Georgia as Christian Grant. Several of her brothers, all of whom were indentured servants, came at the same time. , 19. One of these, Peter Grant, fought at the Battle of Bloody Marsh and spent the rest of his life on St. Simons Island, where he died in 1804 at the age of eighty-four. . Christian Grant married John Perkins and after his death married Francis Lewis. In her will on file in Chatham County, Georgia, Court House , she left her Frederica lots to her brother, Peter Grant. However, in 1789 she executed a deed transferring lot 17N "to my loving nephew ... Thomas Grant, son of my brother, Peter Grant." .

Georgia Department of Archives and History. Grant Book H, 27.

Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Florida State University, Tallahassee.

Egmont Manuscripts in Phillipps Collection in University of Georgia Library, no. 14203, p. 239.

Egmont Manuscripts, Phillipps Collection, no. 14202, p. 213.

Egmont Manuscripts, Phillipps Collection, no. 14205, p. 95.

Phillipps Collection, no. 14202, p. 123; no. 14203, p. 123; no. 14204, p. 293.

"A Voyage to Georgia," 114.

Egmont Manuscripts, Phillipps Collection, no. 14205, p. 95.

Egmont Manuscripts, no. 14204, p. 293.

Moore, "A Voyage to Georgia," 114.

Transcriber's Notes

--Silently corrected a few typos.

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