Sharon Plantation

Sharon Plantation was a plantation originally founded in colonial Savannah, Province of Georgia. It covered around 200 acres (81 ha), on land bounded by Old Louisville Road and the Ogeechee Canal[1] six miles to the west of the city.[2]

Sharon Plantation
General information
LocationOld Louisville Road, Colonial Savannah, Province of Georgia
Coordinates32.0921°N 81.2177°W / 32.0921; -81.2177

The plantation came into the Telfair family via Barach Gibbons, son of William Gibbons and the brother-in-law of Edward Telfair. Barach died in 1814 and bequeathed the plantation to his sister, Sarah.[3][4] Edward married Sarah at the plantation in 1774.[2] One of their children, born in 1791, was philanthropist Mary Telfair. She was their first daughter of eight children.[5]

In 1782, during the Revolutionary War, Emistisiguo, chief of the local Upper Creek Indian tribe, attacked Anthony Wayne's camp at the plantation in the early hours of June 24.[6] Wayne had arrived with the intention of disbanding the British alliance with Indian tribes in Georgia. He negotiated peace treaties with both the Creeks and the Cherokees, for which Georgia rewarded him with a large rice plantation.[7]

On October 15, 1785, Dr. Samuel Vickers, Surgeon of the Hospitals during the Revolutionary War, committed suicide at the plantation. The coroner found "he had been for some time before insane and not of sound memory and perfect understanding".[8]

In 1859, Augustus Wetter purchased the plantation.[1]

Around Christmas 1862, the body of a Mrs. Haig, a relative of his wife, was stolen from its vault at the Sharon Plantation. The vault had been forced open, and the body (along with a silver plate that had been resting atop the coffin) was missing. Wetter offered a large reward in the Savannah Morning News for information on the theft.[1]

Wetter was buried at the plantation after his death in 1882.[9]

Edward Telfair was initially interred in a vault at the plantation after his death in 1807, but his remains were moved to Bonaventure Cemetery later in the 19th century.[10] It is believed Wetter's family is still buried at the site, despite the plantation's sale by the descendants of Wetter.[11]

References
  1. "Augustus Peter Wetter " – Patrick Walsh, Georgia Southern University, Fall 1990
  2. Telfair Museum of Art: Collection Highlights – Telfair Museum of Art, Hollis Koons McCullough (2005), p. 10 ISBN 9780933075047
  3. Georgia Writers' Project, Savannah Unit research materials – Georgia Historical Society
  4. Princetonians, 1784-1790: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 4, Ruth L. Woodward and Wesley Frank Craven (2014), p. 478 ISBN 9781400861262
  5. Mary Telfair (1791-1875) – Telfair Museums
  6. Anthony Wayne's 1782 Savannah Campaign – Hugh T. Harrington, October 9, 2014
  7. "The Nicknaming of General "Mad" Anthony Wayne". Journal of the American Revolution. 2013-05-03. Retrieved 2021-10-13.
  8. Princetonians, 1776-1783: A Biographical Dictionary, Richard A. Harrison (2014), p. 208 ISBN 9781400856534
  9. Augustus P. Wetter financial record – Georgia Historical Society
  10. Johnson, Charles J. "Edward Telfair (1735-1807)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. May 26, 2015. Web. August 30, 2015.
  11. Wetter Family Papers, 1809–1963 – University of North Carolina
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