Cumberland Island: a History.Cumberland Island
Founded in 1938, the UGA Press is a division of the University of Georgia and is located on the campus in Athens, Georgia, USA. , c. 2003. Pp. xxii, 415. $39.95, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0-8203-2267-9.) Cumberland Island, a wild and natural place, appears to have escaped human intrusion. Hidden beneath luxurious flora, however, one can discover footprints of five centuries of human habitation HABITATION, civil law. It was the right of a person to live in the house of another without prejudice to the property. 2. It differed from a usufruct in this, that the usufructuary might have applied the house to any purpose, as, a store or manufactory; whereas . Mary R. Bullard, after more than three decades of research, has given us the most comprehensive history of any barrier island on the Georgia coast. A descendant of the Carnegies, she is at her best when describing memories of the family retreat. Initially the home of the Timucua and Guale Indians, Cumberland Island has been the stage for Franciscan friars, land speculators, planters of rice, indigo, and cotton, African slaves and their descendants, lumbermen, cattlemen, developers, Pittsburgh millionaires, and environmentalists. Individuals who have owned extensive holdings on the island include Jonathan Bryan, Thomas Lynch, Nathanael Greene, Phineas and Catherine Greene Miller, Robert Stafford, the Carnegies, and Charles E. Fraser. The island has been a battleground for Indian revolts, the War of Jenkins Ear, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War American Civil War or Civil War or War Between the States (1861–65) Conflict between the U.S. federal government and 11 Southern states that fought to secede from the Union. . One of the most admirable features of the book is the attention given to obscure people such as Tecumsah "Cumsie" Commodore and Primus Mitchell. Drawing upon memories from slave descendants, Bullard describes black settlements on the island that were bound together by extended family and peer workers during Reconstruction. When Thomas M. Carnegie Thomas M. Carnegie (October 2, 1843-October 19, 1886) was a Scottish-American industrialist. He was born in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, and emigrated to the United States where he was associated with his brother Andrew Carnegie in his business enterprises. purchased Dungeness Plantation in 1881, a new era of public exclusion began. Lucy Carnegie, the sole legatee A person who receives Personal Property through a will. The term legatee is often used to denote those who inherit under a will without any distinction between real property and personal property, but technically, a devisee of the Cumberland property after her husband's death, managed her household and properties according to the canon of domesticity. With the assistance of an able administrator, she embarked upon a program of "Dungeness Improvements" (p. 203). In time Dungeness had an efficient staff, its own water, electrical, and telephone systems, a fire department, and privately maintained roads. The residents of the nearby town of St. Marys and surrounding Camden County viewed Cumberland Island as another country. After Lucy Carnegie's death in 1916, Dungeness declined as the heirs debated the future of the estate. Should they divide or sell, lease, or develop the property? As expenses were slashed, buildings and amenities languished in disrepair over the next several decades. Following World War II, Camden County leaders led a movement to open Cumberland Island to public investment, even if it entailed condemnation by the state. At this juncture, Charles Fraser proposed a grandiose plan for the island. The Carnegies, unimpressed by his promises, decided to sell their interests to the U.S. Department of the Interior. In 1975 the Cumberland Island National Seashore Cumberland Island National Seashore, Ga.: see National Parks and Monuments (table). was opened to the public under rigid environmental controls. Bullard's history has all the hallmarks of an award-winning book. She has carefully mined local, state, and national archives and illustrated her story with numerous maps and photographs. Perhaps most noteworthy, she has written a history that will be interesting to both scholars and general readers. R. FRANK SAUNDERS JR. Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University, established 1906, is a regional university located in Statesboro, Georgia, USA, and part of the University System of Georgia. It is the largest center of higher education in the southern half of Georgia and is the sixth largest institution in the |
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