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Pierce Mease Butler Plantations - Glynn & McIntosh Counties

Butler's Island, Hampton Point, Experiment (between Hampton River & Buttermilk Sound) & Five Pound Tree Plantations. - Directions: North from Brunswick on Hwy 17. Before crossing the bridge into Darien, historical marker - As you drive this route, thousands of acres of marshland lie before you. Most of this landscape was use for rice plantations by Georgia and South Carolina owners. More Information

During the 19th century Major Butler was known as one of the richest men in Georgia, owning thousands of acres from Savannah to Brunswick. He utilized the marsh land for rice patties and also grew the Sea Island Cotton. He married Fannie Kemble, an New England actress who hated plantation life. Her book Fanny Kemble may be read on Genealogy-Books Although she despised Butler's plantations, she lived the life of a wealthy Southern Belle during the prime days of the South. During the War Between The States the family left the plantation and Pierce and his daughter, Frances,did not return until 1866. Butler died a year later.

Major Pierce Butler inherited these lands from his grandfather (Pierce Butler who married Mary Middleton). His grandmother's family had many slaves, and this assisted Pierce Butler in his start. This plantation house still stands. It is located on the Altamaha River Estuary, and faces Hwy 17 North into Darien (on the left). He purchased from John and Frances Graham of Savannah for 6,000 pounds, Hampton Plantation which was located on the north end of St. Simon's Island, which he had as early as 1774. Cotton and rice was grown on his plantations, and he had many slaves. Butler's Island, surrounded by the Chimney and Altmaha Rivers, was designed to grow rice, having many irrigation ditches dug, and flood gates. Roswell King was the manager of the Butler plantations from 1802 to 1819, when he was succeeded by his son, Roswell King, Jr. ....more Ancestor Tracer - Where people lived Bibles Biographical Sketches: Colonial Settlers of Georgia Birth Certificates (select) Bonaventure Plantation,Josiah Tattnell, founder Books by Jeannette Holland Austin Butler Plantation, Darien Brunswick Brailsford Plantation, Darien Cemeteries and Tombstones Census Records Cherokee Indians, families traced Church Records City Directories Colonial Records Confederate Dead:23,000+ Soldiers Confederate Generals County Records: Wills, Estates Darien Darien Plat Darien Sawmills Fort King George, Darien Darien, St. Andrews Church Darien City Cemetery Davis Smith Plantation, Brent Deaths Early Settlers Folder Collection Fort Frederica, St. Simons Island Fort Pulaski, Savannah Gedcom Files Genealogies Gibbons Plantations, Chatham and Liberty Counties Grant Park, Atlanta Historical Sites Hofwyl-Brailsford Plantation, Darien Homes & Plantations; photos Land Grants Laurel Grove Cemetery, Savannah Lunatics Maps Marriages Native Americans Notes, Sources Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta Obituaries 1740-ca1930 Old Atlanta Origins of First Settlers Orphans Passenger Lists Paupers Plantations Plats Remember Me: Photos of Georgians Revolutionary War Roswell Homes Savannah Tips to Researchers Tragedy, includes murders, lynchings War of 1812, Georgia (Pensions) Whos Who in Georgia Women, 1958 Working Ancestral Files Wormsloe Plantation, Savannah Copyright by Pioneer Families