On 14 November 1998 the Guale Historical Society went on a "ramble" to the original site of Coleraine in the far south west corner of Camden County, Georgia.  These pictures are from my [Tara Fields] trip with them.  This is part of the only original stretch of Coleraine Road left.  Originally an Indian trail through the woods, this part of it now runs past the house at Coleraine.

Front and rear views of the marker at Coleraine.  Coleraine was once a small Indian village, later a small white trading post.  On 1 December 1786, the State of Georgia deeded 2000 acres of this land to James Seagrove and 2,300 acres to James Armstrong.

Intrusion by white people caused problems with the Indians living there.  On 29 June 1796, a historic treaty was signed between the Creek Indians and the United States.  Dignitaries from both sides, among them Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, 20 Indian Kings, 75 chiefs, and 340 warriors, attended the treaty signing.

Despite the bickering going on on both sides, an agreement was reached and amazingly it did not involve the Indians losing their land - much to the displeasure of some Georgians in attendance.  Eventually the Indians moved out of the area on their own to search for greener pastures in other places such as Florida.  While the treaty may have been signed nearby at the old Indian village of Muskogee, on 30 April 1912 the Lyman Hall Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Waycross, Georgia, erected a marker at Coleraine in honor of the treaty started here.  Sam Tate of Tate, Georgia donated this marker.

The inscription on the front of the stone reads:  "This boulder marks the site of the old Town of Coleraine, where the treaty of peace and friendship was made on the 29th of June, 1796, between the President of the United States and the kings, chiefs, and warriors of the Creek Nation of Indians.  Ratified March 18, 1797.  The commissioners on the part of the United States were Benjamin Hawkins, George Clymer, and Andrew Pickens."

On the back:  "Erected April 30, 1912, Lyman Hall Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Waycross, Georgia; donated by Sam Tate, Tate, Ga."

The cypress house was built and originally occupied by the Hebbard Family of the Hebbard Cypress Company - the same company that once owned and logged the Okefenokee Swamp.  The house was built in the late 1920's or the early 1930's.  The lasting beauty of this wood made cypress a much sought-after lumber.  Luckily, the majority of what's left in the swamp is now on protected land.

What a "backyard!"  Off in the distance, facing the St. Marys River with Florida just on the other side, I can see my boys getting further ahead.  I had better catch up!