Nearest city St. Marys, Georgia Area 101 ha Added to NRHP 23 November 1984 | NRHP Reference # 84000265 Year built 1901 | |
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MPS Cumberland Island National Seashore MRA Address Cumberland Island, St Marys, GA 31558, United States Similar Plum Orchard, Dungeness, Stafford Beach, Cool Plantation, Annandale Plantation | ||
The Stafford Plantation was a plantation on Cumberland Island in Camden County, on the southeastern coast of Georgia. It was established in the early 19th century by Robert Stafford.
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19th century
Stafford acquired portions of lands belonging to General Nathanael Greene through auction, and continued to assemble former Greene family lands so that by 1830 Stafford controlled 1,360 acres (550 ha) with 148 slaves. In 1843 Stafford acquired 4,200 acres (1,700 ha) from P.M. Nightingale, a Greene descendant who retained Dungeness. The primary crop was Sea Island cotton.
Robert Stafford died in 1877. His heirs sold the property to Thomas M. Carnegie and his wife Lucy, who had also acquired Dungeness. All that remains of Stafford's house is a ruin known as "the Chimneys," a series of 24 hearth-and-chimney structures representing Stafford's slaves' housing, about one kilometer east of the main house.
20th century
The Stafford Mansion was built for Lucy Carnegie in 1901. It was one of a series of Carnegie houses on the island, including Plum Orchard, Greyfield, and the main Carnegie residence at Dungeness.
The property is privately held under a life estate by a Carnegie descendant.