Horton House Historic Site

Horton House Historic Site. Age of Exploration. , In the 1500s Europeans began to document and explore the area around Jekyll Island. Though the French were the first to claim the area from Jacksonville, FL to Port Royal, SC, it was the Spanish who began making an enduring imprint on this region, creating the permanent settlement of St. Augustine in 1565. It was also about this time that the Spanish began an intense mission campaign, installing Missionaries northward to Charleston, SC. These missions were primarily among the Guale and Mocama tribes, beginning the slow assimilation of the native peoples of the coast., By 1684, the Spanish began to lose their foothold on the coast of Georgia. Over the next 20 years all of the missions north of St. Augustine vanished, opening the way for new settlement. The British quickly recognized the importance of the Georgia coast. Jekyll and St. Simons Island were considered a great location for a buffer community between the established colony of Carolina and the Spanish territory of La Florida., The First Island Residents , As you look across the marshes, you no longer see a that is quiet and wild, but one that is forever changed by modern technology and industry. But, underneath these modern changes to the landscape you can easily see why the Native Americans were active in this area. A wealth of natural resources was available, and as far back as 1000 BC there were families, and possibly small villages using Jekyll Island., Not only was this island a wonderful place to hunt, but the fishing was a major attraction to the native peoples of this area. This is evident in the midden mounds around the island. These shell piles are the remnants of extended use of Jekyll Island to collect fish and oysters as a food staple. In some locations, these middens extend several feet below ground, or as in the Jekyll Island Club Historic District, a few feet above ground level.