On Nov. 15, 1864, after destroying Atlanta and cutting his communications with the North, Maj. Gen. W. T. Sherman, USA, began his destructive Campaign for Savannah -- the March to the Sea. He divided his army [US] into two wings. The Left Wing (14th . . . — — Map (db m11957) HM
The highway northward is the Old River Road, one of the earliest routes west of the Ogeechee and a leading way from Savannah to Georgia's western frontier. It followed an old Indian trial [sic] along the Ogeechee to a point west of Bartow, . . . — — Map (db m12474) HM
On Dec. 6, 1864, the 15th Corps (US), the extreme right of Gen. Sherman's army on its destructive March to the Sea, camped near Jenk's Bridge on Great Ogeechee River, east of Blitchton. On the 7th, Oliver's brigade was sent in advance of Hazen's . . . — — Map (db m11939) HM
This church, the oldest congregation in lower Bryan County, was certified by the Presbytery of Georgia in 1830. Its founders included rice planters on Bryan Neck, among them Thomas Savage Clay, Richard James Arnold and George Washington McAllister. . . . — — Map (db m18648) HM
This County created by Act of the Legislature Dec. 19, 1793, is named for Jonathan Bryan, Revolutionary patriot and member of the Executive Council in 1777. The "lost town" of Hardwick on the Ogeechee River was the first temporary County Site. Laid . . . — — Map (db m14952) HM
Built in 1912, this structure was originally
a simple one-room brick cube with barred
windows and an armored door. It was used
to house offenders for short periods for
fighting, public drunkenness and similar
minor offenses.
In 1928, the . . . — — Map (db m15816) HM
On May 10, 1754 GEORGE TOWN was established at the "Elbow" of Great Ogeechee River, eight miles east. In February, 1755, Gov. Reynolds, dissatisfied with Savannah as a capital and as a port, chose this new site because it has a . . . — — Map (db m8364) HM
Organized in 1869, this is the oldest African-American church congregation in lower Bryan County. The first structure for the church, a Prayer House, was built in 1870 on this site near the white Presbyterian Church (Burnt Church). London Harris, a . . . — — Map (db m54193) HM
Near this site in 1830 the Bryan Neck Presbyterian Church was established, being the oldest organized congregation in Bryan County. The church served the numerous planter families of lower Bryan, which had become one of the most productive . . . — — Map (db m54354) HM
Built by William Collyer in New York City. She was
ordered by New York merchants and launched September
22, 1853. Her maiden voyage was from New York to
Charleston, South Carolina, under the name United States
Mail Steamship . . . — — Map (db m12868) HM
The congregation of the Canaan Baptist Church, primarily African-American, was organized in 1913 by Rev. David Boles, Sr., who was pastor, and Brother Fred Gilbert, Deacon. It was the only organized denominational church in what is now Richmond Hill . . . — — Map (db m59957) HM
Charlestonian, a student of Agassiz at Harvard, then professor of mathematics at the College of Charleston, he resigned his position at the outbreak of the war and became an officer in the Confederate engineers. Transferred to Savannah he spent his . . . — — Map (db m12711) HM
When called upon by a Union officer to surrender during Sherman's assault, December 13, 1864, Clinch responded with a blow of his sword. After three sabre, six bayonet, and two gunshot wounds, he was taken. — — Map (db m13075) HM
From the roof of Cheves' rice mill (2 1/2 miles across the Ogeechee in the direction of the arrow) General Sherman and his staff watched the reduction of Fort McAllister, sunset, December 13, 1864. — — Map (db m12914) HM
This replica of a coast defence cannon known as the columbiad was manufactured, 1964, by Savannah Machine and Foundry Company as a public service. A similar cannon was positioned here during Union naval attacks, 1863. The columbiad fired 87-lb. . . . — — Map (db m12776) HM
Outside of their expansive home on the Ogeechee River, this is the single most imposing structure built by Henry and Clara Ford during their sojourn in Richmond Hill from 1926 to 1951. Built by local labor in 1936 near the Ways Station School, the . . . — — Map (db m228173) HM
Land mines or torpedoes buried along the western approaches to the fort caused most of the casualties to the Union troops in the assault on December 13, 1864. After the taking of the fort, General Sherman personally gave orders that the captured . . . — — Map (db m13071) HM
This wood-frame structure, situated on a site known since the creation of Bryan County in 1793 as “the Crossroads”, was built in 1939 with funding provided by Henry Ford. The building came to be familiarly called “the . . . — — Map (db m54142) HM
The largest naval guns used against land fortifications were fired on Fort McAllister in 1863 from monitor-type Union ironclads. 15 in. shells penetrated 17 ft. of sand, digging craters 8 ft. in diameter and 7 ft. deep on exploding, but all damage . . . — — Map (db m13037) HM
The swift Confederate blockade runner Nashville
(renamed Rattlesnake) was destroyed
by the monitor Montauk, February 28, 1863,
after she went aground on a sandbar in a hairpin bend
of the Ogeechee River. The engagement was . . . — — Map (db m11474) HM
Henry Ford implemented the construction of the Bakery building in 1941 to provide fresh baked goods for the employees of his Richmond Hill Plantation. The Bakery was operated in tandem with the adjacent Commissary and Post Office buildings, thus . . . — — Map (db m148754) HM
The Commissary building and complex was built by Henry Ford in 1941 to serve the local community and the employees of Ford's Richmond Hill Plantation. It sold groceries, dry goods and general merchandise at reasonable prices and specialized in fresh . . . — — Map (db m148753) HM
Near here, on the West bank of the Ogeechee River, Fort Argyle was built in 1733, to command one of the main passes by which enemy Indians had recently invaded South Carolina, and to give protection to the settlers of Savannah from anticipated raids . . . — — Map (db m29523) HM
East 4.5 miles, on Great Ogeechee River, Fort McAllister was built 1861-62 to guard the "back door" to Savannah. During 1862-63, it repulsed 7 attacks by armored vessels, some mounting 15-inch guns. Dec. 13, 1864, its small garrison of 230 . . . — — Map (db m29452) HM
Situated at Genesis Point, 10 miles east on the right bank of the Great Ogeechee River below the "lost town" of Hardwick, this fort was the right of the exterior line designed for the defense of Savannah. It denied the use of the river to Union . . . — — Map (db m8387) HM
Dec. 1864. Fort McAllister, built 1861-62 to close the Great Ogeechee River to enemy ships, mounted 11 siege guns, 12 field pieces and 1 10-inch mortar. Below it, piles and torpedoes obstructed the channel. As the Union forces neared Savannah, the . . . — — Map (db m16103) HM
On July 1st and 29th, 1862, the fort was shelled by Union gunboats and on Nov. 19th by the ironclad "Wissahickon" and two escort craft. Hit below the waterline, "Wissahickon" withdrew after firing 17 11-inch and 25 other shells. The escorts withdrew . . . — — Map (db m16102) HM
Buried here is George Washington McAllister (1781-1850), a prominent planter of Bryan County. In 1817, McAllister acquired Strathy Hall Plantation on the Ogeechee River where he cultivated rice and was one of the largest slave owners on Bryan Neck. . . . — — Map (db m59985) HM
On these grounds in 1939, Henry Ford built a school to serve the educational needs of the African-American children of lower Bryan County. Professor Herman Cooper was appointed as the Principal when the school opened later that year, originally with . . . — — Map (db m54321) HM
Across the Ogeechee River from this point was the northernmost town of the Province of Guale, the village of Satuache. Spanish records place Satuache about 10 miles northeast of Guale’s provincial capital at Mission Santa Catalina (St. Catherines . . . — — Map (db m60008) HM
This site on the Great Ogeechee, 14 miles from the Atlantic, was selected in 1755 by Governor John Reynolds for the capital of Georgia. He named it for his kinsman, Lord High Chancellor of England, Phillip Yorke Hardwicke. Reynolds said: "Hardwicke . . . — — Map (db m11225) HM
On Dec. 6, 1864, the 15th Corps (US), Maj. Gen. P. J. Osterhaus, USA the extreme right of Gen. Sherman's army on its destructive March to the Sea, camped near Jenk's Bridge, on Great Ogeechee River east of Blichton. On the 7th, Oliver's brigade of . . . — — Map (db m15812) HM
In 1925, Henry Ford of Detroit, Mich., a leading American automobile pioneer who perfected the assembly line concept of auto manufacturing, began acquiring large tracts of land on both sides of the nearby Ogeechee River. He sponsored extensive . . . — — Map (db m54170) HM
For nearly 20 years, J. F. (Jack) Gregory was the general manager and superintendent for all of Henry Ford’s various operations in and around Ways Station, later Richmond Hill. Serving for Ford from the 1920s until 1946, Gregory oversaw the . . . — — Map (db m59669) HM
Superintendent of the Henry Ford Plantation at Richmond Hill, Georgia 1929 until the death of Henry Ford in 1947, under his supervision, the dreams Henry Ford envisioned for this community were accomplished.
This plaque is placed here in . . . — — Map (db m112148) HM
On Dec. 12, 1864, the 3rd Cavalry Division [US], Brig. Gen. J. L. Kilpatrick, USA, covering the right rear of Gen. Sherman's army which was then closing in on Savannah, crossed the Great Ogeechee River near Fort Argyle and the Canoochee River near . . . — — Map (db m29458) HM
This structure was built in 1940 by Henry Ford to serve as a kindergarten for the children of Ways Station-Richmond Hill during the Ford era. The building included a kitchen and two large classrooms to accommodate children aged three years to six. . . . — — Map (db m54435) HM
These portions of rotating machinery were
removed, in 1960, from the wreck of the
Confederate blockade runner Nashville,
sunk in the Ogeechee River by shell fire from
the U.S.S. Montauk in Feb., 1863.
These relics give some conception . . . — — Map (db m16105) HM
Killed in action while commanding the fort during the second attack of the monitor MONTAUK, February 1, 1863. The 32-pounder beside which he was standing was struck while Gallie was going from gun to gun, encouraging his men to calmness of aim. — — Map (db m13072) HM
Henry and Clara Ford had this chapel built in 1937 near the Community House and the Ways Station School. The chapel was named for the mothers of Henry Ford (Mary) and Clara Ford (Martha). Students from the nearby school utilized the Martha-Mary . . . — — Map (db m54319) HM
The monitors took positions against the far marsh in the direction of the arrow, between 900 and 1200 yards from the fort during the following series of attacks: by the MONTAUK, January 27, February 1, and February 28, 1863; and by the PASSAIC, the . . . — — Map (db m12777) HM
The production of rice on Bryan Neck utilized upstream fresh water and the tidal influences of the Ogeechee River. Heavy wooden trunks, or tidegates, along the levees and embankments in the rice fields allowed the inflow and outflow of fresh water . . . — — Map (db m59995) HM
Richard James Arnold (1796-1873) acquired nearby White Hall Plantation through his marriage in 1823 to Louisa Gindrat. A Rhode Island native, Arnold invested heavily in White Hall for the cultivation of cotton and in his Cherry Hill and Mulberry . . . — — Map (db m59997) HM
The Richmond Hill Veterans Monument is dedicated to the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces who have served our great nation throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, but the history of sacrifice and duty to our nation weaves a patriotic tapestry . . . — — Map (db m128029) WM
In July, 1862, the CSS "Nashville", Capt. Baker, ran the Union blockade and entered Savannah via Wilmington River with a cargo of arms. Loaded with cotton for Europe, she attempted to escape via Ossabaw Sound. Thwarted by the vigilance of the . . . — — Map (db m164870) HM
The “Bottom” residential village, built in the mid-1930s, was the first housing project developed by Henry Ford for his employees in the Ways Station (later Richmond Hill) area. The name originated from the fact that the area had been a . . . — — Map (db m59965) HM
In this cemetery are interred members of the Clay family, among the most prominent of Bryan Neck and coastal Georgia from the colonial era of Georgia through the 19th century. Prominent among these are Thomas Savage Clay (1801-1849) and his wife . . . — — Map (db m59986) HM
The sole Confederate fatality after seven hours of intensive bombardment on March 3, 1863, by the monitors PASSAIC (Capt. Percival Drayton), NAHANT, and PATAPSCO, supported by the MONTAUK, the WISSAHICKON, the SENECA, the DAWN, the FLAMBEAU, the . . . — — Map (db m13038) HM
In 1856, the Savannah, Albany & Gulf R.R. was built across the nearby Ogeechee River into Bryan County. Near this site a train depot was built, which came to be known as “Ways No. 1 ½” for William J. Way, the first station master . . . — — Map (db m54398) HM
Ways Station (now Richmond Hill), Station No. 1-1/2 on the Savannah, Albany and Gulf Railroad, was built on land belonging to William J. Way. He was the first station master and co-owner of Silk Hope rice plantation. Construction of the rail line . . . — — Map (db m127220) HM
