On the Rim of the Caribbean: Colonial Georgia and the British Atlantic World

385 Pages·2013·2.889 MB·English

by  Paul M. Pressly

On the Rim of the Caribbean
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On the Rim
of the Caribbean
Colonial Georgia and
the British Atlantic World
paul m. pressly
The University of Georgia Press Athens and London
© 2013 by the University of Georgia Press
Athens, Georgia 30602
www.ugapress.org
All rights reserved
Set in Adobe Caslon Pro by Graphic Composition, Inc., Bogart, Georgia
Cartography by David Wasserboehr, Flying W Graphics
Printed digitally in the United States of America
Library of Congress C ataloging- in- Publication Data
Pressly, Paul M.
On the rim of the Caribbean : colonial Georgia and the British Atlantic world /
Paul M. Pressly.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-8203-3567-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-8203-3567-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn-13: 978-0-8203-4503-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-8203-4503-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Georgia—Economic conditions—18th century. 2. Georgia—Commerce—West
Indies, British—History—18th century. 3. West Indies, British—Commerce—
Georgia—History—18th century. 4. Plantations—Georgia—History—18th century.
5. Georgia—History—Colonial period, ca. 1600–1775. I. Title.
f289.p74 2013
975.8'02—dc23 2012033964
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data available
ISBNfordigitaledition:978-08203-4580-2
In memory of my parents,
William Laurens
&
Alice McCallie Pressly
And in honor of
Jane, Bill, and Nancy
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Contents
Illustrations follow page 92
Preface ix
Maps xii
Introduction 1
chapter one
The Three Georgias 11
chapter two
Merging Planting Elites 32
chapter three
The West Indies, Cornerstone of Trade 50
chapter four
Savannah as a “Caribbean” Town 69
chapter five
Merchants in a Creole Society 93
chapter six
The Slave Trade in Creating a Black Georgia 112
chapter seven
The Making of the Lowcountry Plantation 134
chapter eight
Georgia’s Rice and the Atlantic World 153
chapter nine
Retailing the “Baubles of Britain” 172
chapter ten
The Trade in Deerskins and Rum 193

chapter eleven
Nationalizing the Lowcountry 213
Notes 229
Bibliography 301
Index 337
Preface
In the early summer of 2006, I led a group of residents from the community
of Pin Point, outside Savannah, to Ossabaw Island to look at the remains
of the North End Plantation, including three tabby cabins that the Georgia
state archaeologist has described as the best preserved in the state. As head
of an education alliance, I knew that some of the community members were
descended from enslaved people who had labored on the plantations of this
island, now a heritage preserve with t wenty-s ix thousand acres of marsh
and maritime forest accessible only by boat. We were not prepared for their
reactions. Several of the older members became excited when they stood
before those tabbies constructed of oyster shells, lime, sand, and water. They
had lived in the cabins as children during the 1940s, when their parents had
worked for the owners of Ossabaw, and pointed out details of the living ar-
rangements that re-c reated for us a way of life that seemed closer to an-
other time. They retain a strong feeling for this island, which has been a
part of their families for over two centuries. In an interview, Bo Bowens told
how people often asked him about his accent and whether he was from the
Caribbean. He would reply, “No! I am from someplace special and beauti-
ful. I’m from Ossabaw!”
On the coast of Georgia, the eighteenth century is closer than one would
think. Pin Point has ties to the enslaved people who fi rst came to the is-
lands from Africa in the 1760s to grow indigo, herd cattle, and build ocean-
going vessels. My work in helping to interpret the stories around the North
End Plantation provided an essential spur to this book. Motivated by this
experience, I pulled together a symposium about African American life
and culture in the Georgia Lowcountry from the eighteenth century to the
twentieth. Out of that eff ort came a gathering of distinguished scholars, an
audience of several hundred people, and a book that fi lls a gap in the subject
matter. What also emerged were close working relationships with people
who have extended extraordinary help to me in this enterprise.