At the Georgia Archives last week, while researching through the Carnegie Collection, I came across a folder with letters of correspondence between the architectural firm of Peabody and Stearns in Boston, Massachusetts and the Carnegies. The letters were mainly addressed to William E. Page, the estate manager for Lucy Coleman Carnegie. The Page family lived in "The Grange" on Cumberland as an occupier and not as an owner.
The Grange around 1970.
Peabody and Sterns was responsible for designing additions to Dungeness, The Pool House, and the building of Plum Orchard around 1898 and it's additions on Cumberland Island for George Lauder Carnegie.
Plum Orchard mansion
Below: A Couple of Reader's Digest Tales
My graduating senior class in 1986 made no plans for a senior class trip, so I decided to get the heck out of dodge. I went to Cumberland Island by myself and stayed at Greyfield Inn. Greyfield is another story in itself; the history, architecture, clan, and the NPS avoidance of the Fergusons.
Now, back at the archives, there was a letter in the folder talking about how nice the simplistic nature of the carriage house's structure would be and how they could make changes to architectural details of the building "to sweeten it up" at a low cost.
Photo of Carriage house in 1986.
As anyone can see,
the right side of the carriage house
is starting to collapse inside of itself.
The year was 1986, on record - twelve years after the park service was officially established, but not necessarily only 12 years after the NPS took control of the island properties.
My father, mother, brother, sister, Uncle John, Aunt Brenda, Uncle Joe, Aunt Doris, and other relatives visited the island on the last week before the NPS took control of the southern end of the island. My Uncle Joe, who worked at NASA - actually in a certain division of it, had contacted Charles Fraser the owner of the southern tract at that time and obtained permission to camp on the island. I guess Uncle Joe had seen the writing on the wall for Fraser was selling the land to the NPS at that time. My Aunt Mallette (really a kin cousin) cried for years because her young son Jamie was sick and she couldn't go and camp out on the island with them. My mother still talks about catching the fish and cooking them. Daddy, that is a different story.
They were on Cumberland the summer of 1970 when the NPS officials actually started to arrive on the island. They were told by the officials that the NPS was taking control of this section of the island the next day and then were told that they had to leave the following morning. That is your Reader's Digest version. Kinda interesting, is it not, if you are a history loving fan of the island.
Below, is a photo series taken by Troup Nightingale of Brunswick, Georgia. Troup has graciously allowed me to post a series of photos of the Carriage House at Plum Orchard from his site on Smug Mug. Please check out Troup's site at: http://www.southeasternphotography.com/History/Plum-Orchard-Area-Cumberland/8119245_CYjU5#529369316_Ar3Yg
Troup Nightingale is a direct descendant from Phineas Miller Nightingale, the owner of Dungeness mansion and property before and after The Civil War. Thomas and Lucy Carnegie, after buying the property, tore down this Dungeness and built their own mansion on this site.
This is the Plum Orchard's Carriage House today.
It is like Austin Power's saying, "yea baby, you complete me."Or better yet!
Guess who Goldmember is?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRtNfb6D3Mc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRtNfb6D3Mc&feature=related
As always, great photos and great information Dawson! The park took some "oral histories" that Seabrook turned into a "trash book". I am glad that you are documenting your OWN oral histories... This is the BEST WAY!!! Otherwise, if you do it through the govt, they will get sold out to folks like Seabrooke who take 1/100th of the thickness of his book and elaborate on the rest without ever bothering to interview folks like MY HUSBAND!!!!
ReplyDeleteGood for you!~I know you have MANY, MANY more IMPORTANT photos, and I'm glad you are careful about sharing with the park and others... KEEP THEM TO YOURSELF!!!~until you can do a book or interview with a RESPECTABLE organization. Keep up the great work! XO
DO keep telling us your stories though!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteIts a shame that our Park Service would allow this to happen to a historic national landmark. I don't care how broke our government often claims to be, they can still afford a few cans of paint and prevent such damage from happening in the first place. There's never an excuse for this. I was in the Navy and as a sailor in Uncle Sam's Canoe Club, I was expected to chip paint, prime, and repaint stuff all the time. I didn't join the Navy to become a shipyard worker, but we sailors ended up doing that stuff all the time. If it was okay for us to do it (after all, chipping paint was no more in my contract with the government than it is for our Park Service Employees, but that didn't stop us from having to do it), then it's certainly okay for the Park Service employees to do it too, instead of allowing these structures to be overtaken by weeds, etc... and rot to the ground.
ReplyDelete