Fort Frederica National Monument, on St. Simons Island, Georgia, preserves the archaeological remnants of a fort and town built by James Oglethorpe between 1736 and 1748 to protect the southern boundary of the British colony of Georgia from Spanish raids.
Historical layout of the colonial fort
In the early 18th century, the land lying between British South Carolina and Spanish Florida was known as the debatable land. Today's state of Georgia was then the center of a centuries-old imperial conflict between Spain and Britain. Fort Frederica was established in 1736 by colonists from England, Scotland, and the Germanic states to support this endeavor. Frederica was named for Frederick, Prince of Wales, the name was feminized to distinguish it from Fort Frederick in South Carolina.
In the 1742 Battles of Bloody Marsh and Gully Hole Creek, forces under Oglethorpe successfully repulsed Spanish attempts to retake St. Simons Island. Afterwards the Spanish no longer threated the colony, so the garrison at Frederica was disbanded, and the town fell into economic decline and was abandoned.
Fort Frederica was authorized as a National Monument on May 26, 1936. Starting in 1947, the National Park Service and the Ft. Frederica Association sponsored a series of archeological investigations at the Frederica site. Using information from 18th century maps and journals as a guideline, archeologists unearthed sections of the fort and town. By matching the archeological data to the historical documents, these archeologists have provided a glimpse into Frederica's past. As an historic area under the National Park Service, the National Monument was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Fort Frederica is open to the public.
