Plaque Text for Georgia Landmark #025-2:
At this site was located the first public agricultural experimental garden in America. From this garden was disseminated the upland cotton which later comprised the greater part of the world’s cotton commerce. Here were propagated and from this garden distributed, the peach trees which gave Georgia and South Carolina another major commercial crop.
The garden consisted of ten acres. It was established by Oglethorpe within one month after the settlement of Georgia. Botanists were sent by the Trustees of the Colony from England to the West Indies and South America to procure plants for the garden. Vine cuttings, flax, hemp, potashes, indigo, cochineal, olives, and medicinal herbs were grown. The greatest hope was centered in the mulberry trees, essential to silk culture. In the early days of the Colony, Queen Caroline was clothed in Georgia silk, and the town’s largest structure was the filature.
The silk and wine industries failed to materialize. The distant sponsors were unable to judge of the immense importance of the experiments conducted in other products. In 1755 the site was developed as a residential section.
More about The Trustees’ Garden:
The 20 trustees of Georgia made this colony unique among the other 12. For starters, the whole colony was founded as a way for poor British citizens to work off their debts and as a buffer between South Carolina and Spanish Florida! These trustees ran just about all components of life in Georgia, from laws (the only colony without a representative assembly) to settlements to prohibitions of rum and slavery! What ultimately undid this system was a restriction on land ownership to 500 acres, and so, by the 1740s, the trustees gave way to complaints, allowing the large plantation system and slavery to become a part of the colony of Georgia.
How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?
- Become a member of the Georgia Historical Society!
- Donate to the Georgia Historical Society!
- Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!
How Do I Get There?
10 E Broad St
Savannah, GA 31401
(Take Me There!)
When Should I Visit?
Whenever the mood strikes you!