Skip to main content

McIntosh Sugarmill, St Mary's, Georgia

 

Where Gumbo Was #394

Gumbo was found at McIntosh Sugarmill by George G and PortMoresby. It is six miles north of St Mary's, Georgia and located across the street from the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. For years people thought it was the remnants of a Spanish Mission.
IMG_20200920_154522
IMG_20200920_154820
The mill was built in the late 1820's by John Houstoun McIntosh. It's an example of 'tabby' architecture and the place is also known as The Tabby Ruins. Tabby is a concrete made by burning oyster shells to create lime. The lime is then mixed with sand, broken oyster shells, ash, and water.
IMG_20200920_154426
John Houstoun McIntosh was a leader of a group of US citizens who seized part of Spanish Florida in 1812; he was appointed Governor or  Director of the 'Republic of Florida' in 1812, supported by U.S. army troops. A year later, the invasion ended and Houstoun went back to Georgia, where he planted sugar on his plantation using slave labor. He bought two other plantations in 1819 and named the enterprise  New Canaan. In 1825 he began to  seriously cultivate sugar on his plantations. One of the places he built was the mill near St Mary's.
IMG_20200920_154459
IMG_20200920_154515
The mill had three rooms in row, each used in a separate process. The eastern room  was used to crush the cane to extract the juice. The middle room was where the juice was boiled and clarified into a syrup, and the molasses was drained off. In the last room, the syrup was poured into containers where it was allowed to crystallize into granular sugar. The molasses was then poured on the finished sugar. Both the sugar crystals and molasses were salable goods and residue was used as animal feed and to fuel the boiling room.
IMG_20200920_154517
After Mcintosh's death in 1836, the mill was sold and was active at least through the Civil  War.  Then it just sat and deteriorated through the years.

Attachments

Images (7)
  • McIntosh Sugarmill: McIntosh Sugarmill
  • McIntosh Sugarmill: McIntosh Sugarmill
  • McIntosh Sugarmill: McIntosh Sugarmill
  • McIntosh Sugarmill: McIntosh Sugarmill
  • McIntosh Sugarmill: McIntosh Sugarmill
  • McIntosh Sugarmill: McIntosh Sugarmill
  • Title Image: Title Image

If you want a thing done, ask a busy man.

Add Comment

Comments (0)

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×