The most famous institution of learning in Southern Georgia, for many years, was the Sunbury Academy. It was established by an act of the Legislature assented to the first of February, 1788.[230] Abiel Holmes, James Dunwody, John Elliott, Gideon Dowse, and Peter Winn were nominated in the act as Commissioners. To them, or a majority of them, was authority given to sell at public sale, and upon previous notice of thirty days in one of the gazettes of the State, any confiscated property within the county of Liberty to the amount of £1,000. This sum, when realized, was to be by them expended in the construction of a building suitable for the purposes of the Academy. Each Commissioner was required to execute a bond, in favor of the Governor of Georgia, in the penalty of £1,000, conditioned for the faithful performance of the trust. In 1803 the number of Commissioners was increased to seven, but two years afterwards the Legislature directed a return to the original number, which was five.[231]
As late as December 4th, 1811, the Legislature directed a grant and conveyance to the Commissioners of Sunbury Academy, for the sole use and benefit of that institution, of one-third of a tract of land adjoining Sunbury, known as the Distillery Tract; the same having been confiscated as the estate of Roger Kellsall, and being then the property of the State.
The administration of the affairs of this academy during the long course of its valuable existence appears at all times to have been conducted by its trustees with prudence and skill. Certain it is that until the marked decadence of Sunbury this institution maintained an enviable reputation, and attracted scholars in no inconsiderable numbers from various portions of the State, and even from sister States. The teacher whose name is for the longest period and most notably associated with the management of this Academy, and who did more than all others to establish a standard of scholarship and maintain rules of study and discipline unusual in that period and among these peoples, was the Reverend Dr. William McWhir. Great was the obligation conferred upon the youths of Southern Georgia, for certainly two generations, by this competent instructor and rigid disciplinarian. A native of Ireland, a graduate of Belfast College, and licensed to preach by the Presbytery of that city, he came to America in 1783 and settled in Alexandria, Virginia. There, for ten years he was the Principal of the Academy of which General Washington was a trustee. He was frequently a guest at Mount Vernon, enjoying the hospitality of that noted mansion. On one occasion while he was dining with the family, General Washington, as his custom was, asked the usual blessing. Mrs. Washington, somewhat surprised that Mr. McWhir had not been invited to do this, remarked to General Washington, “You forgot that we had a clergyman at table with us to-day.” “No, madam,” he replied, “I did not forget. I desire clergymen, as well as all others, to see that I am not a graceless man.”
About 1793 he removed to Sunbury where he became the Principal of the Academy and, for nearly thirty years, made it the leading institution of learning in this entire region. A thorough Greek, Latin, and English scholar, an uncompromising observer of prescribed regulations, and a firm believer in the virtue of the birch as freely applied in those days in the English and Irish schools in which he had received his training, he was a terror to all dolts and delinquents. To the studious and the ambitious, he always proved himself a generous instructor, full of suggestion and encouragement. The higher branches of mathematics were also taught; and, as a preparatory school, this institution, under his guidance, had no superior within the limits of the State. The average attendance was about seventy. Pupils were attracted not only from Liberty, but also from the adjacent counties of Chatham, Bryan, McIntosh, and Glynn. Some came from even greater distances. Two generations sat at the feet of this venerable preceptor. Fathers and sons in turn responded to his nod, and feared his frown. Although
“A man severe he was, and stern to view,”
so impartial was he in the support of whatever was just and of good report, and so competent and thorough as a teacher, that for more than a quarter of a century his numerous pupils found in him, above all others, their mentor, guide, and helper in the thorny paths of knowledge. Strongly did he impress his character and influence upon the generations in which he lived, and his name and acts are even now well remembered. The evening of his days was spent, as inclination prompted, at the residences of his old scholars, by whom a cordial welcome was always extended. That welcome was recognized by him as peculiarly genuine and agreeable when accompanied by a generous supply of buttermilk and a good glass of wine. The latter might be dispensed with: a failure to provide the former was, in his eyes, an unpardonable breach of hospitality, and materially impaired the comfort of his sojourn, and the tranquility of the venerable guest.
Among the other teachers at this Academy may be mentioned Mr. James E. Morris, the Rev. Mr. Lewis, the Rev. Mr. Shannon, the Rev. Mr. Thomas Goulding, Uriah Wilcox, Rev. Mr. John Boggs, Captain William Hughes, Mr. C. G. Lee, Rev. A. T. Holmes, Rev. S. G. Hillyer, Major John Winn, Mr. W. T. Feay, and Mr. Oliver W. Stevens. The building—a large two story and a half double wooden house, about sixty feet square and located in King’s Square,—was pulled down and sold some time about the year 1842.
As early as 1797 it being manifest that the population of the town was steadily decreasing, and that its commercial importance could not be reëstablished, it was resolved by a large majority of the citizens of Liberty that Sunbury,—the then seat of justice,—was inconveniently situated for conducting the public business, and that North New Port Bridge was the most eligible location for the Court House and Jail. Matthew McAllister, Esq. had very generously offered to convey in fee simple, for public uses, a piece of ground two hundred and thirty feet in length and one hundred and fifty feet in width, situated near “the Bridge,” without “price or consideration other than a wish on his part to promote the growth of the town of Riceborough and benefit the inhabitants thereof.” The middle and upper portions of the county had by this time the controlling vote in public matters, and the Legislature was memorialized, in opposition to the feebler will of the residents of Sunbury and its vicinity, to authorize a removal of the seat of justice. Accordingly, on the 1st of February, 1797, an act was passed appointing Thomas Stevens, Daniel Stewart, Peter Winn, Joel Walker, and Henry Wood, Commissioners to superintend the admeasurement of the land offered by Mr. McAllister, receive the titles therefor, and erect thereon and keep in repair a Court House and Jail for the County of Liberty. The act further provided that after its passage “all courts and elections heretofore held, and all public business heretofore transacted at said town of Sunbury, should be held and transacted at the said town of Riceborough,” to which place the County offices and records were to be removed.[232]
Riceborough was a more convenient point for shipping to Savannah the rice, cotton, and agricultural products of the County, and was much more central for the facile convocation of the citizens and the transaction of public business. Sunbury, however, still remained the favorite resort of the wealthier planters during the summer months, and maintained a permanent population of perhaps four hundred. The hurricane of 1804, with its wild devastations, begat a sense of insecurity in the minds of not a few dwellers on the coast, and to some extent diminished the population of the town. Soon afterwards, Bermuda grass began to overspread the bluff and cover, with its deep mat, the streets and lanes. With its importation the health of the place became sensibly affected. Chills and high grades of bilious fever grew frequent in the fall of the year, and from time to time removals occurred to healthier localities. Many citizens still clung to their old homes rendered so pleasant by the refreshing sea-breezes and the never-failing stores of the waters and the orchards, and Sunbury for many years continued to be the abode of culture, hospitality, and ease. Then came the hurricane of 1824 blowing down out-houses, bearing away fences, bringing in the sea in great masses, and carrying fear to many, and even death to some who resided at exposed points. The wild indigo disappeared more rapidly than ever, and the dark Bermuda grass asserted its dominion on every hand. From the numerous cattle accustomed to feed upon its common and wander through its streets and lanes, and from the refuse of the town, now no longer new, the original sandy soil became saturated with fertilizing matter, and grew rich. Thence, under the heat of autumnal suns, year by year rose exhalations annually more and more prejudicial to health. Chills and fevers were more frequent, and Sunbury proved less and less attractive as a summer resort. In 1829 Sherwood describes the town as having “a flourishing academy, a house of worship for the Baptists, twenty dwelling houses, two stores, three offices, and a population of one hundred and fifty.”[233]
Ten years before, the Sunbury Female Asylum had been incorporated by the Legislature of Georgia.[234] Supported by the generous charities of kind-hearted women, it never enjoyed a vigorous existence, and after some years suffered a languishing death.