Hawkins-Davison Houses, Frederica, St. Simons Island, Georgia

by Margaret Davis Cate; Charles H. Fairbanks

Hawkins-Davison houses from the east. Davison house in foreground.

“John Robertson, late brick layer in Frederica, in Georgia, maketh oath and saith, that on or about the ninth of August last, being at work on Mr. Davison’s house, adjoining to Mr. Hawkin’s, at the said Frederica, on which the said Davison was putting a new roof, he did propose to the said Hawkins, to take up a few shingles, and a gutter belonging to the said Hawkins’s house, and put the said gutter on the party-wall, to which the said Hawkins agreed; saying that it would be a benefit to him, because he must be obliged to alter the roof of his own house soon: and the said Davison being to lay down a new gutter at his own expense, it would serve for both houses, and which must save one half the expense of the said gutter to the said Hawkins. But the said Hawkins being out of town, a day or two after General Oglethorpe sent to the said Davison, to forbid him to touch anything belonging to the said Hawkins’s house, though the said gutter encroached fourteen inches on the said Davison’s ground, and the said Oglethorpe’s own carpenter said it might be done in a few hours, and without harm to the Doctor.* [Hawkins—in footnote]. That the said Oglethorpe did soon after, on the same day, stand on the sill of the said Hawkins’s window, and put his head up betwixt the joists of the said Davison’s house, and ordered Mr. Cannon to build the said joists six inches lower; when the said Cannon told the said Oglethorpe they were but six inches deep; when the said Oglethorpe replied, he did not care, they might take it down, and build the house six inches lower; when the said Cannon said, that one roof would fall lower than the other, and that therefore it would be impossible to make the said Davison’s house tight, or keep it dry; then the said Oglethorpe said, you might have thought of that before. And further, that the said Oglethorpe did then say to the said Cannon, if you touch a shingle of what the Doctor (meaning Hawkins) has put down, I’LL SHOOT YOU, to which he added a great oath, for you have done more than you can answer in building so high as to stop up the Doctor’s window. That the said Davison being thus hindered from finishing his house, was forced to remove his goods from the said house (which was quite open,) and had only a stable for his family to be in, until this deponent left the said Frederica, which was on the 29th of September, 1741.”[36]

We also know that Dr. Hawkins had planted two hedges on his lot but there is no mention of fences.[37]

Samuel Davison was a chairman by trade but had been brought to Frederica to make musket stocks. He was married and had three children. His was probably one of the two brick houses nearing completion in November of 1736. By April of 1738 it was finished. In January 16, 1740 Davison complained to Egmont that Dr. Hawkins said “when my house was finished he would sell my children, one to the Carpenter, and the other to the Plasterer that did my house, which is very cutting to a tender parent.”[38] The deposition quoted at length on Dr. Hawkins’ house, of course, applies to Davison’s house as well. Davison also kept a tavern and other references indicate his lot was fenced.[39]

From these references it will be seen that the two houses were substantial enough to leave some remains, had a party wall which would follow the lot line, and the presumed location of the houses was in an area not heavily farmed in the last century.

It was hoped that the location of the party wall mentioned in the documents would lead to a determination of the present location of the original town lot lines. In this way we could locate streets, lots, houses and other features of the colonial town of Frederica. Rarely, I believe, has careful documentary research been so well vindicated as in this case. We uncovered the wall foundations of the Hawkins-Davison houses and clearly demonstrated the present location of the line separating South Ward Lots 1 and 2. The discovery of colonial wells yielded an additional dividend of many objects which illustrate the early 18th Century culture of the town of Frederica. In addition the exposed foundations serve as a vivid illustration of the existence of an English style of life established on the soil of Georgia.

The digging was started just to the west of the location for the two houses indicated by Mrs. Cate. As the excavation proceeded we uncovered the entire area of the two houses and tested the sides of the lots for evidences of fences. The area of Broad Street was trenched to prove the existence of the principal street. The wells encountered were cleaned as far as time permitted. In the following account the features found will be described in the order in which they were constructed by the colonists rather than in the order of our discovery. This will give a much clearer picture of what existed there in the colonial period.

All of the colonial remains were found to be covered by a deposit of sandy humus from 0.7 to 1.0 foot deep. This had accumulated over the foundations after the buildings collapsed in the later part of the 18th Century. This was somewhat deeper than had been expected and indicated the rapidity with which remains are obliterated in the lush climate of the Golden Isles.

The Hawkins House

The house of Dr. Thomas Hawkins consisted of three rooms in ground plan and will be discussed in the order in which the rooms were constructed. At the west was a small room 10 feet east and west by 15.3 feet north and south. The room had undergone three periods of building but only the first period will concern us here. This consisted of a footing ditch 1.3 feet wide on the south and west sides. Six inch posts were placed in this ditch at intervals of about one foot. These posts formed the framework of a rather rude shed. The level of the floor is uncertain, as it had been destroyed by later construction. This pole building is believed to be the shed built at the time of the first arrival of settlers in 1736. It evidently served as a shelter during the construction of the main house which was built immediately to the east. The description by Francis Moore[40] of the palmetto bowers built in February of 1736 said that they were built on the backs of the lots. This hut was just the sort of construction one might expect from the description given by Moore. Yet it is on the front of the lot along Broad Street, and not on the back. The only explanation is that Dr. Hawkins did not build his palmetto bower on the back of his lot, or he may have built two, one at the back and one at the front. The front one was later incorporated into the main house.