Meadow Garden was originally a modest 1½-story cottage of frame construction built over a high brick basement. The gable roof was pierced by two front dormers and an interior central chimney. Windows were located in the gable ends. An entrance door and hall were situated on the western bay of the south facade, which had three bays. Two rooms on the first floor opened off the east of the hall, and the basement contained two more finished rooms.
Sometime after 1800 the house was enlarged and converted into a central hall type by a major three-bay wide extension to the west of the side hall, which became the central hall. The gable roof of the original building was extended over the new portion, which was also equipped with an interior chimney. About 1903 a single dormer was added to the extension. The two first-floor rooms in the addition, which lacks a cellar, are about two steps lower than the two in the original structure. The second floor of the present house contains four bedrooms. A one-story porch, probably not original, extends across the front, or south, side. Its Doric columns rest on square pedestals and are linked by a light balustrade. About 1903 a one-story kitchen was added to the rear northwest corner of the house.
Many interior features are intact, but the plaster walls are covered with paper. The southwest room, or library, located in the 1800 addition and restored in 1969, contains an excellent late Georgian mantel and overmantel. The building has been roofed with modern material.
The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution acquired the residence in 1900, and the following year opened it to visitors. In 1960 the National Society presented it to the State Society. It is currently operated as a historic house museum by the Augusta Chapter. A caretaker’s residence is located on the grounds.
Tabby Cottage, Georgia ⊗
Location: Liberty County, on St. Catherines Island, which is located about 10 miles off the Georgia coast southeast of Midway between St. Catherines and Sapelo Sounds.
The original portion of this structure, today an eight-bedroom house and the main building on St. Catherines Island, may have been built by Button Gwinnett in 1765 when he purchased the island, on which he resided until his death in 1777 at Savannah. In 1929 the owner of the island extensively remodeled the gable-roofed building. He retained its basic shape and preserved many of its features, including mantels, stair rail, and wide-board, hand-pegged floors. To the rear at a right angle on one side he added a 1½-story wing, also with gable roof, which more than doubled the floor space. The original, or front, section of the house, also 1½ stories in height, was constructed of “tabby,” a mixture of lime, ground from burned oyster shells, with sand, shells, and water. The wing is of frame with a stucco finish. Both parts of the residence are now roofed with Ludowici tile and feature dormers, interior chimneys, and shuttered exterior windows.
Other tabby structures on the island include seven guest cottages and about a dozen slave quarters, all probably dating from the early 19th century. Many of them are in ruins but some are in good condition. Elsewhere are four present employee residences, as well as several barns and maintenance buildings. Boundaries of old cotton and tobacco fields are discernible, as well as dozens of Indian burial mounds. Of special interest, between Persimmon Point and Wamassee Head, is the undisturbed site of the Mission of Santa Catalina (1566-ca. 1684), a Spanish mission. None of the buildings remain, but potsherds and other surface debris are plentiful.
When this volume went to press, the National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings was making a further study of Tabby Cottage to determine the exact degree of its authenticity in relation to Gwinnett. Privately owned St. Catherines Island, not accessible to the public, has already been accorded National Historic Landmark status because of its associations with Spanish exploration and settlement.