{"nrhp_refnum":"69000332","name":"St. Catherine's Island","other_names":["Guale","Santa Catalina","St. Catherine's Island,One of the Golde"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"10 mi. off the GA coast between St. Catherines Sound and Sapelo Sound","address_restricted":false,"city":"South Newport","county":"Liberty County","state":"GA","lat":31.644467823500065,"lon":-81.1630583603714,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1969-12-16","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1969-12-16","areas_of_significance":["Historic - Aboriginal","Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Politics/Government","Religion"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"St. Catherines Island is an irregularly shaped barrier island about 10 miles off the Georgia coast in Liberty County, between St. Catherines Sound and Sapelo Sound. The nominated district covers the entire island, about 22,265 acres, and includes mission-era archeological remains, plantation-era buildings and Indian mounds.","why_significant":"From 1566 to 1684 the island was one of the most important Spanish mission centers in the southeastern United States, site of the Mission of Santa Catalina. In 1765 it became the plantation home of Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. After 1876 it developed into a notable country estate and private game preserve, which kept its character largely intact.","narrative":"St. Catherines Island is a barrier island off the Georgia coast in Liberty County, roughly half salt marsh and half of the rest wooded. It first mattered as a Spanish outpost. Pedro Menendez de Aviles visited in 1566, soldiers were stationed there, and Jesuits founded the Santa Catalina mission in 1568. Under Spain it served as a leading mission center until attacks forced its abandonment in 1684. Potsherds and debris mark the mission area, which has seen only limited testing. In 1765 Button Gwinnett, later a signer of the Declaration of Independence, bought the island and ran it as a plantation. Part of the main house may date from the 1770s, and it was enlarged after 1929. Tabby slave quarters, old field boundaries and many Indian burial mounds survive. After 1876 the island became a country estate and game preserve, and its long preserve status kept much of its original character.","period_of_significance":"1566-20th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied, in excellent condition and maintained as a private preserve and recreational area; not open to the public. No mission-period structures remain, though the Santa Catalina mission site is undisturbed and has had only limited archeological testing (1959).","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.890834-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/69000332_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000332/b073abf6bd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000332/b073abf6bd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"William D Bone","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Catherine%27s_Island_Salt_Marsh.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">William D Bone</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Catherine%27s_Island_Salt_Marsh.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93206781","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Catherines_Island","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7587464"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/liberty-county/st-catherines-island-69000332/"}