{"nrhp_refnum":"96000468","name":"Ossabaw Island","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"7 mi. S of Savannah, bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Bear R., Ogeechee R., and St. Catherine's Sound","address_restricted":false,"city":"Savannah","county":"Chatham County","state":"GA","lat":31.83842566800007,"lon":-81.09232787099995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-05-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Agriculture","Prehistoric","Historic - Aboriginal","Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Black","Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Ossabaw Island is a barrier island district of about 25,000 acres (8,996 of high ground) on the Georgia coast, roughly 7 miles south of Savannah in Chatham County. It holds prehistoric shell-midden sites, plantation-era remains and a 1920s Spanish Revival Main House complex.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the island as a place continuously used by people for about 4,000 years, with hundreds of prehistoric archaeological sites. It also preserves historic plantation divisions, landings, an old main road, tabby ruins and the 1924-1926 Main House with its gardens. The text also covers colonial-era claims to the island and its natural environment.","narrative":"Ossabaw Island is a barrier island about ten miles long and eight miles wide, lying a few miles off the Georgia coast south of Savannah. Of its roughly 25,000 acres, 8,996 are high ground covered mostly by second-growth forest, with the rest marsh. People have used the island continuously for some 4,000 years, and surveys have recorded nearly 200 archaeological sites, mostly shell middens with pottery and stone points. The historic plantation divisions of North End, Middle Place, Buckhead and South End remain, along with eight historic landings and a main road said to date from the 1760s. At North End stand a clubhouse, boarding house, tabby oyster house and three tabby slave or tenant houses. East of these is the Main House, built in 1924-1926 in Spanish Revival style with pink stucco walls, a red-tile roof, 16 bedrooms and imported tile, set among remains of formal gardens. The district was listed for this combined prehistoric, plantation and early twentieth-century record.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals/Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival; Late Victorian/Eastlake; Other/saddlebag","criteria":[],"status_note":"Current functions listed include single dwelling, vacant/not in use, and conservation area. The only standing historic habitable structures are at North End and the Main House complex.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.301635-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/96000468.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207337","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossabaw_Island","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2376544"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/chatham-county/ossabaw-island-96000468/"}