St. Catherine's Island

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.